Ontolog invited Speaker Presentation - Dr. Brand Niemann / EPA - Thu 2004-04-22

Conference Call Details

• Subject: [ontolog] Ontolog invited Speaker Presentation - Brand Niemann - Thu 2004-04-22
• Comments/Agenda:
  • Agenda Comments: Dr. Brand Niemann will be giving a talk at this session titled "Harmonizing Semantics in E-Government"

• Date: Thursday, Apr. 22, 2004
• Start Time: 10:30 AM Pacific Standard Time
• End Time: 11:55 AM Pacific Standard Time
• Dial-in Number: 1-702-851-3330 (Las Vegas, Nevada)
• Participant Access Code: "2004422#" (call Peter P. Yim at +1(650)578-9998 if you have dial-in problems)

Attendees

• Attended:
  • Peter P. Yim
  • Evan Wallace (NIST)
  • Kurt Conrad
  • Brand Niemann
  • Bob Smith
  • ZacharyAlexander
  • Boonserm Kulvatunyou (NIST)
  • NenadIvezic
  • Pat Cassidy
  • Cecelia Hickel
  • Monica Martin

• Expecting:
  • Carl Mattocks
  • PerMyrseth (ran into problems accessing the conference bridge)
  • LisaSeaburg (back-to-back meetings; may come in slightly late)

(please add your name above, if you are planning to attend)

• Regrets:
  • Alan Stitzer
  • Mark Crawford
  • SueProbert
  • Steve Ray
  • Jonathan Cheyer

Agenda & Proceedings

• Dr. Brand L. Niemann will be giving a presentaion entitled "Harmonizing Semantics in E-Government"

Dr. Niemann will talk about some of the E-Government initiatives that he is involved in -- including work related to the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA), Data and Information Reference Model (DRM) and Web Services Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice.

• Session Format:
  • The session will start with a brief introduction of the attendees (10 min.)
  • Presentation by Dr. Brand Niemann (45 min.)
  • Open discussion (30 min.)

• About the Speaker:

Brand L. Niemann received his Ph.D. in Meteorology and Air Pollution Science from the University of Utah and has been with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for 22 years and is currently a Computer Scientist and XML and Web Services Specialist in the Office of Environmental Information. He has received awards and recognitions for his work from the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the US Geological Survey, LOTUS, and ComputerWorld-Smithsonian. He is the recipient of Vice President Gore's Hammer Award to teams of federal employees and their partners whose work resulted in a government that works better and costs less. He lead a team that was recognized by OMB Associate Director for Information Technology and E-Government, Mark Forman, and the Quad Council with a Special Award for Innovation in the 2002 CIO Showcase of Excellence for their use of XML in a distributed content network and use of [[VoiceXML]] in providing universal access to emergency response information. During 2002-2003, he was chair of the CIO Council's (Architecture and Infrastructure Committee) XML Web Services Working Group (http://web-services.gov) which graduated recently to become the Emerging Components Activity (http://componenttechnology.org) of the Emerging Technology Subcommittee of the CIO Council's Architecture and Infrastructure Committee. He was recently recognized with the Emerging Technology / Standards Leadership Award at the SecureE-Biz.Net Summit, from Mark Forman, Associate Director, IT and eGovernment, OMB, and David McClure, VP e-Gov, Council for Excellence in Government: "for ushering in new technology to allow us to conduct e-Business securely to further implement the President's Management Agenda". He was also recently recognized with the EPA Bronze Medal "for outstanding collaboration on EPA's Geospatial Blueprint on the EPA Geospatial Team which outlines the enterprise approach for acquiring, managing, and deploying geospatial data and tools" by EPA's Chief Information Officer, Kim Nelson. He was recently asked to co-chair the CIO Council's (Best Practices Committee-Knowledge Management Working Group) Semantic (Web Services) Interoperability Community of Practice (http://km.gov). He is a member of the EPA Enterprise Architecture Team and can be contacted at niemann.brand@epa.gov.

• Brand's presentation can be access by pointing your web browsers to:
  • http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/resource/presentation/BrandNiemann_20040422/Harmonizing_Semantics_in_eGovernment--BrandNiemann_20040422.ppt
  • A few additional useful links from his talk include:
    • http://web-services.gov
    • http://componenttechnology.org
    • http://km.gov
  • Any material outside of the prepared presentation, if they are called up, may be available under the VNC session detailed above

• If you have questions for the presenter, we appreciate your posting them here: (please identify yourself)
  • Is there meta data publicly available for the eGovernment initiatives? ie, such as the catalog identifiers (taxonomy) used for product purchases? (--CeceliaHickel)
    • if there is something specific you are looking for, you are welcomed to email me. (--BrandNiemann)
  • Brand, do you see a CoP like [ontolog], which is assembled (at least, in the beginning) out of its membership's passion for the work, be funded to do some real meaningful work for the eGovernment initiatives, and in so doing, be able to sustain its pursuit? (--PeterYim)
    • Do you think the CoP membership (the fact that they have built up a rapport, and know each others capabilities) can pursue this as virtual enterprises (like in a joint venture of various interested members of the community), or should they still have to do it as individuals (like applying for SBIR grants) or through their employers (as in regular government contracts or in getting ATP grants)? (--PeterYim)
    • If so, any suggestion on how we could effectively pursue this? (--PeterYim)
      • Three ways: (a) the traditional government contract route; (b) match-up's that we can guide you to agencies with the needs, and (c) SBIR grants. (--BrandNiemann)
  • where can we see some of the work of the pilots? (--PatCassidy)
    • you can navigate to them through http://web-services.gov where I try to capture all these related activities (--BrandNiemann)
    • you are welcomed to contact me offline if you want to get involved. (--BrandNiemann)
  • Suggest that Peter P. Yim contacts Denise Bedford who organizes the "Taxonomy Tuesday" function at the World Bank. I can see synergies between what the ontolog-forum is doing with Denise' initiative. (--Brand)

• Session ended 2004.04.22 3:12pm EDT (12:12pm PDT)

Session Recording of the Brand Niemann Talk

(Thanks to Peter P. Yim for getting the session recorded.)

• To download the audio recording of the presentation, click here
  • the playback of the audio files require the proper setup, and an MP3 compatible player on your computer.
• Conference Date and Time: April 22, 2004 10:45am~12:12pm Pacific Daylight Time
• Duration of Recording: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
• Recording File Size: 10.0 MB (in mp3 format)
  • suggestions:
    • its best that you listen to the session while having the presentation opened in front of you. You'll be prompted to advance slides by the speaker.