Human Colossus Foundation Announces the Publication of "Decentralised Semantics: A Semantic Engine User Perspective"
The Human Colossus Foundation is excited to announce the publication of a groundbreaking new paper titled "Decentralised Semantics: A Semantic Engine User Perspective," authored by Carly M. Huitema, Paul Knowles, Philippe Page, and A. Michelle Edwards. This paper marks a significant advancement in how researchers search information through advanced semantic data management. The Semantic Engine developed in the agri-food sector leverages Overlays Capture Architecture (OCA) as a basis for semantic harmonisation and information discovery.
Citation
Huitema, C.M., Knowles, P., Page, P. and Edwards, A.M. (2024)
Decentralised Semantics: A Semantic Engine User Perspective.
Data Science Journal, 23: 42, pp. 1–5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2024-042
Addressing the Challenges of FAIR Data Implementation
The paper addresses a critical issue in implementing the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data principles. While many research groups strive to make their data FAIR, they often encounter challenges documenting the context in which data was collected, processed, and analysed. This lack of machine-actionable, contextual metadata frequently renders data less reusable and visible outside the immediate research team.
To overcome these challenges, the authors present the first version of the Semantic Engine, a tool designed to facilitate the creation of decentralised, machine-actionable metadata schemas. This tool is handy when data is collected across multiple projects and institutions, such as Agri-Food Data Canada.
Leveraging Overlays Capture Architecture (OCA)
The Semantic Engine is built upon the Overlays Capture Architecture (OCA), a flexible and extensible standard hosted by the Human Colossus Foundation. OCA supports decentralised collaboration and reproducibility by allowing multiple contributors to work on different aspects of a data schema without compromising the integrity of the core data structure. This approach is particularly beneficial in the agri-food sector, where data heterogeneity and decentralised research efforts are expected.
The Semantic Engine is built upon the Overlays Capture Architecture (OCA), a flexible and extensible standard hosted by the Human Colossus Foundation. OCA supports decentralised collaboration and reproducibility by allowing multiple contributors to work on different aspects of a data schema without compromising the integrity of the core data structure. This approach is particularly beneficial in the agri-food sector, where data heterogeneity and decentralised research efforts are expected.
Applications and Future Implications
The Semantic Engine, freely accessible at semanticengine.org, allows researchers to create, edit, and manage OCA-based schemas. It has been thoroughly tested by researchers at the University of Guelph and is designed to be user-friendly for the broader research community.
The potential applications of OCA and the Semantic Engine extend beyond the agri-food sector. The paper highlights ongoing projects in Canada and Switzerland and the EU Horizon project 'NextGen,' which uses OCA to harmonise semantic data in cardiovascular personalized medicine.
The release of the "Decentralised Semantics: A Semantic Engine User Perspective" paper represents a significant step forward in making research data more FAIR and usable. By leveraging the Semantic Engine and OCA, researchers can ensure that their data is well-documented, reproducible, and accessible to a broader audience. The Human Colossus Foundation is proud to support this critical work and looks forward to its continued impact on the research community.
You can access the full paper here and explore the Semantic Engine at semanticengine.org for more information.