For all of its usefulness, the Web is oriented much more toward human interaction than automated processing. While the Web gives access to information, it does not
easily allow integration of different data sources or incorporation of additional analysis tools. The Semantic Web addresses these problems by annotating Web resources and by providing reasoning and retrieval facilities from heterogeneous sources.
The goal of this tutorial was for participants to have an understanding of the Semantic Web sufficient for them to be able to make decisions about whether and how to use it.
Starting with ordinary flat files, the tutorial introduced progressively more complex data, including taxonomies, general hierarchies, and relationships. The semantics of XML, RDF, and the three OWL languages were explained and compared.
The tutorial then presented some of the tools and services that currently exist and are being developed for semantic web usage. This included an introduction to the Bayesian Web, a concept developed by Professor Baclawski for combining logic and probability.
The tutorial concluded with some practical advice on ontology design, including language and tool selection, acquiring domain knowledge, and ontology re-use.
