W3C Semantic Web News and Events Archive (original) (raw)

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. The following is an archive of News and Events that have in part made the development and deployment of the Semantic Web possible.

Semantic Web Education and Outreach Interest Group Launched 2006-09-12T15:30:00+02:00: W3C is pleased to announce the launch of the Semantic Web Education and Outreach Interest Group, chaired by Susie Stephens (Oracle). The group is is chartered to collect proof-of-concept business cases, demonstration prototypes, etc, based on successful implementations of Semantic Web technologies, collect user experiences, develop and facilitate community outreach strategies, training and educational resources.
Semantic Web Activity Extended and New Groups Announced 2006-07-14T18:00:00+02:00: W3C is pleased to announce the renewal of the Semantic Web Activity. The W3C Advisory Committee approved the continuing work in RDF data access, rules interchange, and health care and life sciences. Three new groups are chartered for work on Semantic Web deployment, extracting RDF from XML (e.g., to process microformats), and education and outreach.
Rule Interchange Format Use Cases and Requirements Updated 2006-07-10T18:00:00+02:00: The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of RIF Use Cases and Requirements. Synthesized from nearly fifty use cases, the document specifies use cases and requirements for a format that allows rules to be translated between rule languages and thus transferred between rule systems. The group invites comments through 8 September.
RDF/OWL Representation of WordNet Working Draft Published 2006-06-19T18:00:00+02:00: The WordNet Task Force of the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of RDF/OWL Representation of WordNet. The draft proposes a conversion to RDF and OWL of WordNet, the machine-readable lexical http://www.w3.org/2006/06/22-HCLS-irc.htmlreference system developed at Princeton University for the English language. The group describes how the conversion was made and how it may be queried for use in Semantic Web applications.
Rule Interchange Format Use Cases and Requirements Working Draft Published 2006-03-27 The Rule Interchange Format (RIF) Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft of RIF Use Cases and Requirements. Synthesized from nearly fifty use cases, the document specifies use cases and requirements for a format that allows rules to be translated between rule languages and thus transferred between rule systems.
Image Annotation on the Semantic Web Draft Published 2006-03-22 The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft ofImage Annotation on the Semantic Web. Produced by the group's Multimedia Annotation in the Semantic Web Task Force, the draft describes creation, storage, manipulation, interchange and processing of image metadata. Guidelines and an overview of tools and RDF and OWL vocabularies are provided.
RDF/A Primer Working Draft Published 2006-03-14 The HTML Working Group and the Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group jointly have published the First Public Working Draft of the RDF/A Primer 1.0. Produced by the groups' RDF in XHTML Task Force, the draft is a companion to the XHTML 2.0 specification. This document introduces syntax for expressing RDF metadata within XHTML and explains the use of the XHTML metainformation modules.
Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies Working Draft Published 2006-03-14 The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft ofBest Practice Recipes for Publishing RDF Vocabularies. Produced by the group's Vocabulary Management Task Force, this cookbook offers step-by-step instructions for choosing and publishing an RDF Schema or OWL vocabulary or ontology on the Web, giving example configurations for the Apache HTTP server.
XML Schema Datatypes in RDF and OWL Note Published 2006-03-14 The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has publishedXML Schema Datatypes in RDF and OWL as a Working Group Note. Providing questions and answers about XML Schema datatypes in the Semantic Web, the Note addresses user defined datatypes, comparison of values, duration, and the use of numeric types.
SPARQL Protocol for RDF Last Call ,2006-02-21 The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the SPARQL Protocol for RDF. The draft describes RDF data access and transmission of RDF queries from clients to processors. The protocol is compatible with the SPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") and is designed to convey queries from other RDF query languages as well.
RDF / Topic Maps Interoperability Note ,2006-02-10 The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group has publishedA Survey of RDF/Topic Maps Interoperability Proposals as a Working Group Note. The Note records existing proposals for integrating data represented in W3C's RDF/OWL family of languages with data represented in ISO's Topic Maps. It is a starting point for establishing guidelines for combined usage of these standards, assuring interoperability.
