The Semantic Computing research group - SeCo
The work of the research group in semantic computing, SeCo, has been focusing on developing the infrastructure of a semantic web that is based on the Finnish language. This includes (1) ontologies based on Finnish thesauruses, such as the general Finnish ontology (Yleinen suomalainen ontologia, YSO) based on the general Finnish thesaurus (Yleinen suomalainen asiasanasto, YSA), (2) centralised ontology servers and tools for semantic annotation, and (3) the practical applications of some semantic portals in the fields of culture, health services and teaching, for example. The group comprises researchers from both the Department of Computer Science and from the Laboratory of Media Technology at Helsinki University of Technology. The group currently works in the facilities of the latter. Experts from outside the group have also participated in the research.
During 2003-2007, the SeCo group heads the project Ontologies of the semantic web in Finland (FinnONTO), a national research project to develop Finnish ontologies for the semantic web, to develop maintenance and utility tools and services for them, as well as to demonstrate the new technology through several pilot applications. FinnONTO is part of the TEKES Fenix research programme. Over eighty percent of the research has been carried out by the Semantic computing research group, with contributions from the Tampere University Department of Information Studies, the Helsinki University Department of Linguistics, and the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics at Helsinki University of Technology.
FinnONTO started developing the SUO Finnish place ontology with the help of YSO and the place name register of the National Land Survey of Finland. We started mirroring the thesauruses of Agriforest and the design and communications field to the YSO ontology. The ontologies and meta-data specifications for the TerveSuomi application were developed further.
As for tools, the demo version of the ONKI server was finished, as was the annotation editor SAHA, which was integrated with the POKA tool for half-automated annotation. Another annotation tool, OPAS for the 'Ask the librarian' service at the Helsinki City Library, was also completed and tested on end users with promising results. A new IT architecture was implemented for the development of these systems, and new technologies like AJAX were studied.
Among the pilot applications, the second version of the KulttuuriSampo system for Finnish culture on the semantic web was finished. The first prototype of the portal TerveSuomi.fi was completed, as was the first demonstration of the portal Opintie containing teaching material.
During 2006, the group produced a wealth of international publications and theses.
Contact person: Professor Eero Hyvönen
Website: http://www.seco.tkk.fi/
Project
FinnONTO
Publications
Mäkelä, E. & Hyvönen, E. & Saarela, S.: Ontogator -- A Semantic View-based Search Engine Service for Web Applications. Proceedings of the 5th International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC 2006), Springer-Verlag, 2006.
Holi, M. & Hyvönen, E.: Fuzzy View-Based Semantic Search. Proceedings of the 1st Asian Semantic Web Conference (ASWC2006), Beijing , China , Springer-Verlag, 2006.
Hyvönen, E. & Mäkelä, E.: Semantic Autocompletion. Proceedings of the 1st Asia Semantic Web Conference (ASWC 2006), Beijing , China , Springer-Verlag, 2006.
Viljanen, K. & Känsälä, T. & Hyvönen, E.& Mäkelä, E.: ONTODELLA - A Projection and Linking Service for Semantic Web Applications. Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications (DEXA 2006), Krakow, Poland, IEEE, 2006, pp. 370-376.
Holi, M.& Hyvönen, E.: Modeling Uncertainty in Semantic Web Taxonomies. Soft Computing in Ontologies and Semantic Web (Zhongmin Ma (ed.)), Springer-Verlag, 2006.