Wednesday, 5/23/2007
9:15 AM - 10:15 AM
Level: Technical - Intermediate

W3C XML Schema was designed to be flexible enough to satisfy a diverse set of user requirements in a wide range of environments. Its flexibility offers the designer many choices. Such flexibility brings certain drawbacks when attempting to use XML in a manner that enhances rather than detracts from interoperability, or more succinctly, when attempting to ensure consistency in XML implementations across an enterprise. The work we will be speaking about is in support of the NASA NExIOM (Exploration Initiatives Ontology Models) project where we use ontologies to mitigate the need for multiple translation scripts when a tool or a system has to use the XML output of another system. Likewise, we want to reduce the need for such scripts while achieving aggregation of the XML feeds from multiple systems. We have constrained the specifications of XML Schemas so that a single translation mechanism can be used to transform any XML instances compliant with Ontology-based Naming and Design Rules (NDR rules) into RDF and OWL structures. In this way, ontologies can be used to integrate, interoperate and mediate information exchange. We have also implemented a standard approach for annotating legacy XML Schemas (and schemas that for some reasons can’t comply fully with the NDR) with semantic annotations. We are calling this proposed standard XML+se or XML Semantic Extensions. XML+se does for XML what RDFa and microformats do for HTML. The talk will describe examples that have the objectives to:

• Capture knowledge across mission and system lifecycles;
• Represent information in a tool-neutral and project independent manner;
• Improve decision support, throughout the life-cycle, for risk, performance and costs both in trade studies and across mission and system lifecycles, including long-term maintenance and evolution; and
• Support interoperability through controlled information models and ontology architectures.

Ralph Hodgson is a co-founder and executive partner at TopQuadrant, Inc., a US-based company that specializes in semantic technology consulting, training and tools. He combines expertise in semantic technologies with over 25 years of experience in business application develoAMent and deployment, consulting, software develoAMent and strategic planning. Prior to starting TopQuadrant in 2001, he held executive consulting positions at IBM Global Services where he was a founding member of Portal Practice and Object Technology Practice. Prior to IBM, he was European Technology Director, founder and Managing Director of Interactive DeveloAMent Environments, which was an international CASE tools vendor. Between 1996 and 2000, he organized the OOPSLA workshops on "System Envisioning". He is a published author and a frequent speaker at conferences. Recent books he has co-authored are "Adaptive Information" published by John Wiley in 2004 and "Capability Cases: A Solution Envisioning Approach" published by Addison-Wesley in July 2005.