Experiences Using Rules with DAML+OIL

Mike Dean
Principal Investigator, DAML Integration and Transition
Chair, Joint US/EU ad hoc Agent Markup Language Committee
mdean@bbn.com

Dagstuhl Seminar 02061: Rule Markup Techniques for the Semantic Web
Schloss Dagstuhl, Germany
8 February 2002

http://www.daml.org/2002/02/dagstuhl-rules/Overview.html

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Outline

• 2 Small Uses of Rules with DAML+OIL
• Use of Rules with DAML Agenda
• Toward DAML-Rules
• Conclusions

Ontology Translation: GEDCOM

• GEDCOM is a standard representation for genealogy data
• I had previously developed a GEDCOM to DAML converter
• the "normalized" GEDCOM model uses childIn and parentIn rather than familiar family relations
• I used RuleML 0.7 to define father, child, uncle, etc.
• I developed XSLT stylesheet converters and used these rules with
  • XSB
  • JESS
  • cwm
• This worked well, but identified a couple shortcomings in RuleML 0.7
  • inability to specify that 2 variables couldn't bind to the same instance (needed for sibling)
  • inability to express negation (probably needed for stepchild)
• See here for more information.

Expense Reconciliation

• I've long wanted to reconcile my expense reports, credit card charges, and bank statements.
• I wrote converters to convert each of these data sources into DAML+OIL instances
• I wrote matching rules in JESS to reconcile expenses and identify unmatched expenses
• Unfortunately, I haven't reclaimed any money yet, but I'm still trying
• See here for more information.

DAML Agenda

• the DAML Agenda example shown yesterday could use rules in several ways:
  • computing start/end times based on Day start and durations
    • needs procedural attachments to add XML Schema timeInstant and timeDuration
    • because of the use of daml:collection, aggregating Day and Block times may be a challenge
  • constraint checking
    • a Break is required at least every 2 hours
    • no person should be both chair and a speaker in the same Block
  • implementation mechanism for daml:sameClassAs and daml:samePropertyAs
  • translating to (inverse, property chaining)
  • extended classification, e.g. InternationalMeeting is a Meeting where speakers come from more than one Country

Reasoning With DAML+OIL

• a summary of some of the tools being used with DAML+OIL is available here

Toward DAML-Rules

• rules have been identified as a key issue by the DAML+OIL user community
• a summary of some previous proposals is available here
• Stefan Decker collected a summary of various ways users hope to use rules with DAML+OIL
• I hope the Dagstuhl seminar will result in a new rules proposal for the Joint Committee
• as DAML+OIL influenced WebOnt, DAML-Rules may similarly influence a subsequent W3C Rules Working Group
  • the WebOnt charter specifically excludes rules, giving us more time to gain experience and make recommendations

Conclusions

• rules are an important and necessary addition to the ontologies defined by DAML+OIL
• although DAML+OIL doesn't currently support rules, one can still use rules with DAML+OIL
  • write rules directly for your rule engine
  • use RuleML
• such use provides valuable experience in combining rules with ontologies
  • identifies requirements for DAML-Rules

Fun

• a map using DAML Map showing where (most) seminar participants are from
  • World
  • Europe
  • Germany
• produced from DAML GeoFile content stored in DAML DB with a manual step

A Vision for the Semantic Web

• Before I leave for Dagstuhl I should be able to click on the seminar link and download into PalmDAML:
  • the seminar agenda
  • my travel itinerary
  • airplane/train schedules, driving directions
  • a map showing where participants are from
  • CVs for all participants
  • ...
• Rules will play a major role in making this happen!