Introduction to the

Semantic Web

Payam Barnaghi
 The Semantic Web
“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 co-operation.“
[Berners-Lee et al, 2001]

2
 Today’s Web
 Currently most of the Web content is suitable
for human use.
 Typical uses of the Web today are information
seeking, publishing, and using, searching for
people and products, shopping, reviewing
catalogues, etc.
 Dynamic pages generated based on information
from databases but without original information
structure found in databases.

3
Limitations of the Web Search today

 The Web search results are high recall,

low precision.
 Results are highly sensitive to vocabulary.
 Results are single Web pages.
 Most of the publishing contents are not
structured to allow logical reasoning and
query answering.

4
Today’s Web

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 What is a Web of Data?
Thinking back a bit... 1994

HTML and URIs

Markup language and means

for connecting resources

Below the file level

Stopped at the text level

[Miller 04]
6
 What is a Web of Data?
(continued)
Now

XML, RDF, OWL and URIs

Markup language and means for

connecting resources

Below the file level

Below the text level

At the data level

[Miller 04]
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The Syntactic Web

[Hendler & Miller 02]

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 What is the Problem?
 Consider a typical web page:
 Markup consists of:
 rendering information
(e.g., font size and
colour)
 Hyper-links to related
content
 Semantic content is
accessible to humans but
not (easily) to
computers…

[Davies, 03]
9
 i.e. the Syntactic Web is…

 A place where
 computers do the presentation (easy) and
 people do the linking and interpreting (hard).

 Why not get computers to do more of the

hard work?

[Goble, 03]
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 Web 2
 It is all about people, collaboration,
media, ...

[The mind-map pictured above constructed by Markus Angermeier, source Wikipedia]

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 Web 2.0 and Folksonomies

[http://flickr.com/photos/tags/]
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 Machine-accessible Content
 The main obstacle to provide better
support to Web users is that, at present ,
the meaning of Web content is not
machine accessible.
 Although there are tools to retrieve
texts, but when it comes to interpreting
sentence and extracting useful
information for the user, the capabilities
of current software are still very limited.

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 Distinguishing the meaning
 It is simply difficult for machines to
distinguish the meaning of:
I am a philosopher.
from
I am a philosopher, you may think.
Well,…

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 …Limitations of the Web today

The Web activities are mostly focus on Machine-to-Human,

and Machine-to-Machine activities are not particularly well
supported by software tools.
[Davies, 03]
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 How Can the Current Situation be
Improved?
 An alternative approach is to represent
Web content in a form that is more easily
machine-accessible and to use intelligent
techniques to take advantage of these
presentations.

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Machine Accessible Meaning

name

education

CV
work

private

[Davies, 03]
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 XML
User definable and domain specific markup
HTML:
<H1>Internet and World Wide Web</H1>
<UL>
<LI>Code: G52IWW
<LI>Students: Undergraduate
</UL>
XML:
<module>
<title>Internet and World Wide Web</title>
<code>G52IWW</code>
<students>Undergraduate</students>
</module>
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 XML: Document = labeled tree
 node = label + contents
<module date=“...”>
<title>...</title> module
<lecturer>
<name>...</name>
= title lecturer students

<weblink>...</weblink>
</lecturer> name weblink
<students>...</students>
</module>

 DTD: describe the grammar and structure of

permissible XML trees

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 But What about this?

name >
< name

<education>
< education>

CV >
< CV
<work>
< work>

<private>
< private >

[Davies, 03]
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 XML
 Meaning of XML-Documents is intuitively clear
 due to "semantic" Mark-Up
 tags are domain-terms
 But, computers do not have intuition
 tag-names do not provide semantics for machines.

 DTDs or XML Schema specify the structure of

documents, not the meaning of the document contents

 XML lacks a semantic model

 has only a "surface model”, i.e. tree

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 XML:
limitations for semantic markup
 XML representation makes no commitment on:
 Domain specific ontological vocabulary
 Which words shall we use to describe a given set of concepts?
 Ontological modelling primitives
 How can we combine these concepts, e.g. “car is a-kind-of (subclass-
of) vehicle”
 requires pre-arranged agreement on vocabulary and
primitives
 Only feasible for closed collaboration
 agents in a small & stable community
 pages on a small & stable intranet
.. not for sharable Web-resources
[Davies, 03]

