Preparing for Interoperability Workshops - Scope of Work

Scope of Work for the Preparing for Interoperability Workshops (7/28/08 draft)

Introduction

Currently, there are many vocabularies in use by different data systems in the IOOS community. This cacophony of vocabularies inhibits interoperability between data systems, as well as the ability of IOOS to operate as a whole, integrated system.

To address this need, and in fulfillment of the mission of the Marine Metadata Interoperability Project ("promoting the exchange, integration and use of marine data through enhanced data publishing, discovery, documentation and accessibility"), MMI, the Qartod-to-Open Geospatial Consortium (Q20) project, and the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) will host two workshops aimed at mapping between controlled vocabularies used in the IOOS community and implementing those mappings in (an) end application(s), thereby improving interoperability and data access within IOOS.

The workshops will focus primarily on domains represented by the 20 IOOS Core Variables, be driven by several use cases, and be planned and implemented with input from key community representatives, including the IOOS DMAC Metadata Expert Team, the European SeaDataNet community, Q20, and (if available and willing) the selected ORION Cyberinfrastructure Implementing Organization. Software tools to be used will include Voc2OWL/Voc2RDF, Vocabulary Integration Environment (VINE), Protégé, and an MMI Ontology Repository.

We will hold the first workshop over four days in August, 2008 in conjunction with a Q20 workshop. We will hold the second workshop, also in conjunction with a Q20 workshop, in November, 2008. A more detailed description of the workshops follows.

Workshop One (August, 2008)

Goals

The goals of this first workshop are to:

  • Introduce data interoperability and semantic interoperability;
  • Present different ontology and semantic interoperability tools;
  • Introduce and demonstrate the Semantic Web Enablement Framework;
  • Show working examples of interoperability and discuss others in development;
  • Introduce and discuss Q20;>
  • Introduce the vocabulary mapping process;
  • Identify different target application scenarios, employing use cases to frame them;
  • Demonstrate the new ontology registry;
  • Test the mapping process between relevant vocabularies (vocabularies will be submitted prior to the workshop); and
  • Identify how to continue mapping vocabularies remotely.

Outcome(s)

The workshop will create the following outcomes:

  • Improved knowledge about vocabularies, vocabulary mapping, Q20, and interoperability tools and frameworks available;
  • Identification of target end application(s);
  • Early drafts of machine readable files of the mappings between terms used in vocabularies currently used in IOOS;
  • Augmentation to the Vocabulary/Ontology Repository;
  • On-line materials from the workshop to make its content accessible to the community; and
  • A plan for continued vocabulary mapping, tool/application development and implementation.

Process

The August workshop will introduce the activities, and identify community processes that must take place during the period between the two workshops. Software development will take place before the August workshop and between the two workshops, and the workshops themselves will see the application of the software and the identification of additional requirements.

To the extent the communities engage in the assigned tasks before the second workshop, much of the technical mapping work will be in place before the second workshop begins. However, the second workshop will have to allow for a continuation and expansion of mapping efforts, anticipating that some communities or members will not have time to complete significant mapping progress before the November workshop begins.

The workshop process for the second workshop will be based, in part, on the one used at the MMI Advancing Domain Vocabularies Workshop in Boulder, Colorado in August 2005. Participants are expected from major stakeholder groups and projects to include:

  • Scientists with expertise in the domains of the 20 IOOS Variables,
  • DMAC Technical Leads from the 11 Regional Coastal Ocean Observing Systems and target end application teams, such as the IOOS Observation Registry, OOSTethys, and the Oceans Interoperability Experiment, and NOAA Data Integration Framework (DIF) project,,
  • Participants in Q20 and the GCOOS data portal, and
  • Vocabulary curators and vocabulary mapping experts.

To produce results that are considered authoritative, it will be critical to have leading representatives from these areas of expertise, knowledgeable in each of the observation domains being characterized.

