Federal Region 4 Semantic Interoperability Pilot Project: Community of Practice and Plans

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Federal Region 4 Semantic Interoperability Pilot
ProjectCommunity of Practice and Plans

• Semantic Interoperability SiG Study Group (SISiG)
• Architecture and Infrastructure Committee (AIC),
  CIO Council
• Brand Niemann
• Co-Chair Semantic Interoperability Community of
  Practice (SICoP)
• Best Practices Committee (BPC), CIO Council, and
• Enterprise Architecture Team, Office of
  Environmental Information
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• October 28 and November 4, 2004

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Overview

• 1. Background
• Whats Being Done to Help?
• 2. Community of Practice (CoP)
• Who is Helping?
• 3. Plans
• What Are Some Key Dates?

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1. Background

• 1.1 CIOCs Architecture and Infrastructure
  Committee (AIC) FY2005 Tasks (7) and fostering
  communities of practice on XML and semantic
  interoperability
• Task 1 - Evolution of the FEA Reference Models
• FEA/DRM Ontology and Tools Collaborative
  Expedition Workshops/SICoP Meetings October 19th,
  December 9th, etc.
• Task 2 Update the Service Component-Based
  Architectures Paper (June 2004)
• Needs to reflect evolution from standard data
  vocabularies and XML Schema to domain ontology
  and loose coupling. See SICoP Module 1 (Semantic
  Interoperability Primer) and Slide 7.

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1. Background

• 1.1 CIOCs Architecture and Infrastructure
  Committee (AIC) FY2005 Tasks (7) and fostering
  communities of practice on XML and semantic
  interoperability (continued)
• Task 3 Redesign Portal for CORE.Gov and Examine
  Integration with Other Registries and
  Repositories
• Componenttechnology.Org CoPs Federated
  Repositories FEA-Compliant Reference Models Web
  Site Launched with Nearly 200 High-Quality
  Components Using Logidex Asset Center (September
  16, 2004).
• Task 4 Develop a Unifying Framework for
  Enterprise Transformation (Ontology)
• SICoP work on Module 2 (Business Case for
  Semantic Interoperability), Common Upper Ontology
  (Army), Module 3 (Implementing the Semantic Web),
  Ontology Tools and Pilot Projects, etc.

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1. Background

• 1.1 CIOCs Architecture and Infrastructure
  Committee (AIC) FY2005 Tasks (7) and fostering
  communities of practice on XML and semantic
  interoperability (continued)
• Task 5 Support the Vertical Integration of EA
• Federal Region 4 Semantic Interoperability Pilot
  Project.
• Task 6 Develop Identification and Validation
  Process for Emerging Technologies
• Collaborative Expedition Workshops/SICoP work on
  RSS/RDF feeds from the semantic interoperability
  vendors and their pilots for the Semantic Web
  Applications for National Security (SWANS)
  Conference, February 8-9, 2005.
• Task 7 Support the Chief Architects Forum
• Invited to participate in the Collaborative
  Expedition Workshops, Componenttechnology.Org
  Conferences, SICoP Meetings and Conferences,
  SISiG, etc.

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1. Background

• 1.1 CIOCs Best Practices Committee (BPC) SICoP
  Activities
• January 2003 The CIO Councils XML Web Services
  Working Group Pilot Project becomes-
• September 2003 The First Annual Semantic
  Technologies for eGov Conference at the White
  House Conference Center which fosters-
• March 2004 The SICoP which produces the White
  Paper Series and becomes a public-private
  partnership to produce-
• September 2004 The Second Annual Semantic
  Technologies for eGov Conference and
• September 2004 Adaptive Information Improving
  Business Through Semantic Interoperability, Grid
  Computing Enterprise Integration,
  Wiley-Interscience by Pollack and Hodgson.

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1. Background

• Adaptive Information Improving Business Through
  Semantic Interoperability, Grid Computing
  Enterprise Integration, Wiley-Interscience by
  Pollack and Hodgson (Excerpts)
• A revolutionary new framework for the
  infrastructures of the future semantically
  aware, driven by models of information, process,
  and service interfaces and able to learn new
  behavior, find patterns, and rebuild itself for
  new platforms.
• Provides many examples of how semantic
  interoperability already fosters new
  capabilities, speeds up processes, and reduces
  costs using metadata, ontologies, and software
  tools.
• Ontology and ontology patterns are the applied
  use of long-time, fundamental engineering
  patterns of indirection and abstraction.
• Ontology is a multi-faceted solution to a wide
  range of problems.

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1. Background

• Adaptive Information (continued)
• Standard vocabularies will not be the primary
  vehicles of information between systems that need
  a flexible and robust method to communicate with
  each other. There are at least 13 data
  conflicts that must be dealt with in syntactic
  and semantic interoperability.
• Metadata is an overloaded term. All IT systems
  are metadata systems. For semantic
  interoperability, metadata is necessary, but not
  sufficient. Of the five core metadata layers,
  referent metadata is the most valuable for
  semantic interoperability but it also the least
  developed.
• RDF and OWL support smart query across
  structured, semi structured, and unstructured
  data that is not possible with traditional
  integration technologies.
• No other software technology on the horizon has
  the possibility to improve the usefulness of data
  to the same degree that semantics-aware software
  will, but semantic technologies have not yet
  crossed the chasm.

