Semantic Web Agents: Hope or Hype

Nicholas GibbinsSchool of Electronics and Computer ScienceUniversity of Southampton

The Cynic’s View

The Semantic Web and agent technologies are just old-fashioned artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence hasn’t delivered on its previous promises, so why should it now?

What is the Semantic Web?

The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web in which information is given a well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. It is the idea of having data on the Web defined and linked in a way that it can be used for more effective discovery, automation, integration and reuse across various applications. The Web can reach its full potential if it becomes a place where data can be processed by automated tools as well as people.

W3C Activity Statement

Example: Scientific American article

Tim Berners-Lee

James Hendler

Ora Lassila

The Semantic Web

Scientific American

vcard:fn

vcard:fn

vcard:fn

dc:title

dc:title

dc:creator

akt:publishedIn dc:creator

dc:creator

2001-05

dc:date

Relation and object types aredefined in a machine-understandableform – an ontology

The Semantic Web layer cake

XML + Namespaces

URI Unicode

Sig

natu

re

Encr

ypti

on

Rules

Proof

Trust

RDF

RDF Schema

OWL

Identity

Standard syntax

Metadata

Ontologies +Inference

Explanation

Attribution

SPARQL(queries)

User Interface and Applications

Semantic Webc. 2004

The Semantic Web Hype Cycle

TechnologyTrigger

Peak of InflatedExpectation

Trough ofDisillusionment

Slope ofEnlightenment

Plateau ofProductivity

Vis

ibili

ty

Maturity

Gartner

Which Semantic Web?

Semantic Web as the Annotated Web

∙ Enrich existing web pages with annotations∙ Classify web pages∙ Use natural language techniques to extract

information from web pages

∙ Annotations enable enhanced browsing and searching

∙ (but NLP is hard)

Which Semantic Web?

Semantic Web as the Web of Data

∙ Expose existing databases in a common format∙ Express database schemas in a machine-

understandable form

∙ Common format allows the integration of data in unexpected ways

∙ Machine-understandable schemas allow reasoning about data

∙ (make the most of the structure you already have)

Rocket Science (not)

Is this rocket science? Well, not really. The Semantic Web, like the World Wide Web, is just taking well established ideas, and making them work interoperably over the Internet. This is done with standards, which is what the World Wide Web Consortium is all about. We are not inventing relational models for data, or query systems or rule-based systems. We are just webizing them. We are just allowing them to work together in a decentralized system - without a human having to custom handcraft every connection.

Tim Berners-Lee, Business Case for the Semantic Web, http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Business

e-Science and the Semantic Web

∙ e-Science characterised as:∙ Large-scale science∙ Distributed global collaborations∙ Very large data collections∙ Very large scale computing resources

∙ Data integration will be a major issue∙ Capture, publish, reuse data∙ Agreed vocabularies for data exchange

∙ Improving the information environment for chemists – both within and beyond the lab

∙ Supporting chemists in the preparation, execution, analysis and dissemination of their work

http://www.smarttea.org/

Data Capture: The Lab Notebook

1 1 2 2 1 3

Sample of 4-flourinatedbiphenyl

Add Reflux

Butanone Sample ofK2CO3Powder

Weigh

grammes0.9031

Measure

40 ml

Add

Weigh

2.0719 g

text

Butanone dried via silica column andmeasured into 100ml RB flask.

Used 1ml extra solvent to wash outcontainer.

Started reflux at 13.30. (Had tochange heater stirrer) Only reflux

for 45min, next step 14:15.

Add RefluxAdd

Dissolve 4-flourinatedbiphenyl inbutanone

Add K2CO3powder

Heat at refluxfor 1.5 hours

text

Annotate

Annotate

Ingredient List

Fluorinated biphenyl 0.9 gBr11OCB 1.59 gPotassium Carbonate 2.07 gButanone 40 ml

Publish and Reuse

http://ecrystals.chem.soton.ac.uk

Exchange Vocabularies

∙ BioPax Ontology (biological pathways)∙ Metabolic and signalling pathways, molecular

interactions

∙ Gene Ontology (genes and gene products)∙ Molecular function, cellular component,

biological process

∙ NCI Cancer Ontology∙ Diseases, drugs, anatomy, genes

(and many others from other disciplines)

What are Agents?

∙ Many definitions of agent∙ Mobile agents∙ Collaborative agents∙ Social agents∙ Interface agents

∙ Three broad perspectives:∙ Agents as design metaphor∙ Agents as technology source∙ Agents as simulation

Agent Based Computing

∙ Societies of components, owned by different organisations

∙ Components provide services to each other∙ Computing as a social activity

∙ Workflows and Planning∙ Coordination, Collaboration and Negotiation∙ Markets and auctions∙ Models of trust and reputation

∙ Managing the distributed processing of data

The Agent Hype Cycle

TechnologyTrigger

Peak of InflatedExpectation

Trough ofDisillusionment

Slope ofEnlightenment

Plateau ofProductivity

Vis

ibili

ty

Maturity

Agentsc. 1995

Agentsc. 2005

What’s different this time?

∙ First agent wave assumed that a special agent infrastructure was needed∙ Hindered integration with existing systems∙ Several high-profile failures in the

marketplace

∙ Second agent wave is building on existing technologies such as Web Services∙ Incremental approach that integrates

existing systems∙ Can be aligned with related work on Grid

Computing

Grid Computing

∙ e-Science applications typically have very high computational requirements

∙ Grid Computing provides an infrastructure for∙ Flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing∙ Dynamic collections of individuals, institutions

and resources∙ Virtual organisations∙ Workflow management

∙ Social computing, in effect

http://www.combechem.org/

X-Raye-Lab

Analysis

Propertiese-Lab

SimulationVide

oD

iffra

ctom

et

er

Grid Middleware

StructuresDatabase

Properties

http://www.mygrid.org.uk

The Next Generation Grid

“The ongoing convergence between Grids, Web Services and the Semantic Web is a fundamental step towards the realisation of a common service-oriented architecture empowering people to create, provide, access and use a variety of intelligent services, anywhere, anytime, in a secure, cost-effective and trustworthy way.”

Next Generation Grids 2 Requirements and Options for

European Grids Research 2005-2010 and Beyond

EU Expert Group Report July 2004

The Semantic Grid

∙ Grid Computing + Semantic Web∙ Information and services are given a

well-defined meaning ∙ Uses SW technologies – OWL, RDF, etc∙ Ontologies for describing services

∙ Better enables computers and peopleto work in cooperation∙ Requires coordination and planning

capabilities found in agent technologies

Hope or Hype?

∙ Web Services and Grid Computing are already a reality

∙ The Semantic Web is being used in large-scale e-Science applications

∙ Agent technology is approaching maturity, and offers management of rich patterns of interaction in service-oriented systems

Thank you!