The document proposes modeling time and space in linked data using an event-based approach. It discusses representing events as first-class citizens linked to participants, time intervals, locations and social roles. Events can then be used to represent changing relationships between entities over time and space. The approach is shown to address issues with other temporal modeling methods. It is applied to building a resume browser that queries events a person participated in, their roles and when/where it occurred. Future work includes modeling vague times, reasoning about events and inferring new events.

1. Linked Data and Time
Modeling Researcher Life Lines by Events
Johannes Trame, Carsten Keßler, Werner Kuhn
Sunday, September 8, 13

2. Persons
Patents
PublicationsProjects
Prizes
5 P
Central Research Information System @ WWU
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

3. •Inflexible schema, difficult integration
•Query capabilities limited to „who produced what?“
Persons
Patents
PublicationsProjects
Prizes
5 P
Central Research Information System @ WWU
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

4. •Inflexible schema, difficult integration
•Query capabilities limited to „who produced what?“
Persons
Patents
PublicationsProjects
Prizes
5 P
Central Research Information System @ WWU
➡ Linked Open Data University of Muenster
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

5. •TIME and SPACE are missing (or implicit)
•We are interested in „who did what, when, where ?“
•add two P’s (Periods and Places)
Persons
Patents
PublicationsProjects
Prizes
5 P
Central Research Information System @ WWU
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

6. Angela
WWU
dc:creator
dbpedia:hasOccupation dbpedia:Teacher
dbpedia:activeYearsStart „2008“
foaf:member
Paper456
foaf:based_near
51.96, 7.62
Triples andTime
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

7. Angela
WWU
dc:creator
dbpedia:hasOccupation dbpedia:Teacher
dbpedia:activeYearsStart „2008“
foaf:member
Paper456
foaf:based_near
51.96, 7.62
Paper123
ETH
„2010“
dbpedia:Professor
47.37, 8.54
Triples andTime
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

8. ? ?
Angela
WWU
dc:creator
dbpedia:hasOccupation dbpedia:Teacher
dbpedia:activeYearsStart „2008“
foaf:member
Paper456
How to add (represent) time and space
meaningfully and usefully?
foaf:based_near
51.96, 7.62
Paper123
ETH
„2010“
dbpedia:Professor
47.37, 8.54
Triples andTime
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

9. Time as Meta-Information
example:Angela dbpedia:Professordbpedia:hasOccupation
- RDF Reication
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

10. Time as Meta-Information
example:Angela dbpedia:Professordbpedia:hasOccupation
_:xxx
subject predicate object
dc:date
„2008“
- RDF Reication
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

11. Time as Meta-Information
example:Angela dbpedia:Professordbpedia:hasOccupation
_:xxx
subject predicate object
dc:date
„2008“
example:Angela dbpedia:Professordbpedia:hasOccupation
- Named Graphs
- RDF Reication
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

12. Time as Meta-Information
example:Angela dbpedia:Professordbpedia:hasOccupation
_:xxx
subject predicate object
dc:date
„2008“
example:Angela dbpedia:Professordbpedia:hasOccupation
„2008“
example:NamedGraph123
dc:dateexample:NamedGraph123
- Named Graphs
- RDF Reication
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

13. Time in RDF(S) extensions
• to model valid time, based on temporal database theory
• extending the syntax and interpretation of the language
Temporal RDF Graphs
Multidimensional RDF
Applied Temporal RDF stRDF
RDF STT Temporal Quintuples
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

14. Time in RDF(S) extensions
• to model valid time, based on temporal database theory
• extending the syntax and interpretation of the language
Temporal RDF Graphs
Multidimensional RDF
Applied Temporal RDF stRDF
RDF STT Temporal Quintuples
Problems
• time (and space) as a feature of the KR language
• interaction with the open world assumption
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

15. N-Ary Relations
- conceptual reication
org:hasMembership
example:Angela example:WWUfoaf:member
foaf:Person org:Membership org:hasOrganization org:Organization
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

16. N-Ary Relations
- conceptual reication
org:hasMembership
example:Angela example:WWUfoaf:member
foaf:Person org:Membership org:hasOrganization org:Organization
org:Timeorg:Role
org:duringorg:role
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

17. • the natural choice, but...
Problems
• leads to ad-hoc proliferation of objects
• lacks logical design patterns
• no means to identify n-ary patterns as such
N-Ary Relations
- conceptual reication
org:hasMembership
example:Angela example:WWUfoaf:member
foaf:Person org:Membership org:hasOrganization org:Organization
org:Timeorg:Role
org:duringorg:role
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

