Rethinking Semantic Interoperability through Collaboration

Transcription

1 E-GOV th Conference on Electronic Government Delft, August 28 September 2, 2011 Rue Froissart 36, Brussels , Belgium Rethinking Semantic Interoperability through Collaboration Stijn Goedertier stijn.goedertier@pwc.be Nikos Loutas nikos.loutas@deri.org Vassilios Peristeras vassilios.peristeras@ec.europa.eu Sebastian Sklarss - sebastian.sklarss@init.de

2 Pan-European e-government services require interoperability Source: Study on stakeholder requirements for pan-european egovernment Services. Examples of services for citizens Pensions Tax declarations & refunding Residence Permits Public health Passports Work Permits Driving License Car Registration Job Search Recognition of qualification Birth certificates Unemployment benefits Enrolment at college/university Study grants Marriage Certificates Child allowances Examples of services for businesses VAT Refund Declaration of excise goods Registration of a new company Registration of patents, trademarks, designs Public procurement Consumer protection, labelling and packaging Supply of statistical data Tax incentives

3 Semantic interoperability: meaningful exchange of information Semantic interoperability is the ability of organizations to process information from external sources in a meaningful manner. It ensures that the precise meaning of exchanged information is understood and preserved by all parties.

4 Semantic interoperability is a vital part of the EU s e-government policy and initiatives

5 E-GOV th Conference on Electronic Government Delft, August 28 September 2, 2011 What is your view on the current state of play of e-government? Is semantic interoperability still an issue? Nikos Loutas, DERI, NUI Galway Vassilios Peristeras, European Commission Sebastian Sklarß, ]init[ Stijn Goedertier, PwC

6 E-GOV th Conference on Electronic Government Delft, August 28 September 2, 2011 What are key semantic interoperability barriers for cross-border / cross-sector e-government? Nikos Loutas, DERI, NUI Galway Vassilios Peristeras, European Commission Sebastian Sklarß, ]init[ Stijn Goedertier, PwC

7 E-GOV th Conference on Electronic Government Delft, August 28 September 2, 2011 Which actions must governments take to overcome these barriers to semantic interoperability? Nikos Loutas, DERI, NUI Galway Vassilios Peristeras, European Commission Sebastian Sklarß, ]init[ Stijn Goedertier, PwC

8 E-GOV th Conference on Electronic Government Delft, August 28 September 2, 2011 How can Member States find common ground and overcome inherent semantic differences? Nikos Loutas, DERI, NUI Galway Vassilios Peristeras, European Commission Sebastian Sklarß, ]init[ Stijn Goedertier, PwC

9 Nikos Loutas, DERI, NUI Galway Vassilios Peristeras, European Commission The Asset Description Metadata initiative Towards a common metadata vocabulary for semantic interoperability assets

10 SEMIC.EU: Semantic Interoperability Centre Europe SEMIC.EU is a collaborative platform and a set of services around this platform to promote semantic interoperability for egovernment in the EU Member States SEMIC.EU encourages public administrations to manage their code lists, taxonomies, data models as semantic interoperability assets and share them in its asset repository.

11 SEMIC.EU helps and supports public administrations to Help public administrations to Become aware that semantic interoperability matters Support public administrations to Find semantic interoperability assets Support public administrations to give and obtain Feedback on implementing semantic interoperability assets Involve public administrations in Collaboration to prioritise, align, endorse, and evaluate actions Support public administrations to Choose semantic interoperability assets Support public administrations to Design semantic interoperability assets

12 SEMIC.EU is not the only repository on the Web The scope of SEMIC.EU is limited to EU policies and activities. Digitalisér.dk Denmark Xrepository.de Germany GOVTALK United Kingdom Other countries have also started to host repositories and promote the publication of semantic interoperability assets on the Web. It is important that these repositories are linked and interoperable. Creating interoperability across repositories creates opportunities for administrations to share across borders and domains

13 Publication of asset description metadata on the Web The Semantic Web presents a huge opportunity to publish the description metadata of semantic interoperability assets as machine-readable data on the Web. Common metadata vocabularies will facilitate interoperability across repositories Tim Berners-Lee s Linked Open Data Guidelines Use Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) to uniquely identify semantic interoperability assets on the Web Use HTTP URLs corresponding to these URIs so that information can be retrieved Provide description metadata using open standards based on RDF(S) 4 Include links to related semantic interoperability assets, so that people can discover more