The vocabulary development steps will follow this sequence for the first workshop:

Step 1 (in preparation for, and at, the first workshop):

  • Identify (and adapt, as necessary) existing target end application(s) to show real interoperability and data access results;
  • Identify critical participants, search key catalogs, data sets, and collect vocabularies (with definitions) to mine key terms and populate the mapping tools. Identify base vocabulary, if possible;
  • Adapt existing MMI vocabulary tools, as appropriate, for use with target end applications;
  • Develop ontology/vocabulary repository and related tools, and populate the repository with vocabulary and vocabulary mapping files;
  • Align plans with activities ongoing elsewhere (e.g., IOOS, SeaDataNet/SeaVOX, ORION CI IO), as appropriate;
  • Provide training to participants, as needed; and
  • Register participants.

Step 2 (first workshop): Introduction to semantic and data interoperability (including SWE), tools (Protégé, Voc2OWL, VINE, ontology repository, and others),Q20 and GCOOS data portal, controlled vocabularies, and the process of vocabulary mapping.


Step 3 (first workshop): Participants will collectively work through the mapping process. They will begin mapping between the terms used in existing vocabularies within IOOS.


Step 4 (first workshop): Discuss intended target application(s), such as OOSTethys, Oceans Interoperability Experiment, and the IOOS Observations Registry, and development reponsibilities and targets for them.


Step 5 Determine work plan for intervening period before November workshop and for Fall AGU preparations.


Outline of Agenda

Day One MMI on data/semantic interoperabilities, ontologies and vocabulary mapping; demonstration of existing services, including an ontology repository; demonstration and selection of target end application(s); discussion of SWE and highlights of existing and pending SWE applications; other interoperable systems in development.

Day Two Q20 experience in developing vocabularies and a data model and evaluating the content and its application in an interoperable world); vocabulary mapping process

Day Three Strategizing, next steps, and implementation plans

Evenings will be spent coordinating the November workshop (who is doing what development pieces, how those activities will be coordinated, schedule for remote mapping activities, and remaining logistics (place, coordinators, target size, finances, remaining web site preparations)).

Period Between Workshops One and Two

A workplan will be developed at Workshop One. The goals of the intervening period between the two workshops are to:

  • Hold vocabulary mapping meetings remotely to create mapping files between vocabularies being used in the IOOS community; and
  • Develop/enhance end-user applications to take advantage of the mappings that have been created, and
  • Test some of the mapping files in (an) existing target end application(s), demonstrating improved interoperability and data access within IOOS.

Workshop Two (November, 2008)

Goal

The goals of the second workshop are to: (this does not reflect the 'bigger picture' perspective, namely that the second workshop is going to be much bigger, with more attendees and more groups, than the first workshop)

  • Continue and improve the mapping work done to date,
  • Demonstrate the use of the mappings in the various completed tools,
  • Discuss common issues among different teams, and
  • Create necessary plans and results for presenting at Fall AGU 2008, including polishing the tools/end applications

Outcome(s)

  • Machine-readable files of the mappings between terms used in vocabularies currently used in IOOS, with the following characteristics and features:
    • support for basic contextual information like definitions
    • mappings to specific terms in other vocabularies, representing parameter names and discovery terms in community vocabularies, data sets, catalogs, and publications.,
    • as time allows, development of rich internal ontological concepts, through the identification of relationships between terms (e.g., parent-child and superset-subset).
  • Enhanced services, operating within a community application framework showing improved interoperability within the IOOS system
  • Example applications using the enhanced services, and
  • On-line materials from the workshop to make its content accessible to the community.

Process(We need more details for Workshop Two. Please edit if you have them. Or, will they not be determined until workshop 1?)

Step # (in breakout): As time permits, enrich the mapped vocabulary to provide richer (ontological) detail (I'm not sure what ontological details means...more relationships?).

Step # Apply results to existing target application(s), such as OOSTethys, Oceans Interoperability Experiment, and the IOOS Observations Registry

Outline of Agenda (Need detail here...edit if you have them)

Posted May 20th, 2008 by swatson
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