ConferenceCall 2012 02 09

= OntologySummit2012: Session-05, Thursday 2012-02-09 =

Summit Theme: OntologySummit2012: "Ontology for Big Systems"

Track 3 Title: Meeting Big Data Challenges through Ontology

Session Topic: I - Big Data domain experts and ontologists; II - Big Data that would benefit from ontological technology

Session Chairs: Mr. ErnieLucier (NCO/NITRD) and Ms. MaryBrady (NIST) - intro-slides

Opening Remarks by - Dr. GeorgeStrawn (Director, NCO_NITRD)

Panelists:


 * Professor BarrySmith (University at Buffalo) - "Big Data that might benefit from ontology technology, but why this usually fails" - slides
 * Mr. ChrisMusialek (GSA) (for Dr. JeanneHolm, Evangelist, Data.gov) - "Driving Innovation with Open Data" - slides
 * Mr. BryanThompson and Mr. MikePersonick (SYSTAP) - "Big Data Challenges: Managing Scale in Ontological Systems" - slides . slides+notes
 * Mr. JamesKirby (Naval Research Laboratory) - "Ontology for Software Production" - slides

Archives:


 * Abstract
 * Agenda
 * Prepared presentation material (slides) can be accessed by clicking on each of the title links below:
 * [ 00-Chairs ] . [ 0-Strawn (no slides)  ] . [ 1-Smith ] . [ 2-Musialek-Holm ] . [ 3-Thompson-Personick ] . [ 4-Kirby ]
 * Audio recording of the session ( 1:29:58 ; mp3 ; 10.3 MB )
 * transcript of the online chat during the session ... (raw transcript is now online; a cleaned-up version will be coming!)
 * Additional Resources

Conference Call Details

 * Date: Thursday, 9-Feb-2012
 * Start Time: 9:30am PST / 12:30pm EST / 6:30pm CET / 17:30 UTC
 * ref: World Clock
 * Expected Call Duration: ~2.0 hours


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 * This session, like all other Ontolog events, is open to the public. Information relating to this session is shared on this wiki page: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2012_02_09


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Attendees

 * Attended:
 * ErnieLucier (co-chair)
 * MaryBrady (co-chair)
 * GeorgeStrawn
 * BarrySmith
 * ChrisMusialek
 * BryanThompson
 * JimKirby
 * LeoObrst
 * PeterYim
 * SteveRay
 * BobSchloss
 * JamesOdell
 * DaliaVaranka
 * FrankChum
 * MatthewHettinger
 * ChristopherSpottiswoode
 * JoelBender
 * MarcelaVegetti
 * LarryLefkowitz
 * MatthewWest
 * XavierLopez
 * AmandaVizedom
 * BobbinTeegarden
 * GaryBergCross
 * JohnBilmanis
 * TerryLongstreth
 * DougFoxvog
 * FrankOlken
 * BartGajderowicz
 * BillMcCarthy
 * TomTinsley
 * BobSmith
 * ToddSchneider
 * AdamMontville
 * Anatoly Levenchuk
 * CoryCasanave
 * EricChan
 * ErnaniSantos
 * JackRing
 * KathyEllis
 * PavithraKenjige


 * Other registered participants we were expecting (who may have joined with logging into the chat-space or announcing themsleves) :
 * MikePersonick
 * PeterEirich
 * PeterDenno
 * ReginaldFord
 * ElizabethFlorescu
 * (please add yourself to the list if you are a member of the Ontolog or OntologySummit community, or, rsvp to )


 * Regrets:
 * AndreaWesterinen
 * HensonGraves
 * NicolaGuarino
 * DeborahMacPherson
 * AliHashemi
 * JeanneHolm
 * LinePouchard
 * KenAllgood
 * MatthewWest

ABSTRACT:
 I - Big Data domain experts and ontologists 

 II - Big Data that would benefit from ontological technology 

This is our 7th Ontology Summit, a joint initiative by NIST, Ontolog, NCOR, NCBO, IAOA & NCO_NITRD with the support of our co-sponsors. The theme adopted for this Ontology Summit is "Ontology for Big Systems." The event today is our 5th virtual session.

The principal goal of the summit is to bring together and foster collaboration among the ontology community, systems community, and stakeholders of some of "big systems." Together, the summit participants will exchange ideas on how ontological analysis and ontology engineering might make a difference, when applied in these "big systems. We will aim towards producing a series of recommendations describing how ontologies can create an impact; as well as providing illustrations where these techniques have been, or could be, applied in domains such as bioinformatics, electronic health records, intelligence, the smart electrical grid, manufacturing and supply chains, earth and environmental, e-science, cyberphysical systems and e-government. As is traditional with the Ontology Summit series, the results will be captured in the form of a communiqué, with expanded supporting material provided on the web.

Meeting Big Data Challenges through Ontology

The mission of this track is to identify appropriate objectives for an "Ontology and Big Data" challenge, prepare problem statements, identify the organizations and people to be advocates, and identify the resources necessary to complete a challenge. The goal will be to select a challenge showing benefits of ontology to big data.

One of the NCOs goals is to enhance collaboration and accelerate agencies adoption of advanced IT capabilities. NITRD seeks to accelerate deployment of promising research technologies; share protocol information, standards, and best practices; and coordinate and disseminate technology assessment and testbed results. NITRD coordinates federally supported IT research under the leadership of OSTP. Ontologies and the semantic web support Open Government Directive.

The goal of "Meeting Big Data Challenges through Ontology" Track 3 is to identify issues that can be addressed using an ontology challenge. Challenges can take many forms and target many issues.

