NEPOMUK (framework)
Encyclopedia
NEPOMUK is an open-source software specification that is concerned with the development of a social semantic desktop
that enriches and interconnects data from different desktop applications using semantic metadata
stored as RDF
. Initially, it was developed in the NEPOMUK project and cost 17 million euros, of which 11.5 million was funded by the European Union
.
/KDE
-based variant, a Java
-based variant, and a commercial version. More versions were created during the EU project between 2006 and 2008, some active beyond the project.
and, on a technical level, allows associating metadata to various items present on a normal user's desktop such as files, bookmarks, e-mails, and calendar entries. Metadata can be arbitrary RDF; as of KDE 4, tagging is the most user-visible metadata application.
RDF store and the Aperture framework for integrating with other desktop applications such as mail clients and browsers.
A number of artifacts have been created in the context of the Java research implementation:
product Refinder started in 2009 and a limited beta-version is released in December 2010. Refinder is developed by Gnowsis, a spin-off company of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
. DFKI was project lead in the NEPOMUK EU project.
Refinder uses the same data formats as the other implementations, but using Software as a service
instead of the desktop approach of the other implementations.
Semantic desktop
In computer science, the Semantic Desktop is a collective term for ideas related to changing a computer's user interface and data handling capabilities so that data is more easily shared between different applications or tasks and so that data that once could not be automatically processed by a...
that enriches and interconnects data from different desktop applications using semantic metadata
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
stored as RDF
Resource Description Framework
The Resource Description Framework is a family of World Wide Web Consortium specifications originally designed as a metadata data model...
. Initially, it was developed in the NEPOMUK project and cost 17 million euros, of which 11.5 million was funded by the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Implementations
Three active implementations of NEPOMUK exist: A C++C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
/KDE
KDE
KDE is an international free software community producing an integrated set of cross-platform applications designed to run on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Mac OS X systems...
-based variant, a Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
-based variant, and a commercial version. More versions were created during the EU project between 2006 and 2008, some active beyond the project.
KDE
NEPOMUK-KDE is featured as one of the newer technologies in KDE SC 4. It uses the RDF store SopranoSoprano (KDE)
Soprano is a software library that provides an object-oriented C++/Qt4 framework for RDF data. Soprano was created as a sub project under the NEPOMUK project and forms a part of the semantic desktop in KDE Software Compilation 4...
and, on a technical level, allows associating metadata to various items present on a normal user's desktop such as files, bookmarks, e-mails, and calendar entries. Metadata can be arbitrary RDF; as of KDE 4, tagging is the most user-visible metadata application.
Java
The Java-based implementation of NEPOMUK was finished at the end of 2008 and served as a proof-of-concept environment for several novel semantic desktop techniques. It features its own frontend (PSEW) that integrates search, browsing, recommendation, and peer-to-peer functionality. The Java implementation uses the SesameSesame (framework)
Sesame is an open-source framework for querying and analyzing RDF data. It was created, and is still being maintained, by the Dutch software company . It was originally developed as part of the "On-To-Knowledge", a semantic web project that ran from 1999 to 2002. It contains a triplestore.Sesame...
RDF store and the Aperture framework for integrating with other desktop applications such as mail clients and browsers.
A number of artifacts have been created in the context of the Java research implementation:
Refinder by Gnowsis
Implementation of the commercial Software as a serviceSoftware as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
product Refinder started in 2009 and a limited beta-version is released in December 2010. Refinder is developed by Gnowsis, a spin-off company of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI)
German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz , lit. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, is one of the world's largest nonprofit contract research institutes in the field of innovative software technology based on Artificial Intelligence methods.DFKI was founded in 1988...
. DFKI was project lead in the NEPOMUK EU project.
Refinder uses the same data formats as the other implementations, but using Software as a service
Software as a Service
Software as a service , sometimes referred to as "on-demand software," is a software delivery model in which software and its associated data are hosted centrally and are typically accessed by users using a thin client, normally using a web browser over the Internet.SaaS has become a common...
instead of the desktop approach of the other implementations.
Data formats
- PIMO, the data format used for describing a Personal Information Model, describing Persons, Projects, Topics, Events, etc., also used in NEPOMUK-KDE.
- NIE, the NEPOMUK Information Element Ontology (and the associated ontologies NFO etc.), describing resources on a desktop (files, mails, etc.)