The Semantic Web A Guide to the Future of XML, Web Services, and Knowledge Management

by Daconta, Michael C.; Obrst, Leo J.; Smith, Kevin T.

• ISBN13: 9780471432579
• ISBN10: 0471432571
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-30
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

"The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation." -Tim Berners-Lee, Scientific American, May 2001 This authoritative guide shows how the Semantic Web works technically and how businesses can utilize it to gain a competitive advantage Explains what taxonomies and ontologies are as well as their importance in constructing the Semantic Web Companion Web site includes further updates as the framework develops and links to related sites

Author Biography

MICHAEL C. DACONTA is the Chief Scientist of the Advanced Programs Group at McDonald Bradley, where he serves as the Chief Architect on the DOD&#8217;s Virtual Knowledge Base Project. He is the author of numerous programming books and a columnist for JavaWorld magazine and ZDNET.com. <p> DR. LEO J. OBRST is an Artificial Intelligence Scientist at the MITRE Corporation, where he leads the Information Semantics team, and is a key participating member of numerous Semantic Web standards. <p> T. SMITH is a Principal Software Architect at McDonald Bradley, where he serves as Chief Security Architect on the DOD&#8217;s Virtual Knowledge Base Project. He is an author of several programming books and speaks at industry conferences.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xiii
Acknowledgments	xix
Foreword	xxi
Chapter 1 What Is the semantic Web?	1	(16)
What Is the Semantic Web?	1	(3)
Why Do We Need the Semantic Web?	4	(3)
Information Overload	4	(1)
Stovepipe systems	5	(1)
Poor Content Aggregation	6	(1)
How Does XML Fit into the Semantic Web?	7	(1)
How Do Web Services Fit into the Semantic Web?	7	(1)
What's after Web Services?	8	(4)
What Do the skeptics say about the Semantic Web?	12	(1)
Why the Skeptics Are Wrong!	13	(1)
Summary	14	(3)
Chapter 2 The Business Case for the Semantic Web	17	(10)
What Is the Semantic Web Good For?	18	(6)
Decision Support	19	(2)
Business Development	21	(1)
Information sharing and Knowledge Discovery	22	(1)
Administration and Automation	22	(2)
Is the Technology for the Semantic Web "There Yet"?	24	(1)
Summary	25	(2)
Chapter 3 Understanding XML and Its Impact on the Enterprise	27	(30)
Why Is XML a Success?	27	(5)
What Is XML?	32	(16)
Why Should Documents Be Well-Formed and Valid?	36	(1)
What Is XML Schema?	37	(5)
What Do Schemas Look Like?	38	(3)
Is Validation Worth the Trouble?	41	(1)
What Are XML Namespaces?	42	(3)
What Is the Document Object Model (DOM)?	45	(3)
Impact of XML on Enterprise IT	48	(3)
Why Meta Data Is Not Enough	51	(3)
Semantic Levels	52	(1)
Rules and Logic	53	(1)
Inference Engines	54	(1)
Summary	54	(3)
Chapter 4 Understanding Web Services	57	(28)
What Are Web services?	57	(4)
Why Use Web Services?	61	(4)
Do Web Services Solve Real Problems?	61	(2)
Is There Really a Future for Web Services?	63	(1)
How Can I Use Web Services?	64	(1)
Understanding the Basics of Web Services	65	(11)
What Is SOAP?	65	(3)
How to Describe Basic Web services	68	(1)
How to Discover Web Services	69	(3)
What Is UDDI?	69	(2)
What Are ebXML Registries?	71	(1)
Orchestrating Web Services	72	(4)
A Simple Example	73	(2)
Orchestration Products and Technologies	75	(1)
Securing Web services	76	(6)
XML Signature	79	(1)
XML Encryption	80	(1)
XKMS	80	(1)
SAML	80	(1)
XACML	81	(1)
WS-Security	81	(1)
Liberty Alliance Project	81	(1)
Where Security Is Today	82	(1)
What's Next for Web services?	82	(2)
Grid-Enabled Web Services	82	(1)
A Semantic Web of Web Services	83	(1)
Summary	84	(1)
Chapter 5 Understanding the Resource Description Framework	85	(34)
What Is RDF?	85	(11)
Capturing Knowledge with RDF	89	(3)
Other RDF Features	92	(4)
Why Is RDF Not in the Mainstream?	96	(8)
What Is RDF Schema?	104	(7)
What Is Noncontextual Modeling?	111	(5)
Summary	116	(3)
Chapter 6 Understanding the Rest of the Alphabet Soup	119	(26)
XPath	119	(2)
The Style Sheet Family: XSL, XSLT, and XSLFO	121	(5)
XQuery	126	(1)
XLink	127	(3)
XPointer	130	(2)
XInclude	132	(1)
XML Base	133	(1)
XHTML	134	(2)
XForms	136	(5)
SVG	141	(1)
Summary	142	(3)
Chapter 7 Understanding Taxonomies	145	(36)
Overview of Taxonomies	145	(11)
Why Use Taxonomies?	151	(5)
Defining the Ontology Spectrum	156	(11)
Taxonomy	158	(1)
Thesaurus	159	(7)
Logical Theory	166	(1)
Ontology	166	(1)
Topic Maps	167	(9)
Topic Maps standards	168	(2)
Topic Maps Concepts	170	(6)
Topic	170	(2)
Occurrence	172	(1)
Association	173	(1)
Subject Descriptor	174	(1)
Scope	175	(1)
Topic Maps versus RDF	176	(4)
RDF Revisited	176	(2)
Comparing Topic Maps and RDF	178	(2)
Summary	180	(1)
Chapter 8 Understanding Ontologies	181	(58)
Overview of Ontologies	182	(9)
Ontology Example	182	(3)
Ontology Definitions	185	(6)
Syntax, Structure, Semantics, and Pragmatics	191	(14)
Syntax	192	(1)
Structure	193	(2)
Semantics	195	(6)
Pragmatics	201	(4)
Expressing Ontologies Logically	205	(16)
Term versus Concept: Thesaurus versus Ontology	208	(4)
Important Semantic Distinctions	212	(9)
Extension and Intension	212	(5)
Levels of Representation	217	(1)
Ontology and Semantic Mapping Problem	218	(3)
Knowledge Representation: Languages, Formalisms, Logics	221	(9)
Semantic Networks, Frame-Based KR, and Description Logics	221	(5)
Logic and Logics	226	(1)
Propositional Logic	227	(1)
First-Order Predicate Logic	228	(2)
Ontologies Today	230	(7)
Ontology Tools	230	(1)
Levels of Ontologies: Revisited	230	(2)
Emerging Semantic Web Ontology Languages	232	(11)
DAML+OIL	232	(2)
OWL	234	(3)
Summary	237	(2)
Chapter 9 Crafting Your Company's Roadmap to the Semantic Web	239	(16)
The Typical Organization: Overwhelmed with Information	239	(4)
The Knowledge-Centric Organization: Where We Need to Be	243	(6)
Discovery and Production	243	(2)
Search and Retrieval	245	(2)
Application of Results	247	(2)
How Do We Get There?	249	(5)
Prepare for Change	249	(1)
Begin Learning	250	(2)
Create Your Organization's strategy	252	(2)
Move Out!	254	(1)
Summary	254	(1)
Appendix References	255	(10)
Index	265