Topic Maps, Portals and “Seamless Knowledge”

1. Topic Maps, Portals and “Seamless Knowledge” Towards aNational Knowledge Basewith CultureNet Norwayleading the way Lars Wenaas Project Manager, Kulturnett <lars.wenaas@abm-utvikling.no> Steve Pepper Chief Strategy Officer, OntopiaConvenor, SC34/WG3Editor, XML Topic Maps <pepper@ontopia.net>

2. What is CultureNet? (1) • CultureNet is the official doorway to Norwegian culture on the ’net • Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs’ Internet priority • Web site: • http://www.kulturnett.no/ • To be relaunched at the end of May • Developed by Ontopia/Bouvet • 100% based on the Topic Maps standard

3. What is CultureNet? (2) • Also a network of regional and specialist partners in Norway • Regional CultureNets in 6 counties • 4 new ones on the way, more expected in the near future • Member organizations for artists Kulturnett Norge Kulturnett Kulturnett Kulturnett Kulturnett Kulturnett Kulturnett faglige Akershus Hordaland Sogn og Fjordane Troms Østfold Nord-Trøndelag samarbeidspartnere

4. Vision and goals: CultureNet should lead the dissemination and retrieval of knowledge and culture on the ’net (If we don’t have it, it doesn’t exist…) A distributed Norwegian Knowledge Base Together with partners an authority in the field of culture A major player in the “Information Common” Main principles: CultureNet should be a centre for experiences. More than just a portal. User-friendly services for a well-defined audience: People with a general interest in culture, not specialists Focus on development, not operational responsibility Cross-sector information retrieval Collaboration with regional and specialist partners, and with other portals and content providers CultureNet: Vision, goals og main principles

5. Shared ownership of data Regional partner1 Specialist partner1 Topic Map: Regional partner2 Why Topic Maps? • Enables common ownership of data with our partners • Encourages well-structured data and subject-based organization of information • Open and future-proof: CultureNet is expected live far into the future • Lays the foundation for information sharing with other portals and partners

6. What is Topic Maps? • ISO 13250:2003 Topic Maps • An international standard that (inter alia) is used to • Organize large bodies of information by subject • Support concept-based learning • Manage distributed knowledge • Represent complex rules and processes • Aggregate information and knowledge • = SEAMLESS KNOWLEDGE • But first, a digression about the National Knowledge Base…

7. SNL (Great Norwegian Encyclopedia) The story of the National Knowledge Base • In the Spring of 2001 the Department of Culture put out a call for tender for a National Knowledge Base • Two bids reached the final round, but both were rejected by the Minister of Education • New and existing players were encouraged to come up with new ideas • Pål Steigan and Steve Pepper did just that • We proposed Topic Maps as the basis for an “open and democratic knowledge base in the spirit of the French Encyclopédistes” • Chronicle published in Aftenposten 10th December 2001

8. An open, democratic National Knowledge Base

9. A Knowledge Base that is as easy to navigate around as a book with a good index, and that can be used whether one speaks Norwegian, Sami, Urdu or some other language A Knowledge Base that has room for content from both major encyclopedia publishers, and also from many other contributors as well, from large public and commercial organizations like the broadcasting and publishing companies, the Research Council and the National Library, to universities and schools, lobby organizations, minority groups – and even individuals. A Knowledge Base that adapts to your profile – be it age group, cultural background, interests, etc. – and helps you weed out the information that you are not interested in. A Knowledge Base you can look things up in by WAP-phone to decide a lively pub discussion about who scored the goals in the famous match between Norway and England – and which year it happened. Or when and where the opera Tosca was first performed; or for that matter, who wrote the libretto and which other libretti he was responsible for. The Vision (1)

10. A Knowledge Base written both by professional lexicographers and other specialists – but also by the Norwegian public. A Knowledge Base that contains many disparate views on one and the same issue, not just one, semi-official “objekcive” truth; a Knowledge Base that makes it possible for unashamedly subjective opinions about the EU, gas power og the war in Afghanistan to be heard, but which also allows the user to differentiate between them, know who stands behind which opinions, and choose whom to trust. A Knowledge Base that makes it possible for Thea and the others in class 5A at Marienlyst to create their own little “knowledge allotment” – e.g. on the environmental effects of the hamburger industy’s exploitation of the Amazon – and hook it up to the National Knowledge Base (with greetings from 5A), so that her friend Nina in Trondheim and her cousin Tom in England can see it (in Norwegian and English respectively), reuse it, and add their own thoughts and associations. A Knowledge Base that attains such value that it can be licensed to those who can afford to pay for it – also outside Norway, and at the same time so cost efficient to maintain that Norway can afford to give it away as development aid. The Vision (2)

