NEPOMUK (framework)

Nepomuk

Type	Semantic desktop
License	Various (BSD-style preferred)[1]
Website	http://nepomuk.semanticdesktop.org http://nepomuk.kde.org

NEPOMUK (Networked Environment for Personal, Ontology-based Management of Unified Knowledge) 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^[2] and cost 17 million euros, of which 11.5 million was funded by the European Union.^[3]

Implementations

Three active implementations of NEPOMUK exist: A C++/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^[4].

KDE

NEPOMUK-KDE^[5] is featured as one of the newer technologies in KDE SC 4. It uses the RDF store Soprano 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^[6] 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 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:

• WikiModel

Refinder by Gnowsis

Implementation of the commercial Software as a service product Refinder^[7] started in 2009 and a limited beta-version is released in December 2010^[8]. 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.

Data formats

• PIMO^[9], the data format used for describing a Personal Information Model, describing Persons, Projects, Topics, Events, etc., also used in NEPOMUK-KDE.
• NIE^[10], the NEPOMUK Information Element Ontology (and the associated ontologies NFO etc.), describing resources on a desktop (files, mails, etc.)

References

1. ^ "Nepomuk License". http://dev.nepomuk.semanticdesktop.org/wiki/NepomukLicense. 
2. ^ NEPOMUK - The Social Semantic Desktop
3. ^ Cordis.europa.eu official page about the Nepomuk project
4. ^ How Does Gnowsis Relate to NEPOMUK and Others? Blogpost dated 20.11.2010. Written by Leo Sauermann who contributed to the NEPOMUK project. 6 implementations of NEPOMUK are listed
5. ^ NEPOMUK-KDE project
6. ^ NEPOMUK-Java project
7. ^ Refinder by Gnowsis
8. ^ Refinder: Das nächste Level des Hyperlinks Article in Futurezone by Jakob Steinschaden, 3.12.2010.
9. ^ Personal Information Model (PIMO)
10. ^ NEPOMUK Information Element Ontology

External links

• official website of the NEPOMUK project
• Article: Open Source Semantic Desktop Is Coming
• MIT Technology Review: Semantic Sense for the Desktop
• Slashdot story about Nepomuk
• NEPOMUK in KDE