George Mason University
School of Engineering
Department of Computer Science

CS 499 Knowledge Engineering for the Semantic Web

Meeting time: Monday 4:30 pm – 7:10 pm
Meeting location: Robinson Hall A111

Instructor: Dr. Gheorghe Tecuci, Professor of Computer Science

Office hours: Monday 7:20 pm – 8:10 pm and Wednesday 7:20 pm – 8:10 pm
Office: Nguyen Engineering Building, Learning Agents Center, Room 4613
Phone: 703 993 1722
E-mail: tecuci at gmu dot edu

Course Description

Prerequisite: 60 credits and C or better in CS 310 and CS 330

Due to the development of the World Wide Web (WWW), virtually any information about any subject that exists almost anywhere on the planet is available at our fingertips. This has significantly improved the way we conduct business and share information, but it has also led to the “big data” problem, where the amount of data and information we have is too vast to manage and allow us to know what we know. The Semantic Web is the evolution of the WWW that responds to this problem. In the emerging (Semantic) Web, the content is represented in an expanded form, to be understood not only by humans but also by software agents, helping them to find, integrate, process, and share information. This facilitates the development of intelligent knowledge-based applications on the semantic web, which is the purpose of Knowledge Engineering.

This course covers the basic concepts, principles, major methods, tools, architectures, systems, applications, open issues, and research directions in Knowledge Engineering for the Semantic Web, including: semantic modeling, ontology languages (RDF, RDFS, OWL), semantic markup, the publication and consumption of Linked Data, Semantic Web application architectures, querying the semantic web (SPARQL), inferencing in the Semantic Web, reasoning with rules and ontology, agent teaching and multistrategy learning. It also covers major applications of these semantic technologies, such as FOAF, semantic wiki, semantic browsers, semantic search engines, DBpedia, Rich Snippets from Google, and SearchMonkey from Yahoo. The learning of concepts, principles and methods will be enhanced by the practice of using several tools, including Protégé, Jena, and Disciple. An important part of the course is the development of a project in an area of your interest, involving the study and/or the development of a semantic web tool, system, or application, and an oral presentation and demonstration to the class.

Detailed lecture notes will be posted before each class meeting.

This course will use Blackboard (see http://gmu.blackboard.com) to post lecture notes, papers, assignments, and grades. The students will also submit their assignments through Blackboard. Students have accounts on Blackboard and can download the posted documents by going to courses.gmu.edu and logging in using their Mason ID and passwords.

Outcomes

· Understanding of the Knowledge Engineering and Semantic Web concepts and principles.

· Knowledge of the ontology languages RDF, RDFS, and OWL, and ability to design and develop semantic web ontological models.

· Knowledge of the query language SPARQL and ability to author SPARQL queries.

· Knowledge of the main Knowledge Engineering for Semantic Web tools and of the Semantic Web applications, as well as the ability to use them.

Grading Policy

Class participation and assignments: 20%

Mid-term exam: 30%

Project: 20%

Final exam: 30%

Exam Dates

Mid-term exam: Monday, 17 March at 4:30pm

Final exam: Monday, 12 May at 4:30pm

Main Readings

· Allemang D. and Hendler J., Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Modeling in RDF, RDFS and OWL, Morgan Kaufman, 2011. Electronic resource available from the GMU library at http://magik.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1964229

· Yu L., A Developer’s Guide to the Semantic Web, Springer-Verlag, 2011. Electronic resource available from the GMU library. On-campus link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-3-642-15969-5/#section=836610&page=1 Off-campus link: http://mutex.gmu.edu/login?URL=http://www.springerlink.com/content/978-3-642-15969-5/#section=836610&page=1

· Tecuci G., Boicu M., Marcu D., and Schum D.A., 2014. Knowledge Engineering: Building Personal Learning Assistants for Evidence-based Reasoning with Disciple. Available in Blackboard.

Other Useful Texts

· Antoniou G., Groth P., Harmelen, van F., and Hoekstra R., A Semantic Web Primer, The MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 2012, Electronic resource available from the GMU library at http://magik.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=3359262

· Hitzler P., Krotzsch M., Rudolph S., Foundations of Semantic Web Technologies, CRC Press, 2010.

· Heath T. and Bizer C., Linked Data: Evolving the Web into a Global Data Space, Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2011, Electronic resource available from the GMU library at http://magik.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=2274472

· Breitman K.K., Casanova M.A. and Truszkowski W., Semantic Web: Concepts, Technologies and Applications, Springer-Verlag London Limited 2007, Electronic resource available from the GMU library at http://magik.gmu.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1977934

· Other papers recommended by the instructor.

Email Communication

Email to tecuci@gmu.edu and start the subject of the message with CS499.

Please try to limit the size of the files you are emailing.

GMU Email Accounts

Students must activate their GMU email accounts to receive important University information, including messages related to this class.

Office of Disability Services

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at 993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS. http://ods.gmu.edu.

Other Useful Campus Resources

Writing Center: A114 Robinson Hall; (703) 993-1200; http://writingcenter.gmu.edu

University Libraries “Ask a Librarian” http://library.gmu.edu/mudge/IM/IMRef.html

Counseling And Psychological Services (CAPS): (703) 993-2380; http://caps.gmu.edu

University Policies

The University Catalog, http://catalog.gmu.edu, is the central resource for university policies affecting student, faculty, and staff conduct in university affairs.

Honor Code

You are expected to abide by the GMU honor code. Information on the university honor code can be found at http://academicintegrity.gmu.edu/honorcode/.

Additional departmental CS information: http://cs.gmu.edu/wiki/pmwiki.php/HonorCode/CSHonorCodePolicies