18. Event-Oriented Modeling
Event Ontology (EO)
CIDOC CRMABC Ontology SEM
F-Event Model
LODE
http://motools.sourceforge.net/event/event.html
sem:Event
sem:Actorsem:Place
sem:Time sem:EventType
hasTime
hasPlace hasActor
eventType
Related Work
Sunday, September 8, 13

19. Object - Event - Situation Participation
Object Event
Our Approach
= Entity
= Event
= Object
= PhysicalObject
= SocialObject
=
Concept
= Situation
Dolce Ultralite
Sunday, September 8, 13

20. Object - Event - Situation Participation
participates
Object Event
Our Approach
= Entity
= Event
= Object
= PhysicalObject
= SocialObject
=
Concept
= Situation
Dolce Ultralite
Sunday, September 8, 13

21. Object - Event - Situation Participation
participates
Object Event
Concept
classifies
Our Approach
= Entity
= Event
= Object
= PhysicalObject
= SocialObject
=
Concept
= Situation
Dolce Ultralite
Sunday, September 8, 13

22. Object - Event - Situation Participation
participates
Object Event
Concept
classifies
Situation Description
according-to
Our Approach
= Entity
= Event
= Object
= PhysicalObject
= SocialObject
=
Concept
= Situation
Dolce Ultralite
Sunday, September 8, 13

23. Multiple participants in events
PhysicalObject
!
InformationObject
- functional participation relations
e.g.a Person e.g.a Paper
Event
e.g.writing a Paper
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

24. Multiple participants in events
PhysicalObject
!
InformationObject
- functional participation relations
e.g.a Person e.g.a Paper
Event
e.g.writing a Paper
performs theme
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

25. Multiple participants in events
PhysicalObject
!
InformationObject
idea of thematic roles from linguistics [Davidson etc.]:
- functional participation relations
e.g.a Person e.g.a Paper
Event
e.g.writing a Paper
performs theme
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

26. Multiple participants in events
PhysicalObject
!
InformationObject
idea of thematic roles from linguistics [Davidson etc.]:
• write (authorX, paper, pen, library, midnight)
- functional participation relations
e.g.a Person e.g.a Paper
Event
e.g.writing a Paper
performs theme
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

27. Multiple participants in events
PhysicalObject
!
InformationObject
idea of thematic roles from linguistics [Davidson etc.]:
• write (authorX, paper, pen, library, midnight)
• e [write (authorX, paper, e) ^ with (e, pen) ^ in (e, library) ^ at (e, midnight)]
- functional participation relations
e.g.a Person e.g.a Paper
Event
e.g.writing a Paper
performs theme
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

28. Multiple participants in events
PhysicalObject
!
InformationObject
idea of thematic roles from linguistics [Davidson etc.]:
• write (authorX, paper, pen, library, midnight)
• e [write (authorX, paper, e) ^ with (e, pen) ^ in (e, library) ^ at (e, midnight)]
• e [write (e) ^ agent (e, authorX) ^ location (e, library) ^ time (e, midnight)]
- functional participation relations
e.g.a Person e.g.a Paper
Event
e.g.writing a Paper
performs theme
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

29. Temporal and Spatial Properties
hasTimeInterval
participates
Object
Interval
Event
PhysicalRegion
hasLocation
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

30. Temporal and Spatial Properties
hasTimeInterval eventPlace
participates
approxLocation
Object
Interval
Event
Place
PhysicalRegion
hasLocation
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

31. Temporal Relations
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

32. Temporal Relations
[precedes:
(?object dul:isParticipantIn ?p)
(?object dul:isParticipantIn ?q)
(?p pres:eventTime ?a)
(?q pres:eventTime ?b)
notEqual(?a,?b)
(?a pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?enda)
(?b pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?startb)
lessThan(?enda,?startb)
->
(?p temp:precedes ?q) (?q temp:follows ?p)
]
Our Approach
Sunday, September 8, 13

33. Application:CV
Application
Sunday, September 8, 13

34. Application:CV
Application
Sunday, September 8, 13

35. Application:CV
Application
Sunday, September 8, 13

36. SELECT ?start ?end ?rolename ?placename WHERE {
! cris:8220 dul:isParticipantIn ?event.
!
OPTIONAL{
?event pres:eventType pres:CareerEvent;
}
!
?event pres:eventTime ?int.
! ?int pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?start.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?int pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?end
! }.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?person pres:hasPersonRole ?role.
! ! ?role pres:isPersonRoleIncludedIn ?sit.
! ! ?sit dul:includesEvent ?event.
! ! ?role dct:title ?rolename.
! } .
!
OPTIONAL{
! ! ?event pres:eventPlace ?place.
! ! ?place pres:placeName ?placename.
! }
}
Application
Queries
Sunday, September 8, 13

