Charting Past, Present, and Future Research in the Semantic Web and Interoperability

Huge advances in peer-to-peer systems and attempts to develop the semantic web have revealed a critical issue in information systems across multiple domains: the absence of semantic interoperability. Today, businesses operating in a digital environment require increased supply-chain automation, interoperability, and data governance. While research on the semantic web and interoperability has recently received much attention, a dearth of studies investigates the relationship between these two concepts in depth. To address this knowledge gap, the objective of this study is to conduct a review and bibliometric analysis of 3511 Scopus-registered papers on the semantic web and interoperability published over the past two decades. In addition, the publications were analyzed using a variety of bibliometric indicators, such as publication year, journal, authors, countries, and institutions. Keyword co-occurrence and co-citation networks were utilized to identify the primary research hotspots and group the relevant literature. The findings of the review and bibliometric analysis indicate the dominance of conference papers as a means of disseminating knowledge and the substantial contribution of developed nations to the semantic web field. In addition, the keyword co-occurrence network analysis reveals a significant emphasis on semantic web languages, sensors and computing, graphs and models, and linking and integration techniques. Based on the co-citation clustering, the Internet of Things, semantic web services, ontology mapping, building information modeling, bioinformatics, education and e-learning, and semantic web languages were identified as the primary themes contributing to the flow of knowledge and the growth of the semantic web and interoperability field. Overall, this review substantially contributes to the literature and increases scholars’ and practitioners’ awareness of the current knowledge composition and future research directions of the semantic web field. View Full-Tex

e-Learning: Rompiendo fronteras

La globalización y la inmersión de las TIC hoy en día no solo ha generado un cambio en la visión de la política y la economía, también lo ha hecho en el ámbito educativo. En dicho cambio el e-Learning juega un papel importante, ya que sirve como intermediario entre alumno y aprendizaje; sin embargo, en este escenario los instructores no controlan el material y los estudiantes pueden combinar el material de aprendizaje en los cursos por cuenta propia.Por lo anterior, este documento presenta una revisión del conjunto de características más significativas del e-Learning exponiendo las diferencias con los métodos de enseñanza tradicional, un análisis de las ventajas e inconvenientes que presenta; los métodos para evaluar la eficiencia de su aplicación y como se ha aplicado en Latinoamérica

The open innovation paradigm: Can Digital Storytelling generate value for the Educational Field?

The aim of this chapter is to shed a light on an emerging educational and business paradigm, stemming from the digital revolution and the opportunities disclosed by Open Innovation. The central idea behind Open Innovation is that, in a world of widely distributed knowledge, companies cannot afford to rely entirely on their own research, but should instead buy or license processes or inventions from other actors. In addition, internal inventions not being used should be taken outside the company. Such paradigm could be extremely useful in education. After pointing out the potential benefits of digital storytelling and of web 2.0 and 3.0 for promoting pedagogical and organizational innovation, the authors present an application of the Open Innovation Paradigm in education: the Value Generating Framework. The chapter offers empirical evidence of the benefits of this paradigm through an in-depth analysis of the alliance between the Italian Zoo “Parco Natura Viva” and the Italian foundation “Radio Magica”. Nowadays a knowledge-intensive, collaborative, value network paradigm has demonstrated to be more successful than the previous firm-centric paradigm

Metodología para la construcción de una memoria integradora de fuentes de información documental para el ámbito académico gestionada con tecnologías semánticas (MIIDAS)