11. “reality” topic map born i Nora Krogstad Hedda Gabler Helmer Henrik Ibsen wrote wrote Et dukkehjem Et dukkehjem Mrs. Linde Dr. Rank Skien knowledge information CapLex Ibsen-centre SNL SNL Ibsen-centre NBL SNL Ibsen-centre SNL CapLex Ibsen-centre Ibsen-centre Ibsen-centre Skiencoun-cil ontopia The model for an open National Knowledge Base Andre emnekart flettes inn… http://www.ontopia.net/topicmaps/materials/sk.ppt

12. From Knowledge Base to Seamless Knowledge • This proposal from 2001 expressed a vision similar to that of the Common Information Environment • It aroused a lot of interest but it was a little too early – Topic Maps needed to be tested in practice first • But now the time has come to realise the vision, because… • The last couple of year have seen the advent of a whole slew of web sites and portals based on Topic Maps in Norway • It all started with itu.no (Network for IT-Research and Competence in Education) • It continued with (inter alia) forskning.no (research) and the Consumers’ Portal • And it is about to reach new heights with KULTURNETT.NO (CultureNet) • As of today there are over a dozen Topic Maps-based portals in Norway • (Norway actually leads the world in this field)

13. In production http://www.itu.nohttp://www.luna.itu.no(Ministry of Education) http://www.forskning.nohttp://www.nysgjerrigper.no(Research Council and partners) http://forbrukerportalen.no(Consumers’ Association) http://www.skifte.no(Norwegian Defence) http://www.hoyre.no++(Norwegian Conservative Party) http://matportalen.no(Ministry of Agriculture) http://www.udi.no(Ministry of Justice) Under development Tax Office Office of the Prime Minister Central Bureau of Statistics Institute for Energy Technology CultureNet Norway Some Topic Maps portals in Norway For the full story of the rise of the Topic Maps Portal in Norway, come to the seminar “SEAMLESS KNOWLEDGE WITH TOPIC MAPS”arranged by ABM-utvikling in September

14. Genetically modified food at forskning.no

15. Genetically modified food at Forbukerrådet

16. Genetically modified foodstuffs at Matportalen

17. Three Topic Maps portals – one common subject  one “virtual portal” with seamless navigation in all directions

18. Towards Seamless Knowledge • Very little is required for these portals to achieve a simple but effective form of Seamless Knowledge • They have already achieve subject-based organization of their content • From a technical viewpoint, only two pieces are required to complete the puzzle: • An identity mechanism • To make it possible to know when their subjects are the same • A knowledge exchange protocol • To enable information to be requested and exchanged automatically • (There must also be a real desire to share information, but that’s a political matter)

19. Piece #1: The identity mechanism • Simply put: • How can we know that “genetically modified food” is the same as “genetically modified foodstuffs” (or “GM food”, or “genmodifisert mat”, for that matter)? • One thing is certain: Basing this on names won’t work • Synonyms, homonyms and polysemy make names a minefield • In any case we would like to support multiple languages • What we need are unique, “global” identifiers for all subjects of common interest • An impossible task? • Not if we go about it the right way… • The solution already exists in the form of a mechanism developed as part of theTopic Maps standard: • That mechanism is called Published Subjects

20. Published Subjects • A distributed mechanism for assigning unique, global identifiers • Based on URLs, e.g. for the Ibsen Museum in Oslo: http://psi.kulturnett.no/museum/ibsen-museet • But with a couple of rather special characteristics: • The mechanism is two-sided – it works for both computers and humans • The mechanism works from the “bottom up” – not from the “top down”

21. A subject is identified via a URL This URL is called a subject identifier The URL is the address of a document that can be interpreted by a human and indicates the identity of the subject This document is called a subject indicator Computers use the identifier Simple comparison of string values: Identical values mean that the subject is the same (Different values just means that the two subject cannot necessarily be regarded as being the same) Humans use the indicator By inspecting the document one can be sure that the identifier does not refer to, say, the Henrik Ibsen Museum in Skien (http://psi.kulturnett.no/museum/ibsens_venstop) subject Ibsen-museet: Leiligheten i Arbiens gate i Oslo hvor dikteren Henrik Ibsen bodde de siste 11 år av sitt liv, fra 1895 til 1906. subject indicator subjectidentifier http://psi.kulturnett.no/museum/ibsen-museet topic Ibsen Museum For computers AND humans subject indicator+ subject identifer = PSI

