Missouri Botanical Garden Open Conference Systems, TDWG 2013 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

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Primer on Semantic Technologies
Steve Baskauf, Mark Schildhauer

Building: Grand Hotel Mediterraneo
Room: Sala dei Continenti
Date: 2013-10-29 04:00 PM – 05:00 PM
Last modified: 2013-10-05

Abstract


Semantic technologies include a spectrum of tools that can be used to encode, transmit, and interpret data. With the increasing prominence of the Web for sharing knowledge, it is becoming more important to expose documents and data according to emerging semantic standards and their associated reasoning tools. In this session, we will review the layers of the semantic "stack": starting with the flexible “triple” data structure, to its formalization in RDF (Resource Description Framework), the added features within RDFS (RDF Schema), and finally some of the main features OWL (Web Ontology Language); and describe what these enable us to do.  We will describe the principles of Linked Open Data (LOD) and how the Semantic Web extends the principles of LOD, including the need for persistent, resolvable URIs.  We will define terms such as "vocabulary" and "ontology", and illustrate the different ways these terms are applied to collections of metadata terms.  We will also describe several standard tools for deriving information from semantically enriched data: SPARQL queries and OWL reasoners.  The technologies described in this session will be illustrated with examples from the biodiversity informatics community where these exist.  This Primer Session should provide a strong baseline for a greater understanding and participation in the other semantics-oriented sessions at TDWG 2013.