NEPOMUK (software)
Written in | C++, Java |
---|---|
Type | Semantic desktop |
License | Various (BSD-style preferred)[1] |
Website |
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. Between 2006 and 2008 it was funded by a European Union research project of the same name[2] that grouped together industrial and academic actors to develop various Semantic Desktop technologies.
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.[3]
KDE[]
NEPOMUK-KDE was originally featured as one of the newer technologies in KDE Software Compilation 4.[4] It used Soprano as the main RDF data storage and parsing library, while handling ontology imports through the Raptor parser plugin and the Redland storage plugin; all RDF data was stored by Virtuoso which also handled full-text indexing.[5] On a technical level, NEPOMUK-KDE allowed associating metadata to various items present on a normal user's desktop such as files, bookmarks, e-mails, and calendar entries. Metadata could be arbitrary RDF. Tagging is the most user-visible metadata application.
As the KDE SC 4 series of releases progressed, it became apparent that NEPOMUK was not delivering the performance and user experience that had initially been anticipated. As a result of this, in KDE SC 4.13 a new indexing and semantic search technology Baloo was introduced, with a short transition period allowing applications to be ported and data to be migrated before the removal of NEPOMUK.[6][7] Baloo initially used SQLite but currently uses LMDB[8] for storage, and Xapian for searching.
Zeitgeist[]
The Zeitgeist framework, used by GNOME and Ubuntu's Unity user interface, uses the NEPOMUK ontology, as does the Tracker search engine.
Java[]
The Java-based implementation of NEPOMUK[9] 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[10] 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[11]
Refinder by Gnowsis[]
Implementation of the commercial Software as a service product Refinder[12] started in 2009 and a limited beta-version was released in December 2010.[13] Refinder was developed by Gnowsis, a spin-off company of the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) (project lead in the NEPOMUK EU project). The start-up was shut down in late 2013,[14] with no plans to make the implementation code available.
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 — the data format used for describing a Personal Information Model, describing Persons, Projects, Topics, Events, etc., also used in NEPOMUK-KDE.[15]
- NIE — the NEPOMUK Information Element Ontology (and the associated ontologies NFO etc.), describing resources on a desktop (files, mails, etc.)[16]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ "Nepomuk License". Archived from the original on 2009-04-29.
- ^ "European Commission : CORDIS : Projects & Results Service : Networked environment for personal ontology-based management of unified knowledge".
- ^ 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
- ^ "NEPOMUK-KDE project". Archived from the original on 2013-03-17. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Trüg, Sebastian (22 September 2011). "About Strigi, Soprano, Virtuoso, CLucene, and Libstreamanalyzer".
- ^ "KDE's Next Generation Semantic Search". Retrieved 2014-06-28.
- ^ "KDE Community Wiki - Baloo". Retrieved 2014-06-28.
- ^ "Baloo 5.15". Retrieved 2015-10-11.
- ^ Groza, Tudor. "Semantic Desktop[.]org". Archived from the original on 2007-12-01.
- ^ Fluit, Leo Sauermann, Christiaan. "Aperture Framework".
- ^ "Welcome to the framework!".
- ^ "Home - Refinder".
- ^ Refinder: Das nächste Level des Hyperlinks Article in Futurezone by Jakob Steinschaden, 3.12.2010.
- ^ "We are shutting Refinder down - Refinder".
- ^ "Personal Information Model (PIMO)". Archived from the original on 2008-12-28.
- ^ NEPOMUK Information Element Ontology Archived 2008-12-30 at the Wayback Machine
External links[]
- KDE Frameworks
- KDE Platform
- Personal information managers
- Semantic desktop