ENSEMBLE

Iestyn Pryce is a 2nd year Engineering student at Cambridge. He intends to specialise in Information and Computer Engineering. Iestyn has been a UROP student at Caret with the Ensemble Project over the summer vacation this year, and he has developed a new RDF-izer called ‘Gwybodaeth’ (the Welsh word for ‘knowledge’).

“Gwybodaeth is a set of Perl classes for conversion of data into RDF. It is utility to convert data which isn’t semantic into nice, RDF-ized semantic data” says Iestyn. “It is designed to be modular and extensible because there are n-types of non-semantic data out there, so it was designed so that other people could easily add small bits to the program, so that they can convert from whatever format they have in to RDF”.

What sets Gwybodaeth apart from other existing RDF-izers is the ability to preserve namespaces, allowing data mapping, whilst being a simple to use, user-friendly web service. Iestyn says, “Maps are incredibly useful. Not only do they mean that you don’t have to change your data beforehand, it also means that you can have things like logic.”

Users within the University of Cambridge can use Gwybodaeth as a web service at http://gwybodaeth.caret.cam.ac.uk/. Gwybodaeth has also been released as an open-source application this week at the CPAN - click here to visit its webpage.

For further information:

• Read the Gwybodaeth documentation
• Get Gwybodaeth at the CPAN
• Github

Over the summer, Ensemble staff at Caret have been joined by four Undergraduate Research OPportunities (UROP) student interns. The projects began in July and are reaching their conclusion this week. The students have tackled diverse topics, including Plant Sciences, data about life in Edwardian Britain, Maritime Operations and Management, and creation of a new RDF-izer. Watch this space for further details of each project over the coming weeks.

Pictured: Emilia Plotka, Iestyn Pryce, Rob Mackinnon, Thomas Kluyver.

The Ensemble project held a well-attended and successful ‘user event’ at St John’s College, Cambridge on 8th January.  This involved members of the project team and its advisory group, members of participating departments at both Cambridge University and City University London, and representatives of other groups and organisations interested in collaborating with the project as it explores the potential of semantic technologies to enhance learning in higher education.

This group heard about work of the the project from Patrick Carmichael (Cambridge University) and Uma Patel (City University London)  They then had an opportunity to see demonstrations of the web applications built during the first months of the project and talk to the project team members and student researchers who developed them.  A lively discussion of how the semantic technologies on display might be used in different teaching and learning environments.

David Good, member of the project advisory group, summed up the discussions, highlighting how technological issues raised were underpinned by fundamental questions about teaching and learning.  Of particular interest and importance, he suggested, was the development of deep understanding of the role of cases in learning which would be necessary to respond to new curricular challenges and make the best use of new technologies.

The Ensemble Project will present its plans, development work and early findings in a symposium at the international Computer Assisted Learning Conference to be held in Brighton in March 2009.

An initial overview of the project and some of the emerging issues and themes will be followed by presentations of four of the demonstrators developed during the Pilot Phase of the project (Summer 2008).  These include examples drawn from across disciplines and demonstrate different applications of semantic technologies.

Participants in the symposium will have an opportunity to engage in discussions with the presenters in a ’round-table’ format which will be further supported by a poster display.  Rather than having a formal discussant role, a chaired ‘panel discussion’ will allow participants to offer responses to the presentations.  We intend that this session will initiate a continuing dialogue about the potential, nature and scope of ‘Web 3.0′ to enhance teaching and learning.