Supporting semantics: EU-funded project to create open test platform
EU-funded researchers have started work on a platform that will facilitate the evaluation of the technologies needed for the future Internet. Dubbed SEALS ('Semantic evaluation at large scale'), the project has been allocated EUR 3.5 million under the 'Information and communication technologies' (ICT) Theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Semantic technologies will support the creation of a 'web of data', enhancing information searches and information integration, thereby allowing users to link up diverse forms of data from different sources. They underpin the design of 'intelligent applications' in fields such as business, education, e-government, tourism and healthcare. Thousands of people in hundreds of companies worldwide are carrying out research in this exciting new area, and so far they have produced around 700 semantic tools. However, their efforts are largely uncoordinated and there is currently no common forum where users and researchers can assess and compare the tools. The aim of the SEALS project is to develop an infrastructure (the SEALS Platform) that will provide services for the remote evaluation of semantic technologies. The platform will allow researchers, developers and end users to evaluate and compare the technologies available and select the best tool for their needs. The platform will also help researchers to base their research on replicable evaluation results and to share and discuss their findings with others. According to the project partners, the platform will be 'an independent, open, scalable, extensible and sustainable infrastructure'. Tool developers will be able to upload their technologies to the platform, specify the tool categories under which it should be assessed, and gain access to the test results. For its part, the platform will provide a range of evaluation scenarios and test data sets. The evaluation service will initially be available for five types of technologies (ontology engineering tools, storage and reasoning systems, matching tools, semantic search tools, and semantic Web service tools) and for a number of evaluation criteria (such as interoperability and scalability). Access to the platform, the evaluation services and the results will be free. Integrating the results of the evaluations will permit the researchers to create semantic technology roadmaps that will aid in the selection of groups of compatible tools for the development of semantic Web applications. The project partners state that their final goal is to 'provide a meeting and discussion place for everyone that is interested in the evaluation of semantic technologies'. The researchers hope that tool developers and users will join the SEALS community. The project, which will draw to a close in 2012, is coordinated by the Technical University of Madrid (UPM) in Spain. The other project partners are the University of Sheffield (UK), the Institute of Applied Informatics and Formal Description Methods in Karlsruhe (Germany), the University of Innsbruck (Austria), the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA), the University of Mannheim (Germany), the University of Zurich (Switzerland), the Open University (UK), the Semantic Technology Institute (STI) International (Austria) and the University of Oxford (UK).