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 XML is a first step
 Semantic markup
 HTML  layout
 XML  content

 Metadata
 within documents, not across documents
 prescriptive, not descriptive
 No commitment on vocabulary and modelling
primitives
 RDF is the next step
[Davies, 03]
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 Resource Description
Framework (RDF)
 A standard of W3C
 Relationships between documents
 Consisting of triples or sentences:
 <subject, property, object>
 <“Mozart”, composed, “The Magic Flute” >
 RDFS extends RDF with standard “ontology
vocabulary”:
 Class, Property
 Type, subClassOf
 domain, range

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 RDF for semantic annotation
 RDF provides metadata about Web resources
 Object -> Attribute-> Value triples
 It has an XML syntax
 Chained triples form a graph
http://sepang.nottingham.edu.my/~bpayam/images/payam-barnaghi.png

has_image
http://sepang.nottingham.edu.my/~bpayam/#Payam

UNiM has_email payam@nottingh

#Payam am

has_owner has_teaching
<rdf:Description rdf:about=“#Payam”>
http://www.nottingham.edu.my/CSIT/G53ELC <has_email>payam@nottingham</has_email>
</rdf:Description>

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 RDF: Basic Ideas
 Resources
 Every resource has a URI (Universal Resource
Identifier)
 A URI can be a URL (a web address) or a some other
kind of identifier;
 An identifier does not necessarily enable access to a
resources
 We can think of a resources as an object that we
want to describe it.
 Books
 Person
 Places, etc.

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 RDF: Basic Ideas
 Properties
 Properties are special kind of resources;
 Properties describe relations between
resources.
 For example: “written by”, “composed by”,
“title”, “topic”, etc.
 Properties in RDF are also identified by URIs.

 This provides a global, unique naming

scheme.

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 RDF: Basic Ideas
 Statements
 A statement is an object-attribute-value
triple.
 It consists of a resources, a property, and a
value.

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10140

#MIT Press
publishedBy

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RDF: Example

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 RDF Example

Source: http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-skos-core-guide/ 30
 RDF Schema: Basic Ideas
 RDF is a universal language that enables
users to describe their own vocabularies.
 But, RDF does not make assumption about
any particular domain.
 It is up to user to define this in RDF
schema.

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 What does RDF Schema add?
• Defines vocabulary for RDF
• Organizes this vocabulary in a typed hierarchy
• Class, subClassOf, type
• Property, subPropertyOf
• domain, range
Staff
subClassOf
subClassOf Schema(RDFS)
domain range
Lecturer supervisedBy Research Assistant

type type
supervisedBy
Tom Alan Data(RDF)

[adapted from: Studer et al, 04]

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 Querying RDF data
 Query Languages such as SPARQL, RQL.
 RDF is a directed, labeled graph data format for
representing information in the Web.
 Most forms of the query languages contain a set
of triple patterns.
 Triple patterns are like RDF triples except that
each of the subject, predicate and object may
be a variable.

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 Basic Queries
 The example provided in RQL.
 Using select-from-where
 select specifies the number and order of
retrieved data.
 from is used to navigate through the data
model.
 where imposes constraints on possible
solutions

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 Basic Queries: Example
select X,Y
From {X} writtenBy {Y}

X, Y are variables, {X} writtenBy {Y}

represents a resource-property-value
triple

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 Conclusions about RDF(S)
 Next step up from plain XML:
 (small) ontological commitment to modeling
primitives
 possible to define vocabulary

 However:
 no precisely described meaning
 no inference model

[Davies, 03]

36
 Ontologies
 The term ontology is originated from
philosophy. In that context it is used as
the name of a subfield of philosophy,
namely, the study of the nature of
existence.
 For the Semantic Web purpose:
 “An ontology is an explicit and formal
specification of a conceptualisation”.
(R. Studer)

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 Ontologies and Semantic Web
 In general, an ontology describes formally a
domain of discourse.
 An ontology consists of a finite list of terms and
the relationships between the terms.
 The terms denote important concepts classes of
objects) of the domain.
 For example, in a university setting, staff
members, students, courses, modules, lecture
theatres, and schools are some important
concepts.

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 Ontologies and Semantic Web
(cont’d)
 In the context of the Web, ontologies provide a
shared understanding of a domain.
 Such a shared understanding is necessary to
overcome the difference in terminology.
 Ontologies are useful for improving accuracy of
Web searches.
 Web searches can exploit
generalization/specialization information.