En este trabajo de investigación se presenta la Metodología MIIDAS acrónimo de Memoria Integradora de fuentes de Información Documental para instituciones Académicas gestionada con tecnologías Semánticas. La Metodología MIIDAS considera las 6 fases de una memoria organizacional: 1) Detección de necesidades, 2) Construcción, 3) Divulgación, 4) Uso, 5) Evaluación y 6) Mantenimiento y evolución. La Metodología MIIDAS tiene como objetivo la integración de Recursos Educativos Abiertos heterogéneos tanto en formato como en contenido que se generan y manejan al interior de las instituciones educativas. En las etapas 2, 3 y 4 se emplean tecnologías Semánticas como ontologías (Educativa, Recursos Educativos Digitales, dominio: Computación, Electrónica y Militar), índices semánticos y lenguajes de búsqueda (SPARQL). El caso de estudio considerado en esta investigación para la aplicación de la Metodología MIIDAS estuvo integrado por dos instituciones educativas de nivel superior (civil y militar) teniendo en sus planes de estudio cursos en las áreas de Computación y Electrónica. Para la fase 1 Detección de necesidades se realizó un estudio de Fortalezas, Oportunidades, Debilidades y Amenazas (FODA) de las dos instituciones; así como, la elaboración de dos cuestionarios para los principales actores en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje (docentes y discentes) con el fin de identificar el tipo de recursos educativos más atractivos por los principales actores del proceso educativo y por el otro las materias que requieren una variedad de recursos educativos. Para probar la Metodología MIIDAS en las fases de la 2 a la 6 se desarrolló el Prototipo MIIDAS, el cual se construyó siguiendo el modelo de desarrollo de software en espiral; además, de considerar diferentes diagramas UML. Una de las aportaciones de PMIIDAS es el uso de índices semánticos de tres capas conformados por metadatos (educativos y del Protocolo OAI-PMH), contenido del recurso y vínculos a otros recursos favoreciendo el almacenamiento, la búsqueda y recuperación de recursos educativos dentro de un repositorio institucional. Para la validación del Prototipo MIIDAS se desarrollaron dos instrumentos de evaluación (rúbricas), los cuales permiten tanto comprobar que el prototipo cumple con los requerimientos establecidos; así como brindan la posibilidad de identificar posibles mejoras. La puesta en marcha de este trabajo de investigación muestra la viabilidad para aplicar tanto la Metodología y Prototipo MIIDAS en cualquier institución educativa que desee compartir e integrar sus recursos educativos desde una perspectiva de repositorios institucionales; además de ayudar al desarrollo de plataformas educativas que fomenten la difusión de los recursos educativos abiertos y permitan la construcción de conjuntos de datos enriquecidos semánticamente

Un environnement sémantique à base d'agents pour la formation à distance (E-Learning)

Aujourd’hui, les établissements d’enseignement, tels que les universités, de plus en plus offrent des contenus d’E -Learning. Certains de ces cours sont utilisés avec l'enseignement traditionnel (face à face ou présentiel), tandis que d'autres sont utilisés entièrement en ligne. La création de contenu d'apprentissage est une tâche principale dans tous les environnements d'apprentissage en ligne. Les contraintes de réduire au minimum le temps nécessaire pour développer un contenu d'apprentissage, d'augmenter sa qualité scientifique et de l'adapter à de nombreuses situations (contenu adaptatif), ont été un principal objectif et donc plusieurs approches et méthodes ont été proposées. En outre, les caractéristiques intellectuelles et sociales, ainsi que les styles d'apprentissage des individus, peuvent être très différents. Ces différences conduisent les personnes à adapter le contenu d'apprentissage en tenant compte des profils des apprenants et de leurs objectifs et caractéristiques. Cette recherche ouvre des portes pour les systèmes d'apprentissage avancées, qui fournissent aux apprenants immédiatement, des contenus d’apprentissage adaptés selon plusieurs critères de chaque apprenant. Alors que, il ne peut pas être pratique si nous n'avons pas plus d'informations sur l'apprenant et le contenu d'apprentissage (objectifs d'apprentissage, les prérequis, préférences, niveaux ...etc). Par conséquent, nous développons un système collaboratif, où plusieurs auteurs travaillent en collaboration, pour créer et annoter le contenu éducatif en utilisant le système multi-agents. La contribution de notre système est l'hybridation des techniques d'adaptation avec celles de la collaboration et du Web sémantique (ontologie, annotation). Nous représentons les profils des apprenants et le contenu d'apprentissage en utilisant des ontologies et des annotations pour répondre à la diversité et aux besoins individuelles des apprenants. Nous utilisons le paradigme agent, dans notre système, pour bénéficier des points forts de ce paradigme tels que la modularité, autonomie, flexibilité... etc