14 Asset Description Metadata Schema (ADMS): initial draft The Asset Description Metadata Schema (ADMS) will be a common vocabulary to publish description metadata about code lists, taxonomies, data models, etc. on the Web

15 Some terminology Metadata: data about data Semantic interoperability asset: a code list, taxonomy, vocabulary, data model, ontology, etc. Asset description metadata: data describing a semantic interoperability asset Asset description metadata schema: the specification (ADMS), a schema (or vocabulary) used to represent asset description metadata

16 Asset Description Metadata Schema (ADMS): initial draft RelatedRelease adms:release AccessURL : dcat:accessurl DocumentationLanguage ReleaseNotes ReleaseDate : dc:datesubmitted UpdateDate : dc:modified ReleaseName : dc:title FileFormat Type adms:artefacttype Status adms:status Status adms:hasrelease RelatedAsset adms:asset URI : dc:identifier Name : dc:title Description : dc:description RepresentedCountry : dc:spatial Owner : foaf:agent License : dc:license RepositoryOrigin LicenseURI Abstract : dc:abstract AssetImage : foaf:image Publisher : foaf:agent LinkToWebsite : foaf:homepage Tags Domain QualityLevel adms:domain adms:qualitylevel

17 The ADMS will enable the following benefits Publication of interoperability asset description metadata in a machine-readable format. Create links between semantic interoperability assets on the Web. Exchange of asset description metadata with other repositories. Allow users to more easily search and retrieve information about semantic interoperability assets and discover related assets. Contributes to the semantic interoperability of electronic public services, leading to the benefit of citizens and businesses

18 A prototype federates asset metadata from three repositories Digitalisér.dk Denmark Xrepository.de Germany ADMS Asset SEMIC.EU Europe

19 The federated repository is accessible through a central portal

20 Roadmap Design process and methodology ADMS draft specification September 2011 December 2011 Consensus building on ADMS ADMS v1 March 2012 April 2012 Improved search on joinup.eu based on ADMS Federation of semantic asset repositories April 2012 May 2012

21 The specification of the ADMS is open to all stakeholders 1. Advanced draft: the ADMS Work Group works on an advanced draft, supported by representatives from EU Member States and external experts. 2. Publication: The work on the ADMS will be reflected on the joinup.eu collaborative platform. 3. Review: The advanced draft is open to review by all representatives from EU Member States and external stakeholders. 4. Proof-of concept: As proof-of-concept a federation prototype will be built federating existing repositories using ADMS as exchange format. 5. Endorsement: After the review period, the ADMS is presented for endorsement to the EU Member States who participate in the ISA programme.

22 Sebastian Sklarß, ]init[ The SEMIC.EU Core Person Concept A fundamental, simplified, and context-free data model for e-government

23 Core Concept Vision Semantic definitions should be commonly agreed on fundamental, highly reusable concepts 23

24 Core Concept Challenges 1 Is it possible for 27 MSs to agree on common semantics? 2 Is it possible to define an entity (concept) in a way that remains relevant in different contexts? 24

25 Core Concept - Definition A Core Concept is a simplified data model that captures the minimal, global, generic, country and domain neutral characteristics/properties of an entity. A Core Concept can be represented as Core Vocabulary using various formalisms (e.g. XML, RDF) 25

26 Core Concept - Definition Definitions could first be agreed on fundamental concepts (Core), where diverged and/or conflicting views are less intense. A Core Concept/Vocabulary Is highly reusable: the specification is simple and captures basic and generic characteristics of an information entity, regardless of the context this entity is used Is extensible: domain specific specializations can be drafted on top of the core representation. 26

27 Core Concept Core Person Extensions Context Neutral Context Specific Core Patient Core Voter Core Employee Core Student 27

28 Implementations and mappings? 15 28

29 Core Concepts - Principles of development 1. Share ownership and involve the MSs 2. Identify top reusable concepts e.g. Person, Vehicle, Building, Company, Project 3. Reuse existing vocabularies/definitions 4. Use a minimalistic approach Minimize the number of attributes, keep schemas simple. 5. Draft semantic documentation to guarantee the proper reuse of a schema. 29

30 Questions? Thank you for your feedback!