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 A Sample Ontology
Object
is_a

knows described_in
Person Topic Document
writes
is_a

Student Researcher Semantics F-Logic Ontology

is_a
subTopicOf similar
Affiliation
PhD
PhDStudent
Doktoral Student PhD Student
Student F-Logic Ontology Rules
instance_of
T similar
described_inD T is_about D
Tel Affiliation
Siggi
P writes D is_about T P knows T
+49 721 608 6554 AIFB

• Major Paradigms: Logic Programming, Description Logic

• Standards: RDF(S); OWL [Studer et al, 04]

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 Ontology & Annotation
Ontology cooperate_with

rdfs:domain rdfs:range
AcademicStaff

rdfs:subClassOf rdfs:subClassOf

PhD Student AssProf

instance of
instance
<swrc:PhD_Student rdf:ID="sha"> <swrc:AssProfof
rdf:ID="sst">
<swrc:name>Siegfried <swrc:name>Steffen Staab
Handschuh</swrc:name> </swrc:name>
Anno- <swrc:cooperate_with rdf:resource =
...
tation "http://www.aifb.uni-
</swrc:AssProf>
karlsruhe.de/WBS/sst#sst"/>

... Cooperate_with
</swrc:PhD_Student>
Links have explicit meanings!
Web
Page

[Studer et al, 04]

URL http://www.aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de/WBS/sha 41 http://www.aifb.uni-karlsruhe.de/WBS/sst

 Ontologies (OWL)
 RDFS is useful, but does not solve all possible
requirements
 Complex applications may want more possibilities:
 similarity and/or differences of terms (properties or classes)
 construct classes, not just name them
 can a program reason about some terms? E.g.:
 “if «Person» resources «A» and «B» have the same «foaf:email»
property, then «A» and «B» are identical”
 etc.
 This lead to the development of OWL (Web Ontology
Language)

source: Introduction to the Semantic Web, Ivan Herman, W3C

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 Ontology Languages for the Web

 RDF Schema is a vocabulary description

language for describing properties and
classes of RDF resources, with a
semantics for generalization hierarchies
of such properties and classes.
 OWL is a richer vocabulary description
language for describing properties and
classes.

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 OWL Language
 OWL is based on Description Logics knowledge representation
formalism
 OWL (DL) benefits from many years of DL research:
 Well defined semantics
 Formal properties well understood (complexity, decidability)
 Known reasoning algorithms
 Implemented systems (highly optimised)
 Three species of OWL
 OWL full is union of OWL syntax and RDF
 OWL DL restricted to FOL fragment
 OWL Lite is “easier to implement” subset of OWL DL
 OWL DL based on SHIQ Description Logic

[Davies, 03]

44
 Classes in OWL
 In RDFS, you can subclass existing
classes… that’s all.
 In OWL, you can construct classes from
existing ones:
 enumerate its content
 through intersection, union, complement

 through property restrictions

source: Introduction to the Semantic Web, Ivan Herman, W3C

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 OWL classes can be “enumerated”
The OWL solution, where possible content is
explicitly listed:

source: Introduction to the Semantic Web, Ivan Herman, W3C

46
 Why develop an ontology?
 To make define web resources more precisely and
make them more amenable to machine processing
 To make domain assumptions explicit
 Easier to change domain assumptions

 Easier to understand and update legacy data

 To separate domain knowledge from operational

knowledge
 Re-use domain and operational knowledge separately

 A community reference for applications

 To share a consistent understanding of what information
means

[Davies, 03]

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 Ontology and Logic
 Reasoning over ontologies
 Inferencing capabilities

X is author of Y  Y is written by X

X is supplier to Y; Y is supplier to Z 
X and Z are part of the same supply chain

Cars are a kind of vehicle;

Vehicles have 2 or more wheels 
Cars have 2 or more wheels

[Davies, 03]

48
 Logic and Inference
 Logic is the discipline that studies the
principles of reasoning
 Formal languages for expressing knowledge
 Well-understood formal semantics
 Declarative knowledge: we describe what holds
without caring about how it can be deduced
 Automated reasoners can deduce (infer)
conclusions from the given knowledge

source: A Semantic Web Primer, Grigoris Antoniou and Frank van Harmelen, MIT Press

