Introduction to Knowledge Graphs and Rich Semantic Search

The tutorial covers conceptual foundations and practical examples of knowledge graphs and rich semantic search. A tension exists in the aim to harness semantic search for integrated data: a shallow common model hides the riches, whereas a rich model complicates the search task. In this tutorial we show how a user-friendly search system can be quickly constructed allowing access into a knowledge graph without compromising the underlying rich semantics of the component datasets.

The audience will learn how to apply the techniques in any application domain, however examples will be given for the cultural heritage domain. This is exemplified using the ResearchSpace project which brings together heterogeneous data from museums and archives. The ResearchSpace solution is based on the agile and modular development capabilities of the metaphacts platform, featuring end-user interfaces for expressing complex information needs, exploration, interrogation and visualization of rich knowledge graphs. The tutorial will cover:

An introduction to knowledge graphs
Concepts and techniques for semantic search over rich knowledge graphs
Hands-on examples and exercises over a cultural heritage knowledge graph
Application to knowledge graphs in other application domains

Peter Haase founded metaphacts in October 2014. He has 20+ years of IT experience, with 14+ years in semantic technologies, academia as well as industry. In 2006, Peter obtained his PhD from the University of Karlsruhe (now KIT) under the supervision of Prof. Rudi Studer. Lastly, he worked as Head of Research and Development at fluid Operations AG. Previously, he also worked for IBM in the Silicon Valley Labs in the development team of DB2, as well as for the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics. Peter has acquired and managed numerous large research projects and also led the development of commercial products and solutions in the area of semantic technologies.

Barry is the Development Manager for ResearchSpace, a Linked Data-based platform for the cultural heritage domain, hosted at the British Museum. He is responsible for the software and data architecture, project management, supplier management and leads an internal development team. Barry provides training in the UK, Europe and the US on Linked Data, Semantic Technologies, data integration and solution architectures driven by Linked Data. He has more than a decade of research background, and holds a PhD, in Semantic Web, Linked Data, REST APIs/Web Services and processes, and in Natural Language Processing systems. He has been involved with commercial software development and training since 1996 and has extensive experience of data-driven solutions.

Denny Vrandecic is an Ontologist working on the Google Knowledge Graph. He is the founder of Wikidata, member of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, and co-creator of Semantic MediaWiki. He has started the Linked Open Numbers project. He obtained his PhD on the topic of ontology quality at KIT. Denny has written more than 70 publications on the topic of semantic technologies. Previously, he has been working in Karlsruhe, Rome, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Today he lives with his wife and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area.