Activities of INTAP Semantic Web Committee in Japan

by Tomihiko Kojima

The Interoperability Technology Association for Information Processing (INTAP) drives forward researches and developments related to the Semantic Web and its promotion in Japan.

INTAP is an association authorised by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (or METI) of Japan, established in 1985. The Association conducts R&D, surveys, and publicity activities for promoting interoperability of information and communication technologies. The Association stimulates the progress of information processing and related technologies, which should contribute to the creation of a sound and healthy information society.

INTAP Semantic Web Committee
INTAP has established the Semantic Web Committee, based on recognition that the Semantic Web is a critical technology that will affect widely economic activities and social life. INTAP drives forward research and development related to the Semantic Web and its promotion in Japan through the Committee, in cooperation with Keio University and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

A brief history of the Semantic Web Committee:

• Established in 2001
• Semantic Web Conference (October 2001, at Keio University)
• Semantic Web Workshop (December 2001, at DBWeb2001 in Kyoto)
• Presentation in panel session by the committee chairman, Noboru Shimizu at ISWC2002 (June 2002)
• Semantic Web special report of the technical magazine issued by the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) in July 2002:
  What is the Semantic Web?; Meta-Data on the Semantic Web and its Usage; Web Ontology language for the Semantic Web; Tools for the Semantic Web; Application Systems on the Semantic Web
• Semantic Web Conference 2002 in 18th September 2002.

Members of the Committee
The committee is chaired by Mr. Noboru Shimizu of NEC Corporation and technically led by Dr. Nobuo Saito, Vice President of Keio University and Dr. Tatsuya Hagino, Professor of the same University. Dr. Saito is working for W3C as the Director and Deputy Director of W3C. The committee members are comprised of NEC Corporation, Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd, Toshiba Corporation, IBM Japan Ltd, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd, Fujitsu Ltd, Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd, NEC Software Kyushu Ltd, NEC Planning Research Ltd, and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation.

Activities of the Committee

• Survey on trends on Semantic Web technology in Europe and the US: RDF, OWL, DAML, DAML-S, RSS, Dublin Core, etc
• Research on the successful story of Semantic Web applications, such as next-generation e-government
• Blueprints:
  Development of Japanese Content Description System using RDF:
  We will develop a Japanese Content Description System using RDF that can automatically generate RDF metadata on a certain Japanese content based on pattern formats which are used to identify particular letter strings as metadata for that content. We will also develop a Japanese RDF Metadata Standard to describe summaries of various Japanese contents.
  Development of Integrated Management System of Distributed Information (License Repository):
  Based on the assumption that the Internet is a huge repository, we will develop an Integrated Management System of Distributed Information that enables attached documents of a written application to be held on an applicant-side system and enables the staff of administrative organs who receive the application to browse the attached documents when they want to see them.
  Research and Development of Intelligent Search System using RDF and Ontology:
  We will research RDF, ontology description language including OWL and intelligent agent technology and we will develop an Intelligent Search System using RDF and Ontology based on the research.

Link:
http://www.net.intap.or.jp/INTAP/s-web/

Please contact:
Tomihiko Kojima, INTAP, Japan
Tel: +81 3 5977 1301
E-mail: info-semanticweb@intap.or.jp,
kojima@intap.or.jp