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1. Background

• 1.2 EPA Region 4 - Implementing a
  Service-Oriented Architecture Pilot Project
  Design and Initial Results (October 1, 2004)
• Followed the SOA Roadmap Steps From My Recent EA
  Conference Session, September 21, 2004, (1)
  Service Taxonomy-driven Enterprise Architecture
  and Communities of Practice, (2) Federated
  Repository, and (3) Semantic Interoperability.
• Used the Draft Region 4 Business Technology
  Infrastructure Assessment, October, 2004.
• Developed An Initial Information Architecture
  (Ontology) Consisting of the 4 Es (Enterprise
  Architecture, Environmental Indicators, Exchange
  Network, and Emergency Operations).
• Repurposed Selected Content Sources Into An
  Integrated Data Information Platform (See Slide
  10).
• Applied the New Web Services for Remote Portlets
  (WSRP) Technology to a EPA Region 4 Roles-based
  Scenario (See Slide 11).
• Started to Implement the W3Cs Semantic Web for
  E-Government Suggestions From the September 8-9,
  2004 Conference.
• Used the EPA Region 4 Pilots Results to Jump
  Start the Broader Federal Region 4 Pilot That is
  Part of the AIC and BPC Activities (See Slide 12).

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1. Background
NextPage Dynamic Knowledge Repositories in a
Service-Oriented Architecture
http//web-services.gov, Best Practices
Repository, Region IV Node
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1. Background
Oracle 10g Demonstration Shows WSRP
Producer-Consumer-User Roles
Demonstration Available on Secure Internal Server
by Invitation
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1. Background

• 1.3 Portals from Nodes, Portlets, and Distributed
  Content Networks (October 22, 2004)
• Showed how portals can be built from nodes,
  portlets, and distributed content networks using
  standards-compliant platforms that provide data
  integration with EPA content and interoperability
  with non-EPA content.
• Showed how this supports EPA senior management
  direction at the recent IT Contractors Forum,
  October 13, 2004.
• Showed how the pilot projects can be mapped to
  the initial information architecture (Ontology)
  consisting of the 4 Es (Enterprise Architecture,
  Environmental Indicators, Exchange Network, and
  Emergency Operations).
• Provided for each pilot project the following
  Brief Description, Architecture, Screen Capture,
  and Recognitions.

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2. Community of Practice (CoP)

• 2.1 Richard Hammond, EPA Region 4.
• 2.2 Starbourne/Oracle Team (See Slides 14-15).
• 2.3 City of Atlanta CIOs Office
• Al Buckmaster.
• 2.4 National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership
  (NNIP)
• Tom Kingsley, Director, Urban Institute.
• 2.5 Presidential Management Fellow (IRS/DHS)
• Larry Jacobs (90 rotation to work on Module 3
  Implementing the Semantic Web lead by Mike
  Daconta, DHS).
• 2.6 RSS/RDF Feeds Team (See Slide 16).

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2. Community of Practice (CoP)

• 2.2 Starbourne/Oracle Team
• Rex Brooks, President and CEO of Starbourne
  Communications Design and Executive Director of
  Humanmarkup.org, Inc. as well as co-chair of the
  OASIS Human Markup Technical Committee.
• Ranjeeth Kumar Thunga, founded the OASIS
  HumanMarkup Technical Committee and the
  Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Corporation,
  Humanmarkup.org, Inc. He serves as co-chair of
  the OASIS HumanMarkup TC.
• Russell Ruggiero, Senior IT Analyst and Project
  Manager.

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2. Community of Practice (CoP)

• 2.2 Starbourne/Oracle Team
• Mohamad Afshar Ph.D., Director, Product
  Management, Oracle Application Server 10g.
• Carrie-Anne Michos, Technical Director,
  OracleDirect - Government, Education, Health.
• Ali Niazi, Senior WSRP Oracle Developer and
  Senior Sales Consultant.
• Subramanyam Ramarao, Sales Consulting Manager.
• Rajesh Pathak, Technical Consultant.
• Prashanth Rao, Senior Sales Consultant.
• Susmith Gopalan, Senior Sales Consultant.
• Evan Quinn, Senior Director, Analyst Relations.

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2. Community of Practice (CoP)

• 2.6 RSS/RDF Feeds Team
• Susan Turnbull, GSA
• Brand Niemann, EPA
• Peter Yim, CIM3
• Bill Kearney, Syndic8
• Mark Frautschi, Independent Consultant
• Brownell Chalstrom, Venture Partner with Avansis
  Ventures and Investor in Tucana Technologies
  (RDF, OWL)
• Marc Wine, VA

Web forms, XML validation, syndication, and data
store searching.
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3. Plans

• Semantic Interoperability Study Interest Group
  (SISIG)
• October 28 Orientation.
• November 4 Dialogue with Recognized
  Practitioners.
• December 8 AIC Leadership Briefing (Kim Nelson,
  et. al.).
• Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice
  (SICoP)
• November 16 XML 2004 Conference - Keynote,
  Session Track, and Release of White Paper Module
  1 (Semantic Primer).
• November 17 XML 2004 Conference - Town Hall
  Networking of Six XML-based CoPs.
• December 9 Collaborative Expedition Workshop -
  All Things Ontological with NIH, NSF, Army,
  FEA/DRM, etc.
• February 8-9, 2005 Semantic Web Applications for
  National Security (SWANS) with DARPA/DAML
  Ontology Pilots.

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3. Plans

• National Infrastructure for Community Statistics
  (NICS) Community of Practice
• September 27 Community Organizations Learning
  Phase Workshop.
• September 30 Participation in the Key National
  Indicators Initiative (KNII) Workshop on
  Collaborative Decision-making.
• November 17 State Organizations Learning Phase
  Workshop.
• December and January 2005 Federal Agencies and
  Commercial and National Non-Profit Organizations
  Learning Phase Workshops.
• February 2005 NICE Business Case National
  Conference.