SPARQL Protocol for RDF - Last Call ,2006-01-26 The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the SPARQL Protocol for RDF. The draft describes RDF data access and transmission of RDF queries from clients to processors. The protocol is compatible with the SPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") and is designed to convey queries from other RDF query languages as well.
SPARQL Query Results XML Format - Last Call ,2006-01-26 The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Last Call Working Draft of the SPARQL Query Results XML Format. TheSPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
SPARQL Query Language for RDF ,2005-11-28 The RDF Data Access Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of the SPARQL Query Language for RDF. SPARQL offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
W3C Group Links Semantic Web With Medical Industry :2005-11-22 ,W3C is pleased to announce the launch of the Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG). Chaired by Tonya Hongsermeier (Partners Healthcare) and Eric Neumann (Unaffiliated), the group ischartered to improve collaboration, research and development, and innovation adoption in the health care and life science industries. Aiding decision-making in clinical research, Semantic Web technologies will bridge many forms of biological and medical information across institutions. Additional information is availiable on thepress release.
Simile Release of Piggy-Bank 2.1 :2005-10-03 ,TheSIMILE project, a joint project conducted by theW3C,MIT Libraries, and MIT CSAIL has announced the availability of a new major release ofPiggy Bank. Piggy Bank is an extension to the Firefox web browser that turns it into Semantic Web application making it easier to manage, organize and shareRDF data. Built around itsLongwell faceted browser engine, the new Piggy Bank release features greatly improved stability, usability, performance and integration of third-party services (e.g. Google Maps).
Last Call: SPARQL Protocol for RDF :2005-09-14 ,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of theSPARQL Protocol for RDF. The draft describes RDF data access and transmission of RDF queries from clients to processors. The protocol is compatible with the SPARQL query language and is designed to convey queries from other RDF query languages as well. Comments are welcome through 14 October.
Last Call: SPARQL Variable Binding Results XML Format : 2005-08-02 , The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of theSPARQL Query Results XML Format. TheSPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources. Comments are welcome through 1 September.
Last Call: SPARQL Query Language for RDF :2005-07-21 ,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a Last Call Working Draft of theSPARQL Query Language for RDF. Comments are welcome through 1 September. SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
W3C Holds Workshop on Frameworks for Semantics in Web Services :2005-06-09 ,TheW3C Workshop on Frameworks for Semantics in Web Services is 9-10 June in Innsbruck, Austria, hosted by DERI and supported by EC's IST programme WS2 project. Over sixty organizations are presenting papers identifying areas of shared interest between Web services and Semantic Web communities. Topics include background technologies, registries, taxonomies, search mechanisms, ontologies for Web services, Web services choreography, and business process. Additional information can be found on thepress release.
W3C Rule Languages Workshop Report released :2005-06-07 ,Thereport on the W3C Rule Languages Workshop is now available. Over eighty representatives from various vendors, user communities, and research groups attended and reported on their views, experience, and ideas on options for establishing a standard web-based language for expressing rules. More information is available from the Workshop Web site and thepress release.
SPARQL Protocol for RDF Working Draft Released : 2005-06-01 ,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Working Draft of theSPARQL Protocol for RDF. The draft describes RDF data access and transmission of RDF queries from clients to processors. The protocol is compatible with the SPARQL query language (pronounced "sparkle") and is designed to convey queries from other RDF query languages as well.
SPARQL Variable Binding Results XML Format Working Draft Released :2005-06-01 ,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released a second Working Draft of theSPARQL Query Results XML Format. TheSPARQL query language offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
SIMILE Release of Piggy Bank :2005-05-23 ,TheSIMILE project, a joint project conducted by theW3C,HP,MIT Libraries, and MIT CSAIL to promote semantic inteoperability of metadata between digital libraries, is happy to announce the release of Piggy-Bank. Piggy Bank is an extension to the Firefox web browser that turns it into Semantic Web browser. Additional details, including installation guides, usage scenarios, and technical documentation, are availiable on the Piggy Bank home page.
