© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Is Semantic Technology the Answer for MDM?

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Ten Years is a Long Time

Recent studies suggest that nearly 90% of online shoppers conduct some sort of online research prior to making a purchase decision

Upwards of 65% of them click on a search result displayed on the first page

Did you see that coming 10 years ago?

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Machine Learning

Software learns about you and what you wantAutomatic organization of large collectionsMore effective marketplaces

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

What Is the Semantic Web?

Tim Berners-Lee imagined the entire web tagged and linked - everything connects to everythingSemantic Web is based on directed graph theory, not set theory like RDB and SQL

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

A Simple Ontology* in Triples

A human is a living thing.

A person is a human.

A person may have a first name.

A person may have a last name.

A person must have one and only one date of birth.

A person must have a gender.

A person may be socially related to another person.

A friendship is a kind of social relationship.

A romantic relationship is a kind of friendship.

A marriage is a kind of romantic relationship.

A person may be in a marriage with only one other person at a time.

A person may be employed by an employer.

An employer may be a person or an organization.

An organization is a group of people.

An organization may have a product or a service.

A company is a type organization.

*From Nova Spivak, Minding The Planet -- The Meaning and Future of the Semantic Web

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Ontology + Instances = Knowledgebase

There exists a person x.Person x has a first name “Sue”Person x has a last name “Smith”Person x has a full name "Sue Smith"Sue Smith was born on June 1, 2005Sue Smith has a gender: femaleSue Smith has a friend: Jane, who is

another person.Sue Smith is married to: Bob, another

person.Sue Smith is employed by Acme, Inc, a

companyAcme Inc. has a product, Widget 2.0.

• Ontology + instances = knowledgebase

• If represented OWL, can be understood by any application that speaks OWL

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

What Can We Do With It?

Cure spamNo more manual filing & retrieval vastly improved by connectionsMerge data without looking at itReal-time merge in the InternetScary thought: once there is enough semantic metadata, the machines can add it by themselves

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Accessible versus Usable

-125 bushels/acre-$4.00/bushel dried at the co-op*-$500/acre (before expenses)

-$5.29/box on the shelf-Cost of corn: <$.40

Corn Corn “Flakes”

It isn’t the corn, it’s the flakes;Is your data usable?* Thanks to Ethanol

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Context: <Ducati 999 Blue Silicone Hose Kit>

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Example: Pattern vs Semantic

Ducati, 999, Silicone Hose Kit, Blue Blue Silicone Hose kit for Ducati 999 Silicone Hose kit, for 999 Ducati, Blue Hose Kit, Blue, Silicone, Ducati, 999 HseKtBlu-Si, Ducati 999-12/98

expected record

ERROR

LOG

Field level matching cannot reconcile

Ducati is a motorcycle; 999 is a model of a Ducati;Mortorcycles use hose kits; Hoses are made from silicone;Silicone hoses have color; Blue is a color

Semantics:

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Data Integration and XML

Given escalating volumes, can XML’s self-describing format solve the problem?XML describes how data should be transmitted, but doesn’t enforce itLots of XML traffic today is incorrectIt is a huge leap forward, but it’s just a format specificationDoesn’t mandate, enforce or assist with context-based understanding

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Integration and XML

<Publication><Title>Precise Semantic Identification</Title><Published>Technical Report</Published><Institution>University Database

Group</Institution><Location>

<City>Bolder</City><State>Colorado</State></Location>

<Date><Month>October</Month><Year>2005</Year></Date>

</Publication>

<Publication><Title>Precise Semantic Identification</Title><Published>Technical Report</Published><Institution>University Database

Group</Institution><Location>

<City>Bolder</City><State>Colorado</State></Location>

<Date><Month>October</Month><Year>2005</Year></Date>

</Publication>

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Integration & XML

City, state is easy, but how about more complicated data with fewer standards?

