THESEUS Application Scenarios
The THESEUS research programme represents an important contribution to the creation of a new internet-based knowledge infrastructure that means faster and more effective online knowledge processing in future. One of the main subjects being researched is the development of semantic technologies that are capable of recognising and classifying the content and meaning of information (words, pictures or sounds). These technologies allow ‘smart’ computer programmes to recognise and replicate the context in which data has been stored. In addition, computers can also draw logical conclusions from content by applying rules and classification principles, and subsequently recognise and construct links between various items of information from diverse sources.
THESEUS is an umbrella organisation that unites researchers from the public and industry sectors, who are now collaborating to develop and design innovative basic technologies and technical standards. Consortium members from the field of industry will develop prototypes of the new technologies and test them in 6 application scenarios. The purpose of the tests is to find short-term ways of converting the new technologies into innovative tools, commercially-viable services and potentially profitable business models for the World Wide Web and other internet-based networks.
ALEXANDRIA – A consumer orientated knowledge database
This object of this application scenario, called Alexandria in honour of the famous library of antiquity located there, is to create a consumer orientated knowledge database. The modern Alexandria library’s main purpose is to support users in publishing, processing or searching for content. Alexandria will offer a number of useful tools and other aids, making the use of this platform as simple and intuitive as can be. The creation of a platform of this kind hinges on the existence of a particular technical capability, namely the linking of semantic technology with social search functions. This requires simplification not only of the access to relevant content, but also of navigation through (and in) large quantities of stored data.
CONTENTUS – Safeguarding cultural heritage
The THESEUS application scenario CONTENTUS is an important contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage and the safeguarding of cultural diversity in Europe. By using CONTENTUS, cultural institutions in Germany and other European countries will be able to integrate their cultural assets and works of art in an innovative and structured framework and make them freely accessible to a wide audience online.
MEDICO – Towards Scalable Semantic Image Search in Medicine
The vision of the application scenario MEDICO is: Establishing of image syntax and semantics based on image vocabularies to build an intelligent scalable robust search engine for the medical domain, with applications in Clinical Decision Support and Computer Aided Diagnosis.
ORDO – organising digital information
The application scenario ORDO is intended to research and develop semantic technology, thereby creating new services and software tools that will enable users to organise their entire store of digital information. As the organisation process will be automatic, it will also be transparent, and require no effort by the user. High scalability will make problem-free processing of extremely large quantities of data, and graphic visualisation of that data in knowledge model form, possible. Unlike the solutions used up till now, this personalised linking allows unstructured and structured data to be organised in a uniform manner, making efficient, individual knowledge management possible.
PROCESSUS – Optimisation of business processes
The objective of the PROCESSUS application scenario is to create an IT-based corporate control system; this system will allow companies to compare products, solutions and details of business associates, as well as locating the complex and sometimes obscure specialist information needed by employees whose work involves high-density knowledge bases. The research teams are also aiming to develop a basic semantic platform that will integrate a company’s internal planning of resources with management of the digital content of business processes. PROCESSUS is mounted on the technical platform used in the TEXO application, and provides a number of additional services that define the semantic Business Integration Platform. This will involve integrating the various TEXO and PROCESSUS modules and components in a single platform, with the addition of some new functions. The ideas and solutions will be tested on examples taken from mechanical engineering applications in the drive and automation technology areas, or from the field of IT, where the focus will be on service-oriented architectures.
TEXO – Business Webs in the Internet of Services
The aim of the TEXO application scenario is to provide businesses with an infrastructure for new web-based applications and services, on the basis of service oriented architecture (SOA); this infrastructure will be independent of any individual company and provide a flexible, semantic-driven interface between service providers and their customers.