Abstract

Semantic Assistants Workflow OverviewToday's knowledge workers have to spend a large amount of time and manual effort on creating, analyzing, and modifying textual content. While more advanced semantically-oriented analysis techniques have been developed in recent years, they have not yet found their way into commonly used desktop clients, be they generic (e.g., word processors, email clients) or domain-specific (e.g., software IDEs, biological tools). Instead of forcing the user to leave his current context and use an external application, we propose a ``Semantic Assistants'' approach, where semantic analysis services relevant for the user's current task are offered directly within a desktop application. Our approach relies on an OWL ontology model for context and service information and integrates external natural language processing (NLP) pipelines through W3C Web services.

Abstract

From a maintenance perspective, only software that is well understood can evolve in a controlled and high-quality manner. Software evolution itself is a knowledge-driven process that requires the use and integration of different knowledge resources. The authors present a formal representation of an existing process model to support the evolution of software systems by representing knowledge resources and the process model using a common representation based on ontologies and description logics. This formal representation supports the use of reasoning services across different knowledge resources, allowing for the inference of explicit and implicit relations among them. Furthermore, an interactive story metaphor is introduced to guide maintainers during their software evolution activities and to model the interactions between the users, knowledge resources and process model.

Abstract

Traceability links provide support for software engineers in understanding relations and dependencies among software artefacts created during the software development process. The authors focus on re-establishing traceability links between existing source code and documentation to support software maintenance. They present a novel approach that addresses this issue by creating formal ontological representations for both documentation and source code artefacts. Their approach recovers traceability links at the semantic level, utilising structural and semantic information found in various software artefacts. These linked ontologies are supported by ontology reasoners to allow the inference of implicit relations among these software artefacts.

Abstract

Despite impressive advances in the development of generic NLP frameworks, content-specific text mining algorithms, and NLP services, little progress has been made in enhancing existing end-user clients with text analysis capabilities. To overcome this software engineering gap between desktop environments and text analysis frameworks, we developed an open service-oriented architecture, based on Semantic Web ontologies and W3C Web services, which makes it possible to easily integrate any NLP service into client applications.

Abstract

This paper gives a brief overview of the International Workshop on Semantic Technologies in System Maintenance. It describes a number of semantic technologies (e.g., ontologies, text mining, and knowledge integration techniques) and identifies diverse tasks in software maintenance where the use of semantic technologies can be beneficial, such as traceability, system comprehension, software artifact analysis, and information integration.

Abstract

Today's knowledger workers are often overwhelmed by the vast amount of readily available natural language documents that are potentially relevant for a given task. Natural language processing (NLP) and text mining techniques can deliver automated analysis support, but they are often not integrated into commonly used desktop clients, such as word processors. We present a plug-in for the OpenOffice.org word processor Writer that allows to access any kind of NLP analysis service mediated through a service-oriented architecture. Semantic Assistants can now provide services such as information extraction, question-answering, index generation, or automatic summarization directly within an end user's application.

As of June 1st, 2008, I'm now working as an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concordia University in Montréal, Canada. Coinciding with the new position, I'm also building a new website, www.semanticsoftware.info. There are two main ideas behind this website: First, to inform about the research and teaching activities of my Semantic Software Lab, which I'm establishing at Concordia; and second, to establish a community portal for selected topics in the area of semantic systems — for example, for people interested in the applications of NLP in software engineering.

Abstract

Providing access to cultural heritage data beyond book digitization and information retrieval projects is important for delivering advanced semantic support to end users, in order to address their specific needs. We introduce a separation of concerns for heritage data management by explicitly defining different user groups and analyzing their particular requirements. Based on this analysis, we developed a comprehensive system architecture for accessing, annotating, and querying textual historic data. Novel features are the deployment of a Wiki user interface, natural language processing services for end users, metadata generation in OWL ontology format, SPARQL queries on textual data, and the integration of external clients through Web Services. We illustrate these ideas with the management of a historic encyclopedia of architecture.

Abstract

Reported speech in the form of direct and indirect reported speech is an important indicator of evidentiality in traditional newspaper texts, but also increasingly in the new media that rely heavily on citation and quotation of previous postings, as for instance in blogs or newsgroups. This paper details the basic processing steps for reported speech analysis and reports on performance of an implementation in form of a GATE resource.