Semantics for scaling the Knowledge Graph

Speaker: Jim Hendler, Director, Institute for Data Exploration and Applications Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Abstract

Oh dear, there's that word again - "semantics!" Isn't that what doomed that Semantic Web thing and led to knowledge graphs instead? In this talk, I discuss how knowledge graphs, linked data and, yes, semantics are all critically linked and why the latter is still relevant to the growth and scaling of knowledge graphs into the future. The talk looks at some of the key features that were left out of the semantic web models but which are needed for future knowledge graph scaling and interoperability.

Slides

Bio

James Hendler is the Director of the Institute for Data Exploration and Applications and the Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI. He also is acting director of the RPI-IBM Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboration and serves as a Chair of the Board of the UK's charitable Web Science Trust. Hendler has authored over 400 books, technical papers and articles in the areas of Semantic Web, artificial intelligence, agent-based computing and high-performance processing. Hendler was the recipient of a 1995 Fulbright Foundation Fellowship, is a former member of the US Air Force Science Advisory Board, and is a Fellow of the AAAI, BCS, the IEEE, the AAAS and the ACM. He is also the former Chief Scientist of the Information Systems Office at the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and was awarded a US Air Force Exceptional Civilian Service Medal in 2002. He is also the first computer scientist to serve on the Board of Reviewing editors for Science. In 2010, Hendler was named one of the 20 most innovative professors in America by Playboy magazine and was selected as an "Internet Web Expert" by the US government. In 2013, he was appointed as the Open Data Advisor to New York State and in 2015 appointed a member of the US Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee. In 2016, became a member of the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information and in 2018 became chair of the ACM's US technology policy committee and was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.