Potential issues to be addressed by challenges:


 * Enhance collaboration and accelerate agencies adoption
 * Accelerate the adoption of ontological methods, maximize public awareness, and impact of research.
 * Increase the number of agencies using ontologies, i.e., earlier adoption
 * Where should our focus be to accelerate agencies adoption of ontology capabilities?
 * How many scientists, physicists, engineers, programmers, big data administrators, etc. have experience with ontologies?
 * Is the growth of ontological implementations and technologies with Big Data constrained by the shortage of qualified personnel?
 * Inform, educate, and include the public in scientific research and discovery. Public involvement could be a critical component of our success
 * A mismatch between those with data and those with the skills to analyze the data
 * Are programmers able to optimize the use of unstructured or semi-structured data sets for scientists and engineers?
 * What are the talent and skill set issues impacting the use of ontologies?
 * The skills important to the growth of ontological technologies with Big Data include a combined understanding of a scientific or engineering discipline and knowledge of ontology-based technologies.
 * Programmers are not able to optimize the use of unstructured data for scientists and engineers
 * Scientists and engineers without ontology training may use brute force programming  this can be inefficient and the scientists and engineers without training may not be aware of options and capabilities using ontology-based technologies
 * Strategic significance to the economy, e.g. enabling competitive products.
 * How long does it take to become productive in the ontology environment?
 * Can universities expand coursework in ontologies and integrate ontological methods into the requirements for science degrees? At the undergraduate level? At the graduate level?
 * Identify individuals who have both domain experience and an understanding of what it means to apply ontology technologies.
 * Increase the number of individuals capable of applying ontology technology
 * Ontology-based technology evolution for big data may be slow or non-existent
 * Advances in the use of ontology technology can be difficult or unattainable without an adequate number of properly trained personnel, including scientists, engineers, programmers, system administrators, technologists, and all others that make up the big data systems.
 * Expanding the markets for ontologies could make the field a more attractive career path. What is the growth rate of the ontology market? Further expansion could spark investment and make ontologies an even more vibrant, attractive market for young people to enter.
 * A Challenge may seed and transform the current status quo
 * Software dilemma analogy with ontology
 * Ontologies and software perceived to be a commodity resulting in little or no investment in research. Projects use ontologies as one of their tasks

Potential challenge directions


 * 1. Increase the awareness of ontology technology among programmers/database managers


 * 2. Accelerate agencies adoption of ontology capabilities


 * 3. Enable scientists and engineers to make maximum use of big data


 * 4. Enable scientists and engineers to understand the potential of ontology-based systems integration


 * 5. Enable ontologists to understand scientists and engineers needs


 * 6. Ameliorate any mismatch between those with data and those with the skills to analyze it


 * 7. People in the domains of science, engineering, software, computer science, etc. can benefit from a combined knowledge of their domain and application of ontology-based technologies. A combined understanding of these domains and ontology-based technologies may encourage the growth of technology.


 * 8. Improve critical areas of current practice

This first session of Track 3 - http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2012_02_09 - is to understand the relationships between big data challenges and ontologies. The second session, we hope to talk about solutions and benefits including a NASA big data challenge activity. At the face-to-face meeting, we would like to present various approaches to implementing ontologies using challenges and a sample from the NITRD Big Data working group.

Agenda
Ontology Summit 2012 - Panel Session-05


 * Session Format: this is a virtual session conducted over an augmented conference call


 * 1. Opening - co-chairs [15 min.] ... [ slides ]
 * 2. Panel briefings - BarrySmith, ChrisMusialek, BryanThompson, JamesKirby - [10~20 min. each]
 * 3. Q & A and open discussion [All: ~30 min.] -- please refer to process above
 * 4. Wrap-up / Announcements - (co-chairs)

Proceedings:
Please refer to the above

IM Chat Transcript captured during the session:

see raw transcript here.

(for better clarity, the version below is a [ re-organized and lightly edited chat-transcript].) Participants are welcome to make light edits to their own contributions as they see fit.

-- begin in-session chat-transcript --

-- end of in-session chat-transcript --


 * Further Question & Remarks - please post them to the [ ontology-summit ] listserv
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Audio Recording of this Session

 * To download the recording of the session, click here
 * the playback of the audio files require the proper setup, and an MP3 compatible player on your computer.
 * Conference Date and Time:	9-Feb-2012 9:38am~11:12am PST
 * Duration of Recording:	1 Hour 30 Minutes
 * Recording File Size:	       10.3 MB (in mp3 format)
 * suggestions:
 * its best that you listen to the session while having the respective presentations opened in front of you. You'll be prompted to advance slides by the speaker.
 * Take a look, also, at the rich body of knowledge that this community has built together, over the years, by going through the archives of noteworthy past Ontolog events. (References on how to subscribe to our podcast can also be found there.)

Additional Resources:

 * Homepage of OntologySummit2012
 * OntologySummit2012 Launch Event - ConferenceCall_2012_01_12
 * OntologySummit2012 session-02 "Ontology for Big Systems: What's In Scope" - ConferenceCall_2012_01_19
 * OntologySummit2012 session-03 "Ontology for Big Systems & Systems Engineering - I : The Systems and Systems Engineering Problem Space" - ConferenceCall_2012_01_26
 * OntologySummit2012 session-04 - "Ontology for Big Systems & Systems Engineering - II : a response to the problem space and setting out the working program for this Summit Track" - ConferenceCall_2012_02_02
 * Wiki pages devoted to Track-3: Challenge: Ontology and Big Data
 * OntologySummit2012_BigDataChallenge_CommunityInput (open)
 * OntologySummit2012_BigDataChallenge_Synthesis (maintained by ErnieLucier, MaryBrady)
 * [ontology-summit] mailing list archives - http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontology-summit/
 * to subscribe to this discussion list: send a blank message from your subscribing email address to  or visit http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontology-summit/ and subscribe yourself there
 * Homepage of the Summit series - see: OntologySummit

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