Semantically enriched tools for the knowledge society: Case of project management and presentation

Abstract

Working with semantically rich data is one of the stepping stones to the knowledge society. In recent years, gathering, processing, and using semantic data have made a big progress, particularly in the academic environment. However, the advantages of the semantic description remain commonly undiscovered by a "common user", including people from academia and IT industry that could otherwise profit from capabilities of contemporary semantic systems in the areas of project management and/or technology-enhanced learning. Mostly, the root cause lays in complexity and non-transparency of the mainstream semantic applications. The semantic tool for project management and presentation consists mainly of a module for the semantic annotation of wiki pages integrated into the project management system Trac. It combines the dynamic, easy-of-use nature and applicability of a wiki for project management with the advantages of semantically rich and accurate approach. The system is released as open-source (OS) and is used for management of students' and research projects at the research lab of the authors. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.