All missing presentations will be posted shortly. Please check back periodically for updates. If you have any questions about a particular presentation, please contact Jane Harnad, jharnad@idealliance.org

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9:00 am - 10:30 am: Green Track - Semantic Web Introduction

Towards a Semantic Taxonomy
Presented by: Kurt Conrad, President, The Sagebrush Group and Bo Newman, Founder and Executive Director, The Knowledge Management Forum
The term 'semantics' doesn't mean the same thing to everybody. Likewise, any given knowledge artifact may represent an almost limitless set of semantic properties (most of which are only implied). Deciding which semantic properties to formalize and how to formalize them is not a easy task (note the long-lived and raging debates in the world of XML schema languages). The authors will present a draft taxonomy for differentiating and categorizing different semantic properties and relate the taxonomy to various strategies for segmenting and layering semantics in the context of an overall information architecture.

Introduction to the Semantic Web
Presented by: Suellen Stringer-Hye, Systems Librarian for Public Services, Vanderbilt University
Libraries have long been storing and classifying the record of the world's shared knowledge for efficient retrieval. The web, in many ways, has become an extension of the library but without the structures that make optimized retrieval possible. Additionally it is not possible to employ traditional methods of classifying knowledge to the large sets of data and information now being generated electronically. The World Wide Web, in order to be truly useful, must adapt techniques used by libraries for centuries, as well as rely on new technologies not yet fully developed. This presentation will provide an overview of the range of technological solutions currently under consideration for the building of the "Semantic Web"--- a web maximized for information and knowledge storage and retrieval.

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Blue Track - Semantic Web Technical

Where is the Sematics in the Semantic Web
Presented by: Michael Uschold, Research Scientist, The Boeing Company
The most widely accepted defining feature of the Semantic Web is machine-usable content. By this definition, the Semantic Web is already manifest in shopping agents that automatically access and use Web content to find the lowest air fares, or book prices. But where are the semantics? Most people regard the Semantic Web as a vision, not a reality-so shopping agents should not “count”. To use Web content, machines need to know what to do when they encounter it. This in turn, requires the machine to “know” what the content means (i.e. its semantics). The challenge of developing the Semantic Web is how to put this knowledge into the machine. The manner in which this is done is at the heart of the confusion about the Semantic Web. The goal of this talk is to clear up some of this confusion.

DAML and RDF Topic Maps
Presented by: Nikita Ogievetsky, President, Cogitech, Inc.
This presentation will discuss how RDF Topic Maps (RTM) can be combined with DAML to facilitate expressiveness of topic subjects. In addition, how DAML can be combined with RTM to facilitate federation of notions and exchange of knowledge.

9:00 am - 10:30 am: Gold Track - Tools and Services

The empolis Knowledge Suite - A Unique Combination of Unique Tools
Presented by: H. Holger Rath, Director R&D, empolis GmbH
Knowledge Management has many flavors, but access to information is key and can be achieved by searching or by navigating. The empolis Knowledge Suite offers an intelligent find technology including topic map knowledge navigation and AI-driven searching. Learn more in this session.

The Omnivore: Knowledge Interchange using Topic Maps in Arbitrary Syntaxes
Presented by: Sam Hunting, CEO, eTopicality, Inc.
This presentatin will discuss how first, developers, particularly those who have needs that XTM or 13250 syntax can't satisfy, or satisfy in a subtopimal fashion, but who still wish to use the topic map paradigm. Second, information owners who need to understand or prove to themselves that information they have can be represented as a topic map, without necessarily being convered to XTM or 13250 syntax. Third, topic map experts who need to understand how several interchange syntaxes can be represented by the same data model. Fourth, knowledge managers who are looking for ways to interchange knowledge using their current syntaxes.

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11:00 am - 12:30 pm: Knowlege Communities Panel

The technology of knowledge management is springing up from the work of many communities. Some, like the library community, have had a long history of professional practice before the coming of computing technology. The artificial-intelligence community has a record of several decades of academic study and proprietary product development. The rise of the Internet and XML-based products has opened the possibilities for both new communities of knowledge practitioners-and vast potentials for new users of knowledge-based applications. The panel will look at the multiple communities that now are converging around new opportunities.

Moderator:
Eric Freese, Chair, TopicMaps.org

Panelists:

• Semantic Web Community: Eric Miller, W3C Semantic Web Activity Lead, World Wide Web Consortium
• Knowledge Organization/Library Community: Carol Jean Godby, Senior Research Scientist, OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.
• Knowledge Representation/Artificial Intelligence Community: Carsten Tautz, Manager Research & Consulting, empolis Knowledge Management Division, Bertelsmann Mohn Media Group
• Knowledge Management Community: Chris Paladino, Project Manager, Accenture

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Closing Keynote

Negotiation Instead of Legislation
Presented by: John Sowa, Chief Scientist, Genumerix, Inc.