37. SELECT ?start ?end ?rolename ?placename WHERE {
! cris:8220 dul:isParticipantIn ?event.
!
OPTIONAL{
?event pres:eventType pres:CareerEvent;
}
!
?event pres:eventTime ?int.
! ?int pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?start.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?int pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?end
! }.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?person pres:hasPersonRole ?role.
! ! ?role pres:isPersonRoleIncludedIn ?sit.
! ! ?sit dul:includesEvent ?event.
! ! ?role dct:title ?rolename.
! } .
!
OPTIONAL{
! ! ?event pres:eventPlace ?place.
! ! ?place pres:placeName ?placename.
! }
}
in which events did a person participate?
Application
Queries
Sunday, September 8, 13

38. SELECT ?start ?end ?rolename ?placename WHERE {
! cris:8220 dul:isParticipantIn ?event.
!
OPTIONAL{
?event pres:eventType pres:CareerEvent;
}
!
?event pres:eventTime ?int.
! ?int pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?start.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?int pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?end
! }.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?person pres:hasPersonRole ?role.
! ! ?role pres:isPersonRoleIncludedIn ?sit.
! ! ?sit dul:includesEvent ?event.
! ! ?role dct:title ?rolename.
! } .
!
OPTIONAL{
! ! ?event pres:eventPlace ?place.
! ! ?place pres:placeName ?placename.
! }
}
in which events did a person participate?
which (social) concept is assigned to the event?
Application
Queries
Sunday, September 8, 13

39. SELECT ?start ?end ?rolename ?placename WHERE {
! cris:8220 dul:isParticipantIn ?event.
!
OPTIONAL{
?event pres:eventType pres:CareerEvent;
}
!
?event pres:eventTime ?int.
! ?int pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?start.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?int pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?end
! }.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?person pres:hasPersonRole ?role.
! ! ?role pres:isPersonRoleIncludedIn ?sit.
! ! ?sit dul:includesEvent ?event.
! ! ?role dct:title ?rolename.
! } .
!
OPTIONAL{
! ! ?event pres:eventPlace ?place.
! ! ?place pres:placeName ?placename.
! }
}
in which events did a person participate?
which (social) concept is assigned to the event?
when did the event start and end?
Application
Queries
Sunday, September 8, 13

40. SELECT ?start ?end ?rolename ?placename WHERE {
! cris:8220 dul:isParticipantIn ?event.
!
OPTIONAL{
?event pres:eventType pres:CareerEvent;
}
!
?event pres:eventTime ?int.
! ?int pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?start.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?int pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?end
! }.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?person pres:hasPersonRole ?role.
! ! ?role pres:isPersonRoleIncludedIn ?sit.
! ! ?sit dul:includesEvent ?event.
! ! ?role dct:title ?rolename.
! } .
!
OPTIONAL{
! ! ?event pres:eventPlace ?place.
! ! ?place pres:placeName ?placename.
! }
}
in which events did a person participate?
what social roles did the person play in the event?
which (social) concept is assigned to the event?
when did the event start and end?
Application
Queries
Sunday, September 8, 13

41. SELECT ?start ?end ?rolename ?placename WHERE {
! cris:8220 dul:isParticipantIn ?event.
!
OPTIONAL{
?event pres:eventType pres:CareerEvent;
}
!
?event pres:eventTime ?int.
! ?int pres:hasIntervalStartDate ?start.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?int pres:hasIntervalEndDate ?end
! }.
! OPTIONAL{
! ! ?person pres:hasPersonRole ?role.
! ! ?role pres:isPersonRoleIncludedIn ?sit.
! ! ?sit dul:includesEvent ?event.
! ! ?role dct:title ?rolename.
! } .
!
OPTIONAL{
! ! ?event pres:eventPlace ?place.
! ! ?place pres:placeName ?placename.
! }
}
in which events did a person participate?
what social roles did the person play in the event?
which (social) concept is assigned to the event?
when did the event start and end?
where did the event take place?
Application
Queries
Sunday, September 8, 13