22. A bottom up approach • Earlier attempts to create global identifiers from the top down have failed • (The classic example is URNs – Uniform Resource Names) • Published Subjects uses the opposite approach… • Anyone can create a PSI (Published Subject Indicator) • The process is bottom up • Open and anarchical – just like the Web itself • We envision an evolutionary, darwinistisk process • “Survival of the most trusted” • The more authoritative the publisher is, the more chance there is that his identifiers will achieve widespread use • A situation with multiple identifiers for the same subject is easy to handle • In time, more and more stable sets of “trustable” identifiers will emerge

23. Sure. My URL is: http://matportalen.no/Matportalen/Emner/gmo Portal A: forskning.no Portal B: Matportalen Piece #2: The Knowledge Exchange Protocol Hi! Do you know the subject “genetically modified food”?* http://matportalen.no/Matportalen/Emner/gmo This scenario is Stage 1 of Seamless Knowledge and will soon be put into practice using TMRAP. In Stage 2 it will be possible to transfer content from one portal to another using (topic) maplets * The actual question was: Got any gen on http://psi.forbrukerportalen.no/mat/genmodifisert_mat?

24. CultureNet and the “Information Common” • CultureNet places great emphasis on Published Subjects • Every subject that is published on CultureNet will have its own PSI, • Whether it is an “ontological” subject • museum http://psi.kulturnett.no/ontologi/museumperson http://psi.kulturnett.no/ontologi/personpostal address http://psi.kulturnett.no/ontologi/postadresselives in http://psi.kulturnett.no/ontologi/bor_i • Or any other kind of subject • Blaafarveværket http://psi.kulturnett.no/museum/blaafarvevaerketNesna Local Library http://psi.kulturnett.no/bibliotek/2182800Gol Local Archive http://psi.kulturnett.no/arkiv/gol_bygdearkivErlend Loe http://psi.kulturnett.no/person/erlend_loe • Thus CultureNet takes its share of reponsibility for building a “Semantic Superhighway” …and assumes its place in the “Information Common”

26. Published Subject Indicator for Publisert temaindikator for BLAAFARVEVÆRKET http://psi.kulturnett.no/museum/blaafarvevaerket Blaafarveværket: Norwegian museum in Modum kommune in Buskerud fylke based on the former cobolt mining industry. Once the leading factory of cobalt blue pigment in the world, Blaafarveværket is today a cultural museum. Its annual art exhibitions are among the most important in Scandinavia. Blaafarveværket: Museum på Modum i Buskerud basert på det gamle koboltgruveanlegget. Anlegget består av en rekke fredede bygninger som ligger på sitt opprinnelige sted. Her arrangeres konserter og utstillinger, blant annet av bildende kunst, og her finnes også bygdemuseets samlinger. Ψpsi http://www.ontopia.net/topicmaps/materials/sk.ppt

27. PSIs and the role of the Norwegian Digital Library • It is not the Norwegian Digital Library project’s role to create identifiers for the whole of Norway • No organization can or should take on such a role. It must be a distributed task. • But the Norwegian Digital Library can play a key role in other areas: • By defining PSIs in its own field • By encouraging others to create PSI sets • By offering services for the discovery of PSI sets • It has to be easy for humans to find relevant PSIs • By offering services for the discovery of PSI-labelled content • Then portals can be connected automatically • There is a need for a specific project to develop such services. Shall we call it psireg.no?

28. Seamless Knowledge – a preliminary conclusion • Seamless Knowledge is definitely within reach! • (And Norway is in a good position already…) • Subject-based organization of content and use of PSIs are a necessary precondition • Basing this on Topic Maps provides the safest foundation • (But Topic Maps is not an absolute requirement provided PSIs are used…) • Rule #1: Every subject shall be given a PSI • (Reuse one that already exists or create your own!) • Rule #2: All content shall be attached to PSIs • (As topic map “occurrences” or via Dublin Core “subject” fields) • The Norwegian Digital Library can play a key role by promoting discovery mechanisms for • PSIs, and • PSI-labelled content

29. Finally… • Cato the Elder used to conclude all his speeches in the Roman Senate with the famous words “Cartago delenda est” • Allow me (once again) to conclude with these words: Norway’s National Knowledge Basemust be based on Topic Maps! For more information contact Lars Wenaas (ABM-utvikling), Steve Pepper (Ontopia) or Stian Danenbarger (Bouvet)