Summer school  teaching units:
Ontologies, Research Methods

Werner Kuhn

April 28, 2004

Hours

Session 1: Friday, June 4, a.m., 120 min. + 60 min: Ontology

Session 2: Friday, June 4, p.m., 90 min. + 90 min: Research Methods I

Session 3: Saturday, June 5, a.m., 120 min. + 90 min: Research Methods II

Contents

Ontology

The participants will be introduced to the idea of Semantic Reference Systems for geospatial information. The analogy to Spatial Reference Systems will be motivated and explained. The notions of referencing, projecting and translating information semantically will be shown by way of examples. Early implementations will be discussed and related to a typical practical ontology language (OWL). The practical part will consist of a demonstration of OWL and the design of a small example ontology.

Research Methods

After an introduction to the characteristics and requirements of scientific work, the practical skills will be developed in the context of the proposal writing process started the day before. Students will work on their proposal abstracts in detail, and on the structure of the whole proposal text. Presentations will highlight key writing and presentation techniques. Students will also get the opportunity for a brief practice talk to present the highlights of their proposal.

Goals

Ontology

The goal of the half day on the subject of Ontology is to provide an inside perspective on some advanced research going on in the area of semantic interoperability. Students completing this teaching unit should be able to answer the following questions:

Research Methods

The goal of the two half days devoted to research methods is to apply and improve the skills of participants in at least two of the most critical research techniques: scientific writing and presenting. Students completing this teaching unit should be able to answer the following questions:

Students’ preparation in advance

Required readings:

Required online preparation:

 

Software downloads, URL, and hardware

Software requirements: -

URL’s for additional background materials:

Hardware requirements for all sessions: Beamer

Hardware requirements for preparation/homework of students: Computers with internet access