Children, EPA and The Semantic Web/ Post #2

"A story from EPA - “Is my child safe from environmental toxins?”

A Google search revealed this topic in the table of contents of an HTML web document titled "Introducing Semantic Web Technologies: Harnessing the Power of Information Semantics."

The story noted above is described as a pilot study underway for the EPA in 2004. "It will apply Semantic Web technologies to integrate distributed data sources including those administered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a variety of state government agencies."

"This story is just one example of the tremendous challenges that the federal government faces in relation to the complex organizational structure, the size of its data stores, and the interdependence to other government or non-government entities. These challenges have placed increasing demands for better information sharing, more effective information management, more intelligent search, and smarter decision-making in order to improve government services, enable net-centric defense capabilities and ensure the safety of our nation."

Reading about the EPA story helped me gain a better understanding of how the Semantic Web is being developed and led me to investigate the group responsible for writing it. It is encouraging to find more information about how Semantic Web groups like this are using Collaborative Networking and Wikis for communication. For reader's information below is a quick overview and links to a few of the project pages.

The final draft of this Executive Brief White Paper was published in September 2004 and was developed at KM.GOV by the Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice which " is established by a group of individuals for the purpose of achieving "semantic interoperability" and "semantic data integration" focused on the government sector." KM stands for Knowledge Management and the KM.GOV web site has Knowledge management working groups, special interest groups and a Wiki COLAB:> "An Open Collaborative Work Environment to Support Networking Among Communities of Practice" and more.