42. Application:CV Browser
Application
Sunday, September 8, 13

43. Conclusions
• The event model based on DUL + DnS provides a solid
base for representing time and space meaningfully and
usefully
• straight-forward design guidelines
• overcomes typical spatio-temporal modeling problems
• easy to extend
• can be composed to more complex and/or domain specic
content patterns which interoperate
• In some situations the systematic introduction of events
might be cumbersome but
• provides us with a solid base for temporal reasoning
• grounds entities for „difcult“ relations
• allows for different interpretations of what is happening
Conclusion
Sunday, September 8, 13

44. Future Work
• vague time-intervals
• event reasoning (analogy-based, identity)
• inference (construction) of new events
• computational issues
• events beyond “academic” examples
Conclusion
Sunday, September 8, 13

45. "... events are primarily linguistic or cognitive
in nature. That is, the world does not really
contain events. Rather, events are the way
by which agents classify certain useful and
relevant pattern of change.“ *James Allen 1994
Thank you for your attention!
Gantt Chart designed by Jeremy Boatman, Patent designed by James Christopher, Globe designed by Hüsnü
Koyuncu, City designed by Thibault Geffroy from The Noun Project
Sunday, September 8, 13

46. Sunday, September 8, 13

47. Epistemological KR Languages are ontological neutral
The Ontological Level - the „Missing“ Level
Level Primitive Constructs Main Feature Interpretation
Logical Predicates Formalisation Arbitrary
Epistemological Structuring Relations
(Concepts and Roles)
Structure Arbitrary
Ontological Structuring Primitives Meaning Constrained
Conceptual Cognitive Primitives Conceptualisation Subjective
Linguistic Linguistic Primitives Language Subjective
* Guarino, N. (1994). The ontological level & Guarino, N. (2009). The Ontological Level : Revisiting 30 Years of Knowledge Representation
Sunday, September 8, 13

48. Epistemological KR Languages are ontological neutral
The Ontological Level - the „Missing“ Level
Level Primitive Constructs Main Feature Interpretation
Logical Predicates Formalisation Arbitrary
Epistemological Structuring Relations
(Concepts and Roles)
Structure Arbitrary
Ontological Structuring Primitives Meaning Constrained
Conceptual Cognitive Primitives Conceptualisation Subjective
Linguistic Linguistic Primitives Language Subjective
* Guarino, N. (1994). The ontological level & Guarino, N. (2009). The Ontological Level : Revisiting 30 Years of Knowledge Representation
Person
Teacher
is-A
Sunday, September 8, 13

49. Epistemological KR Languages are ontological neutral
The Ontological Level - the „Missing“ Level
Level Primitive Constructs Main Feature Interpretation
Logical Predicates Formalisation Arbitrary
Epistemological Structuring Relations
(Concepts and Roles)
Structure Arbitrary
Ontological Structuring Primitives Meaning Constrained
Conceptual Cognitive Primitives Conceptualisation Subjective
Linguistic Linguistic Primitives Language Subjective
* Guarino, N. (1994). The ontological level & Guarino, N. (2009). The Ontological Level : Revisiting 30 Years of Knowledge Representation
Person
Teacher
is-A
Course
teacher
Sunday, September 8, 13

50. Epistemological KR Languages are ontological neutral
The Ontological Level - the „Missing“ Level
Level Primitive Constructs Main Feature Interpretation
Logical Predicates Formalisation Arbitrary
Epistemological Structuring Relations
(Concepts and Roles)
Structure Arbitrary
Ontological Structuring Primitives Meaning Constrained
Conceptual Cognitive Primitives Conceptualisation Subjective
Linguistic Linguistic Primitives Language Subjective
* Guarino, N. (1994). The ontological level & Guarino, N. (2009). The Ontological Level : Revisiting 30 Years of Knowledge Representation
Person
Teacher
is-A
Course
teacher
➡Ontological commitment remains implicit
Sunday, September 8, 13

51. Todays Knowledge is kept in silos...
: Open silos and link data across silos
FormatsOrganizations Terminology
e.g.University
e.g.Libraries
e.g.GovernmentalData Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

52. Todays Knowledge is kept in silos...
: Open silos and link data across silos
FormatsOrganizations Terminology
e.g.University
e.g.Libraries
e.g.GovernmentalData
: Open silos and link data across silos
Background
Sunday, September 8, 13

53. Space-Temporal Reasoning
Sunday, September 8, 13

54. Space-Temporal Reasoning
Space-Temporal Reasoning
Sunday, September 8, 13