Home Organization Important Dates Workshops/Tutorials Registration Travel Information Important Dates Call for Submissions
Ontology-based Data Access
Diego Calvanese and Domenico Lembo
In this tutorial we provide a comprehensive understanding of the problem of ontology-based data access, from both the theoretical and the practical points of view. We address several problems that are crucial in this context, such as expressiveness/efficiency tradeoff, query processing, impedance mismatch between ontology and data levels, and integration of multiple data sources. We present solutions to these problems based on recent research results in the area of tractable Description Logics, and we provide also a ``hands-on'' experience with QuOnto, a state-of-the-art system for ontology-based data access.


Semantic Web Technologies for Knowledge Management in Large Distributed Organizations
Fabio Ciravegna, Sam Chapman
Nowadays large organizations handle very large quantities of multimedia information in distributed archives. Successfully managing knowledge means being able to provide the right information at the right time to the right person. As the size and number of such archives is growing and large organizations become geographically distributed, the sharing of knowledge becomes more and more complex. Traditional models based on centralized archives are becoming largely inadequate solutions.

In this tutorial I will describe and discuss the challenge of managing knowledge in large organizations and the way Semantic Web technologies can be used to support the acquisition, sharing and reuse of knowledge, integrating more traditional methods in order to provide effective management of knowledge. The tutorial will draw examples from real use cases and will present cases of successful deployment of semantic web technologies.


Ontology Engineering and Plug-in Development with the NeOn Toolkit
Michael Erdmann, Peter Haase, Raphael Volz,Rudi Studer
Our tutorial targets ontology modelers and engineers. The tutorial will provide guidance for the development of ontology-based applications with respect to the complete ontology lifecycle. We illustrate fundamental principles and best practices in ontology design, mapping, evolution and reasoning in practical examples. We exercise ontology engineering and development activities using the NeOn Toolkit, a state-of-the-art open source ontology design environment including support for engineering ontologies and semantic applications.


What Semantic Web researchers need to know about Machine Learning
Marko Grobelnik, Blaz Fortuna, Dunja Mladenic
The tutorial will cover basic topics from the field of Machine Learning explained in an intuitive way relevant for Semantic Web researchers and practitioners. In the first part the topics will cover brief top level overview of the Machine Learning field, its algorithms, and data types being analyzed. In the second part we will cover relation to Semantic Web and Web2.0. In the last part we will perform hands-on exercise with some of the tools for modeling text semantics and social networks in analytical way.


User-Centered Design for the Semantic Web
Anthony Jameson and Lora Aroyo
There has been a rapid recent increase in interest in the design of user interfaces for systems based on semantic technologies. This tutorial aims to enable those who are involved in the design and development of such systems to benefit from the rich repertoire of concepts and methods offered by the field of human-computer interaction. The first part presents a number of general usability challenges associated with semantic technologies and discusses ways of dealing with them, referring for concreteness to two complementary case studies: a web-based system for access to semantically annotated cultural artifacts and a semantic wiki that features novel interfaces for the annotation of scientific webpages. The second, longer part of the tutorial covers in turn the most important methods used in three phases of the user-centered design process: requirements gathering, iterative testing of interfaces, and summative evaluation. Participants will be able to practice the use of relevant methods on a small scale with reference to the case study systems. Overall, the presentation will alternate between compact lectures by the instructors (referring to concrete examples) and hands-on work by the participants.


Semantic Business Process Management
Armin Haller, Carlos Pedrinaci, Liliana Cabral, Michael Stollberg, and Marin Dimitrov
The tutorial explains and demonstrates how the combination of Business Process Management (BPM) and Semantic Web Services (SWS) can eliminate the deficiencies that current BPM technology exhibits. We will present the state of the art in both areas (business process management and process execution, the SOA concept in BPM, the SWS approach and frameworks, etc.), motivate the need for explicit use of semantics to overcome the current challenges in BPM, and present a consolidated technical framework that integrates SWS into BPM technology. The tutorial will be held as a full day event: the morning session will cover the foundations and theoretical aspects, while the afternoon will be dedicated to a comprehensive hands-on session wherein the attendees actively model Business Processes and Semantic Web Services with respective software tools. Attendees will gain a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in semantically enriched BPM technology, which is one of the central trends in BPM research and development. The tutorial will be held by BPM and SWS experts that actively work on integration of both technologies in the EU-funded SUPER project.


Using Social Network Analysis, Geotemporal Reasoning, and RDFS++ Reasoning for Business Intelligence
Jans Aasman
Most of the attention in the Semantic Web world is currently focused on using ontologies, rdfs and owl reasoning to get more value out of enterprise data. Many enterprise databases are full of information about people, companies, relationships between people and companies, places and events. The Semantic Web literature also carries the promise of analyzing networks of people, networks of companies and events in time and space. This talk will show how Business Intelligence problems can be solved with a combination of basic semantic web reasoning and complementary techniques such as social network analysis and geotemporal reasoning. We will be using AllegroGraph in this talk, but the concepts learned will transfer to other Semantic Web solutions.


Invited Tutorial: An Introduction to the Semantic Web
Sean Bechhofer, Fabio Ciravegna, John Domingue, Jerome Euzenat, Aldo Gangemi, Asun Gomez Perez, Jim Hendler, David Martin, Enrico Motta and Natasha Noy
This invited tutorial will give an overview of the Semantic Web enabling conference attendees to better understand the technical presentations in the main conference and associated workshops. Building upon a series of week long Semantic Web summer schools which have been running successfully since 2003 (see http://knowledgeweb.semanticweb.org/sssw07) this tutorial brings together some of the key researchers in the area of the Semantic Web.