XML Schema Datatypes in RDF and OWL Working Draft Released :2005-05-02,The Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group released a First Public Working Draft ofXML Schema Datatypes in RDF and OWL. Posing questions and answers about XML Schema datatypes in the Semantic Web, the document discusses user defined datatypes, comparison of values, duration, and the use of numeric types. The group invites public discussion and feedback on implementations.
SPARQL Query Language for RDF :2005-04-19,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released the third Working Draft of theSPARQL Query Language for RDF. SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
RDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements Updated :2005-03-25,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released an updated Working Draft ofRDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements. The draft suggests how anRDF query language and data access protocol could be used in the construction of novel, useful Semantic Web applications in areas like Web publishing, personal information management, transportation and tourism.
SPARQL Query Language for RDF second Working Draft released :2005-02-17,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released the second Working Draft of theSPARQL Query Language for RDF. SPARQL offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
OWL-S: Semantic Markup for Web Services Note Published 2004-11-22, OWL-S: Semantic Markup for Web Services defines anOWL ontology of services that enables users and software agents helps automate the process of discovering, invoking, composing, and monitoring Web resources that offer particular services and have particular properties. The W3C Member Submission describes the overall structure of the ontology and its three main parts: the service profile for advertising and discovering services; the process model, which gives a detailed description of a service's operation; and the grounding, which provides details on how to interoperate with a service, via messages.
Workshop on Semantic Web for Life Sciences Explores Scientific Data Networks :2004-10-26 ,TheW3C Workshop on Semantic Web for Life Sciences is being held in Cambridge, MA, USA on 27-28 October. Data networks allow biology to progress from the mapping of one-dimensional DNA to understanding multi-dimensional organisms and their diseases. Semantic Web technologies such asRDF andOWL enable the rapid creation of rich information networks and can assist in the generation of hypotheses across massive data sets. Workshop participants will address the publication, sharing and management of data networks, and will develop use cases and prototypes. More information about this workshop can be found in thepress release.
SIMILE Release of Longwell RDF Browser v1.0 :2004-10-22 ,TheSIMILE project, a joint project conducted by theW3C,HP,MIT Libraries, and MIT CSAIL to promote semantic inteoperability of metadata between digital libraries, is happy to announce the release of their web-based general RDF browser, Longwell.Longwell is a Java web application written on top of Jena, Apache Velocity and Apache Lucene, providing the ability to browse and search any kind of RDF dataset, both thru both facetted browsing and free-text search.
SPARQL Query Language for RDF Working Draft released 2004-10-12,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released the First Public Working Draft of theSPARQL Query Language for RDF. SPARQL (pronounced "sparkle") offers developers and end users a way to write and to consume search results across a wide range of information such as personal data, social networks and metadata about digital artifacts like music and images. SPARQL also provides a means of integration over disparate sources.
RDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements Updated 2004-10-12,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released an updated Working Draft ofRDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements. The draft suggests how anRDF query language and data access protocol could be used in the construction of novel, useful Semantic Web applications in areas like Web publishing, personal information management, transportation and tourism.
Ontaria 0.8 Released 2004-09-24, Ontaria is a searchable and browsable directory of semantic web data. Our focus is RDF vocabularies with OWL ontologies, but all the RDF data we index is visible. The site is primarily intended for people creating RDF content who want to better understand which vocabularies are available and how they are being used. Beyond this, Ontaria may be useful for finding and exploring arbitrary RDF content.
RDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements Updated 2004-08-04,The RDF Data Access Working Group has released an updated Working Draft ofRDF Data Access Use Cases and Requirements. The draft suggests how anRDF query language and data access protocol could be used in the construction of novel, useful Semantic Web applications in areas like Web publishing, personal information management, transportation and tourism.
RDF and OWL Working Groups Complete Deliverables, Close 2004-07-01,W3C is pleased to announce that the RDF Core and Web Ontology Working Groups have successfully completed all deliverables. Together these W3C Working Groups developed twelve W3C Recommendations specifying the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and theOWL Web Ontology Language. Please join us in thanking all participants and Chairs Brian McBride (HP Labs), Dan Brickley (W3C), Jim Hendler (University of Maryland) and Guus Schreiber (Ibrow) for their contributions.