49
 An Inference Example
prof(X)  faculty(X)
faculty(X)  staff(X)
prof(michael)
We can deduce the following conclusions:
faculty(michael)
staff(michael)
prof(X)  staff(X)
source: A Semantic Web Primer, Grigoris Antoniou and Frank van Harmelen, MIT Press

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Semantic Web Vision
Machine-processable, global
Web standards:
 Assigning unambiguous
names (URI)
 Expressing data, including
metadata (RDF)
 Capturing ontologies (OWL)
 Query, rules,
transformations,
deployment, application
spaces, logic, proofs, trust
(in progress)
[Source: Emerging Web Technologies to
Watch, Steve Bratt, W3C]

51
 Semantic Web and AI?
 No human-level intelligence claims
 As with today’s WWW
 large, inconsistent, distributed
 Requirements
 scalable, robust, decentralised
 tolerant, mediated
 Semantic Web will make extensive use of current AI,
 any advancement in AI will lead to a better Semantic Web
 Current AI is already sufficient to go towards realizing the
semantic web vision
 As with WWW, Semantic Web will (need to) adapt fast

[Davies, 03]

52
 Semantic Web & Knowledge
Management
 Organising knowledge in conceptual
spaces according to its meaning.
 Enabling automated tools to check for
inconsistencies and extracting new
knowledge.
 Replacing query-based search with query
answering.
 Defining who may view certain parts of
information

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Semantic Web Services
 Web Services
 Web Services provide data and services to other
applications.
 Thee applications access Web Services via
standard Web Formats (HTTP, HTML, XML, and
SOAP), with no need to know how the Web
Service itself is implemented.
 You can imagine a web service like a remote
procedure call (RPC) which it returns a
message in an XML format.

55
 Web Services
 loosely coupled, reusable components
 encapsulate discrete functionality
 distributed
 programmatically accessible over
standard internet protocols
 add new level of functionality on top of
the current web
[Stollberg et al., 05]

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The Promise of Web Services

[Stollberg et al., 05]

57
 Deficiencies of WS Technology
 Current technologies allow usage of Web Services
 but:
 only syntactical information descriptions
 syntactic support for discovery, composition and execution

=> Web Service usability, usage, and integration needs to be

inspected manually
 no semantically marked up content / services

 no support for the Semantic Web

=> current Web Service Technology Stack failed to

realize the promise of Web Services

[Stollberg et al., 05]

58
 Semantic Web Services
Semantic Web Technology
• allow machine supported data interpretation
• ontologies as data model

Web Service Technology

automated discovery, selection, composition,
and web-based execution of services

=> Semantic Web Services as integrated solution for

realizing the vision of the next generation of the Web
[Stollberg et al., 05]

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 Semantic Web Services
 define exhaustive description frameworks for
describing Web Services and related aspects
(Web Service Description Ontologies)
 support ontologies as underlying data model to
allow machine supported data interpretation
(Semantic Web aspect)
 define semantically driven technologies for
automation of the Web Service usage process
(Web Service aspect)

60
 Acknowledgements
 Some of the slides are adapted from the following resources:
 Semantic Web, John Davies, Next Generation Web Research, BT.

 A Short Semantic Web Tutorial, Andreas Hotho & York Sure, Knowledge
Management Group, Institute AIFB, University of Karlsruhe.
 Semantic Web and Ontology Management, Rudi Studer, York Sure,
Christoph Tempich, Peter Haase,Institute AIFB, University of Karlsruhe.
 A Semantic Web Primer, Grigoris Antoniou and Frank van Harmelen,
ISBN 0-262-01210-3, 2004, the MIT press.
 The Semantic Web: A Web of Machine Processible Data, Eric Miller,
W3C Semantic Web Activity Lead, 2004.
 Stollberg et al, Semantic Web Services Tutorial, 5th International
Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE 2005), Sydney, Australia.
 Introduction to the Semantic Web, Ivan Herman, W3C, 2007.

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 Suggested Readings
 A Semantic Web Primer, Grigoris Antoniou and Frank van
Harmelen, ISBN 0-262-01210-3, 2004, the MIT press.
 W3C Semantic Web
http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/
 The Semantic Web Community Portal,
http://www.semanticweb.org

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