The Adoption and Use of Technology by Teachers in the United Arab Emirates

AbstractAlthough technology integration in the classroom improves educational outcomes, cultural influences explaining varying integration of teacher technology adoption and use in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had not been explored. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study explored the influence of culture on perceptions of, use of, and factors influencing the decision to adopt technology among native Arab-speaking (NAS) and native English-speaking (NES) teachers (Phase 1) at a boysâ secondary school in the UAE and how teachers who exhibit differing levels of adoption make decisions about and use technology in the classroom (Phase 2). The technology adoption model was used as the framework to examine factors influencing acceptance and use of technology. The quantitative Phase 1 surveyed all 75 teachers at the school (52 responded), and the qualitative Phase 2 participants included 4 teachers, 2 NAS and 2 NES. Data were collected using an online survey (Phase 1) and through observations and interviews (Phase 2). Survey data were analyzed descriptively and using 2-tailed t tests; qualitative data were analyzed through coding, categorizing, and theme development. Phase 1 results showed no statistically significant differences in intent to use technology or ease of use. However, NAS teachers (M = 4.52) rated the usefulness of technology significantly higher than NES teachers (M = 4.14), t (51) = 2.26, p = .028. Phase 2 observations and interviews showed NES teachers were more likely to use technology for whole class and teacher needs, and NAS teachers for individualized student support. Results from this study could assist school and technology administrators to institute better supports for teachers as they strive to adopt and use technology in their teaching

e-Learning and semantic Web: learning materials and objects for CoL plataform.

A World Wide Web está se tornando uma grande biblioteca virtual, onde a informação sobre qualquer assunto está disponível a qualquer hora e em qualquer lugar, com ou sem custo, criando oportunidades em várias áreas do conhecimento humano, dentre as quais a Educação não é exceção. Embora muitas aplicações educacionais baseadas na Web tenham sido desenvolvidas nos últimos anos, alguns problemas nesta área não foram resolvidos, entre as quais está a pesquisa de materiais e objetos de aprendizagem mais inteligentes e eficientes, pois como as informações na World Wide Web não são estruturadas e organizadas, as máquinas não podem compreender" e nem interpretar" o significado das informações semânticas. Para dar uma nova infra-estrutura para a World Wide Web está surgindo uma nova tecnologia conhecida com Web Semântica, cuja finalidade é estruturar e organizar as informações para buscas mais inteligentes e eficientes, utilizando-se principalmente do conceito de ontologia. Este trabalho apresenta uma proposta de modelagem ontológica de materiais e objetos de aprendizagem baseada nas tecnologias da Web Semântica para a plataforma de ensino a distância CoL - Cursos on LARC. Esta proposta estende esta plataforma adicionando-lhe a capacidade de organizar e estruturar seus materiais de aprendizagem, de forma a que pesquisas mais inteligentes" e estruturadas possam ser realizadas, nestes materiais e propiciando a possibilidade de reutilização do conteúdo desses materiais.The World Wide Web is turning itself into a huge virtual library, where a piece of information about any subject is available at any time in any place, with or without fees, creating opportunities in several areas of human knowledge. Education is no exception among this areas. Although many Web based educational applications have been recently developed, some problems in the area have not been solved yet. Among these is the search for more intelligent and effective object learning and materials, since the World Wide Web information is not structured, nor organized. The machines do not understand" neither interpret" the meaning of semantic information. In order to restructure the World Wide Web there is a new technology, known as Web Semantics, being developed. It aims to structure and organize information for more intelligent and effective search, making use of the ontology concept. This work presents an ontological modeling for learning subjects and materials, based on the Web Semantics Technology for the long distance education platform CoL Courses on LARC. This proposal extends such platform, adding to it the possibility of organizing and structuring its learning materials, making possible more intelligent" and structured searches on the materials as well as making possible the re-use of the materials contents