Multimedia Annotation Interoperability Framework

Multimedia systems typically contain digital documents of mixed media types, which are indexed on the basis of strongly divergent metadata standards. This severely hamplers the inter-operation of such systems. Therefore, machine understanding of metadata comming from different applications is a basic requirement for the inter-operation of distributed Multimedia systems. In this document, we present how interoperability among metadata, vocabularies/ontologies and services is enhanced using Semantic Web technologies. In addition, it provides guidelines for semantic interoperability, illustrated by use cases. Finally, it presents an overview of the most commonly used metadata standards and tools, and provides the general research direction for semantic interoperability using Semantic Web technologies

Semantic Standards Quality Measured in Practice: The Case of the SETU Standard for Flexible Staffing

Semantic standards should play an important role in achieving inter-organizational interoperability. Millions are spent on development and adoption of these standards, but does it lead to interoperability? This important question is not often addressed. In this study interoperability in the Dutch temporary staffing industry is studied by focusing on the quality of the SETU standard and its implementations in practice. Our results show that although the SETU standard is equipped for achieving interoperability, this in practice has not been achieved due to low quality implementations. We raise the question why these studies are not being performed on every standard. Another result is that localizations (profiles) may be needed for high quality standards; without localizations interoperability is limited in the SETU case

Enterprise extension through extensible markup language

An extended enterprise is comprised of multiple linkages between and amongst a company and its suppliers, distributors, customers and others. Linkages are long term collaborative agreements based on synergies and the ability to create value. An extended enterprise eliminates wasteful transaction costs and removes redundancies, delays and inefficiencies from the supply chain. This is accomplished through the coordination of demand forecasting, production planning, deployment and transportation as well as creating organizational and process links with seamless information flows between them. Extended enterprise is enabled by developments in technology, especially information technology. Sharing information about sales forecast, production schedules, inventory, etc. makes an extended enterprise a win/win situation. Extended enterprise networks have used information technology systems such as electronic data interchanges, enterprise resource planning, and the Internet with different degrees of success. The Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative has identified several information technology criteria as critical to the success of future enterprises. Based on these criteria, this paper discusses XML’s contribution to the extended enterprise paradigm. Dell’s direct sale model is used to illustrate the role of XML in enterprise extension.Una empresa extendida está compuesta de varios enlaces entre una compañía y sus proveedores, distribuidores, clientes y demás. Estas uniones son acuerdos a largo plazo basados en la sinergia y en la habilidad de crear valor. Una empresa extendida elimina los costes de transacción innecesarios y retira las redundancias, atrasos e ineficiencias de la cadena de suministros. Esto se consigue mediante la coordinación de la demanda, la planificación de la producción, desempleo y transporte así como crear procesos organizativos y enlaces con información que fluye a través de estas partes. Una empresa extendida es posible gracias al Desarrollo en tecnología, especialmente la de la información. Compartir información sobre las ventas, el calendario de producción, el inventario, etc, permite a la empresa situarse en una situación de beneficio. Sus redes de trabajo han empleado la tecnología de la información como intercambios de datos electrónicos, planificación de recursos, y el internet con diferentes grados de éxito. La Iniciativa Artesana de Tecnología Hecha a Mano ha identificado ciertos criterios que resultan críticos para el éxito de las siguientes operaciones y empresas. Basados en estos criterios, este artículo discute la contribución de XML al paradigma de las empresas extendidas. El modelo de ventas directo de Dell se utiliza para ilustrar el papel de XML a la extensión de empresas

State-of-the-art assessment on the implementations of international core data models for public administrations

Public administrations are often still organised in vertical, closed silos. The lack of common data standards (common data models and reference data) for exchanging information between administrations in a cross-domain and/or cross-border setting stands in the way of digital public services and automated flow of information between public administrations. Core data models address this issue, but are often created within the closed environment of a country or region and within one policy domain. A lack of insight exists in understanding and managing the life-cycle of these initiatives on public administration information systems for data modelling and data exchange. In this paper, we outline state-of-the-art implementations and vocabularies linked to the core data models. In particular we inventoried and selected existing core data models and identified tendencies in current practices based on the criteria creation, use, maintenance and coordination. Based on the analysis, this survey suggest research directions for policy and information management studies pointing to best practices regarding core data model implementations and their role in linking isolated data silos within a cross-country context. Finally we highlight the differences in their coordination and maintenance, depending on the state of creation and use

Ontology-based standards development: Application of OntoStanD to ebXML business process specification schema

Business-to-Business (B2B) interoperations are an important part of today's global economy. Business process standards are developed to provide a common understanding of the information shared between trading partners. These standards, however, mainly capture the syntax of the transactions and not their semantics. This paper proposes the use of ontologies as the basis for standards development and presents an ontology for the ebXML Business Process Specification Schema (ebBP) with the aim of empowering the capture and sharing of semantics embedded within B2B processes as well as enabling knowledge deduction and reasoning over the shared knowledge. The paper utilises the Ontology-based Standards Development methodology (OntoStanD) as a methodological approach for designing ontological models of standards. This research demonstrates how Semantic Web technologies can be utilised as a basis for standards development and representation in order to improve standards-based interoperability between trading partners

PB-ADVISOR: A private banking multi-investment porfolio.

Private banking is a business area in which the investor requires tailor-made advice. Because of the current market situation, investors are requiring answers to difficult questions and looking for assurance from wealth managers. Private bankers need to have deep knowledge about an innumerable list of products and their characteristics as well as the suitability of each product for the client’s characteristics to be able to offer an optimal portfolio according to client expectations. Client and portfolio diversity calls for new recommendation and advice systems focused on their specific characteristics. This paper presents PB-ADVISOR, a system aimed at recommending investment portfolios based on fuzzy and semantic technologies to private bankers. The proposed system provides private bankers with a powerful tool to support their decision process and help deal with complex investment portfolios. The system has been evaluated in a real scenario obtaining promising results

The Development of a New Digital Business Reporting Standard - Inline XBRL

Digital reporting has become one of the key elements for regulatory reporting by businesses to the government in the UK. By tagging financial information with individual codes that are based on accounting standards and regulatory reporting regime, financial reports are now transformed into eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) instance documents and can be processed by XBRL-enabled software tools. This research explores how two of the governmental bodies in the UK - HM Revenue and Customs and Companies House - got involved in a close cooperation with the XBRL community in the UK and together with IT consultants and technical experts developed a human-readable format of XBRL, known as Inline XBRL (iXBRL). The central concern is the fabrication of the new standard through formation of a network of actors and objects involved in the process. The study adopts an Actor Network Theory perspective that highlights the complexity of technology implementation in regulatory environments using concepts from sociomateriality theory (Latour, 2005; Leonardi & Barley, 2008). It draws on documentary evidence and semi-structured interviews with regulators, software vendors, and other organisations involved in developing digital reporting facility in the UK. The study has found that iXBRL affordances acted as a catalyst for the network to grow and the regulators to fulfil their obligations by addressing the pressures from major consulting companies, accounting professional bodies, and software vendors. The XBRL rendering functionality produced the perception of both capability for users of financial reports and constraint for filers. To overcome this constraint, the network of actors directed all resources to producing a visually more accessible rendering mechanism that was inscribed in iXBRL. By focusing on the UK unique context of the mandate of iXBRL-based filing, the thesis contributes by illustrating what was compromised and what was gained for heterogeneous groups of actors when establishing the infrastructure for digital business reporting