-Attributes embedded in description- Options:

Manual methodsSemantic (linguistic) algorithms

<Product><Description> Pilot Full-Strip Desk

Stapler, Reaches 3-3/8",210 Capacity, Chrome Finish

</Description><Classification> </Classification><Capacity> </Capacity><Color> </Color><Manufacturer> </Manufacturer></Product>

<Product><Description> Pilot Full-Strip Desk

Stapler, Reaches 3-3/8",210 Capacity, Chrome Finish

</Description><Classification> </Classification><Capacity> </Capacity><Color> </Color><Manufacturer> </Manufacturer></Product>

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Top Down vs Bottom Up

Bottom-Up

Top-Down

Boiling the oceanDomain Experts

Semantic DiscoveryEmergent Semantics

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Open World Thinking versus E-R Modeling

Country_ID Country_Name

C001 China

City_ID City_Name Is_Capital Country_IDCT005 Beijing YES

YES

C001

CT007 Peking C001

PK

PK

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Functional Properties

Because they are both the capital of China, and because nothing can

have more than one capital, we can conclude that Beijing and Peking

are equivalent.

China Beijing

Peking

hasCapital

hasCapital

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Subclasses

CityState

GeographicRegion

Country

Note that there are things which are not cities, states, or countries, but are still geographic regions.

Vatican City

Denver

Canada

Maine

Pacific Ocean

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Subclasses

CityCountry

GeographicRegion

State

DenverVatican CityCanadaMaine

Pacific Ocean

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Where Do We Find Applications for Semantics?

Anywhere that meaning, information, data, use, compliance, governance…anything we do, crosses boundaries

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Crossing Boundaries

And where is the single most prominent place we cross boundaries with data every day?

Or is it already somewhere else?

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Externalization: Then and Now

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

EDI

BigMfg.

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailer

RetailerRetailerRetailerRetailer

SupplierSupplierCustomerCustomer

PartnersPartners

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Data Modeling for Metadata Has Problems

Then you have to jackhammer them up

Fragmented, normalized designs for metadata are only fluid when being poured

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

HTML, CGI, Perl

+RDBMS JSP, ASP, Java

+XML, J2EE, .NET

+RDF, OWL, ??

Handmade by people for people

Generated applying specific templates, used by people

Generated by apps based on fixed schema, used by apps and people

Generated by apps based on models, used by applications, devices and people

Ads, info, big newspaper

“Browse”

Newspaper catalog

“Retrieve and update”

Catalog transaction platform

“Interact”

Platforms connect

“Architecture of participation”“Interoperate”

Browser SearchContent Mgt.Web app servers

PortalsProcess IntegrationWeb Services

AdvisorsPersonal agentsCognitive engines

Static Dynamic Transactional Semantic

Killer A

ppsM

etaphorC

reationLanguage

1995 2002 2005

Movement of the Web to the Semantic Web

Marketing Sales Service Integration

Web

2.0

1998

Adapted fromTop Quadrant

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Back to Semantics: What is an Ontology?

Not a definition.Definitions in the traditional logic sense only introduce terminology and do not add any knowledge about the world (Enderton, 1972)To specify a conceptualization one needs to state axioms that do constrain the possible interpretations for the defined terms

Definitions

Vocabularies

Taxonomies

Mega-Thesauri

Ontology

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

In English, Please

Ontology is based on first-order logic (triples) and Directed Graph Theory (subject, predicate, object)It isn’t easy at first to see the difference between ontology and relational theory or object-oriented design, but it is profoundOntologies produce more information than they are givenIncomplete ontologies can be very useful

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Why Ontology?

Is Semantic Technology Right for BI?Yes!Semantic Technology goes beyond simplistic “Single Version of the Truth” and accommodates many concurrent contextsAllows SME’s to do the modelingAllows for rapid merging of subject areasPuts metadata into motionAbstracts from physical models – opens up new templates of thinking about business

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Semantics: Changes the Requirements Process

Give me the list! I want to know EVERY piece of data you need.

From this:

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Semantics: Changes the Requirements Process

To this:

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Abstraction, Agility & Inclusion

Loose-Coupling

•Persistent cache•Temporary cache•Views, EII, Schema•DW/DM, MOLAP•Cached Results

ETL/EII: Directed at conceptual models

Metadata

RoboDBA

Conceptual-PhysicalTranslator

Conceptual Models

Referencedata

Legacy, ERP/CRM,

Web Services, MQ, external

Rules

Ontology

It’s just one big, giant indirection

© 2006 Hired Brains, Inc.

Neil RadenPresident

Hired Brains, Inc.Hired Brains Research

http://www.hiredbrains.com/knowout.html

2620 Glendessary LaneSanta Barbara, California 93105805-687-1395nraden@hiredbrains.com

Questions?

B