W3C Launches Phase 2 of Semantic Web Activity 2004-02-25,W3C announced the launch of Phase 2 of the Semantic Web Activity. Two new Working Groups have been formed; the Best Practices and Deployment WG (charter) and the RDF Data Access Working Group (charter). These join the RDF Core and Web Ontology WGs, the Semantic Web Interest Group, and the Semantic Web Coordination Group.
RDF and OWL are W3C Recommendations 2004-02-10,The World Wide Web Consortium today released the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the OWL Web Ontology Language (OWL) as W3C Recommendations. RDF is used to represent information and to exchange knowledge in the Web. OWL is used to publish and share sets of terms called ontologies, supporting advanced Web search, software agents and knowledge management. Read thepress release for the full list of twelve documents andtestimonials to see how organizations are using these technologies today.
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Parsing OWL in RDF/XML Published 2004-01-15,TheWeb Ontology Working Group has released Parsing OWL in RDF/XML as a Working Group Note. The OWL language is used to publish and share sets of terms called ontologies, supporting advanced Web search, software agents and knowledge management. This document describes a strategy for OWL-RDF parsers.
Metalog v2.0b released 2003-10-21,W3C'sSemantic Web Advanced Development initiative announces Metalog v2.0b, a reasoning system built for the Semantic Web by adding a query layer on top ofRDF. Metalog is user friendly and is designed to make reasoning about the Web particularlyeasy for all the people, by providing an interface similar to natural language. It isavailable for all Windows and Linux platforms (a Mac porting is forthcoming too). Metalog is developed byMassimo Marchiori of W3C and the University of Venice, Italy. Learn more about Metalog.
IsaViz 2.0 Released 2003-08-11,W3C'sSemantic Web Advanced Development initiative announces a new release ofIsaViz, a visual environment for browsing and authoring RDF models represented as graphs. Version 2.0 supportsGSS, an RDF-based stylesheet language. Other new features include datatype support, enhanced navigation, better handling of namespace prefix bindings, and an import/export plug-in interface. Learn more aboutIsaViz.
W3C Translation Index Based on RDF :2003-05-12,W3C thanks the volunteers who contributed thousands of hours translating W3C publications into more than 30 languages. Showcasing W3C Semantic Web, XML andinternationalization technologies, data for volunteer translations ofW3C technical reports and related documents is now maintained in RDF encoded in XML. Combining this metadata with other RDF, the translation index makes extensive use of Unicode, links to official versions, and can be viewed according to language or technology. Read the project description and please visitTranslations at W3C.
W3C RDF Validation Service Updated :2003-05-08,TheRDF Validation Service has been updated to support all of the specifications described in the RDF Last Call Working Draftsannouncement and now supports datatypes. A new interactive graphical visualization of models built onIsaViz is now also provided. The RDF validator is based on theARP parser version 2 alpha that is distributed as open source by Hewlett-Packard.
OWL Last Call Working Drafts Published :2003-04-02,The Web Ontology Working Group has released six Working Drafts, five in Last Call, for the OWL Web Ontology Language 1.0, including the OWL Guide, Overview, Use Cases and Requirements, Semantics and Abstract Syntax,Reference, and Test Cases. Comments are welcome through 9 May. OWL is used to publish and share sets of terms called ontologies, providing advanced Web search, software agents and knowledge management.
EARL Working Draft Published :2002-12-10 ,The Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group has released the first public Working Draft of theEvaluation and Report Language (EARL) 1.0 . The specification explains how to use EARL, a general-purpose language for expressing test results, and defines a basic vocabulary in terms of RDF .
New version of OWL Language Reference Working Draft : 2002-11-14 ,The Web Ontology Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of theLanguage Reference for the Web Ontology Language (OWL) 1.0. Automated tools can use common sets of terms called ontologies to power services such as more accurate Web search, intelligent software agents, and knowledge management
New version of OWL Abstract Syntax and Semantics :2002-11-11 ,The Web Ontology Working Group has released an updated Working Draft of OWL Abstract Syntax and Semantics . The draft is a high-level description of the OWL Web Ontology Language 1.0 and its subset OWL Lite. Automated tools can use common sets of terms called ontologies to power services such as more accurate Web search, intelligent software agents, and knowledge management.
Web Ontology Language (OWL) Guide Working Draft Published :2002-11-11 ,The Web Ontology Working Group has published its first Working Draft of the Web Ontology Language (OWL) Guide . The OWL Guide demonstrates the use of OWL to formalize a domain by defining classes and properties of those classes; define individuals and assert properties about them, and reason about these classes and individuals to the degree permitted by the formal semantics of the OWL language.
Working Draft of Web Ontology Language (OWL) Test Cases Published :2002-10-24 ,The first public Working Draft of Web Ontology Language (OWL) Test Cases has been released. The draft illustrates correct OWL usage, the formal meaning of OWL constructs, and resolution of issues considered by the Web Ontology Working Group. OWL is used to publish and share sets of terms called ontologies, providing accurate Web search, intelligent software agents, and knowledge management.
Web Ontology Working Drafts Published :2002-07-31 ,The Web Ontology Working Group has released three first Working Drafts. The Feature Synopsis , Abstract Syntax andLanguage Reference describe the OWL Web Ontology Language 1.0 and its subset OWL Lite. Automated tools can use common sets of terms called ontologies to power services such as more accurate Web search, intelligent software agents, and knowledge management.
IsaViz 1.1 Release :2002-05-23 , IsaViz is a visual environment for browsing and authoring RDF. Version 1.1 includes improved graphical performance, modified graphical layout and various bug fixes. IsaViz is developed by Emmanuel Pietriga of W3C and Xerox Research Centre Europe.
W3C RDF Primer Working Draft Announced :2002-03-22 ,TheRDF Core Working Group has released the first public Working Draft of the RDF Primer . The Resource Description Framework (RDF ) is a general-purpose language for representing information in the Web. This primer provides the fundamentals required to use RDF in applications.
IsaViz - A Visual Authoring Tool for RDF Announced :2002-03-20 ,W3C'sSemantic Web Advanced Development initiative announces the release ofIsaViz , a visual environment for browsing and authoring RDF models represented as graphs. Developed by Emmanuel Pietriga of W3C and Xerox Research Centre Europe, IsaViz is based on the Xerox Visual Transformation Machine, Hewlett-Packard's Jena, Graphviz from AT&T Research, and Apache's Xerces.
New RDF Model Theory Note Published :2002-02-14 ,The RDF CoreWorking Group has released the second public Working Draft ofRDF Model Theory . This document provides an substantive update to original draft intended to provide a precise semantic theory for RDF and RDFS, and to sharpen the notions of consequence and inference in RDF.
DAML+OIL Web Ontology Language Submission :2001-12-18 ,W3C is pleased to receive theDAML+OIL Submission . DAML+OIL is a semantic markup language for Web resources. It builds on earlier W3C standards such as RDF and RDF Schema, and extends these languages with richer modelling primitives. DAML+OIL is the a basis for W3C's Web Ontology Language.
RDF Test Cases Second Draft Issued :2001-11-15 ,The RDF CoreWorking Group has released the second public Working Draft of RDF Test Cases . This document provides a set of machine processable test cases corresponding to technical issues addressed by the Working Group.
INTAP Semantic Web Conference in Tokyo :2001-10-29 ,Interoperability Technology Association for Information Processing, Japan (INTAP ) and Keio Research Institute at SFC are hosting a conference involving the Semantic Web for IT-related researchers in Japan to deepen their recognition of the technology and promote their research.
RDF Model Theory Note Published :2001-09-25 ,The RDF CoreWorking Group has released the first public Working Draft ofRDF Model Theory . This document intends to provide a precise semantic theory for RDF and RDFS, and to sharpen the notions of consequence and inference in RDF.
RDF Test Cases :2001-09-12 ,The RDF CoreWorking Group has released the first public Working Draft of RDF Test Cases . This document provides a set of machine processable test cases corresponding to technical issues addressed by the Working Group.