Topic outline

  • General

    Semantic Web  (5 cr)


    Course exams will be arranged for those who register for it according to the normal schedule.  The exams are for the time being virtual and will consists of a number of questions or tasks. Only grades pass/no-pass will be used. The exam  can be attended only if you have already done the exercises succesfully.

    The idea of the course is to get to know the idea of semantic web, the technologies, and its application prospects, and learn how to use the programming tools of the area in practice. The course is open to students at Aalto University and the University of Helsinki (UH) under the auspices of HELDIG – Helsinki Centre for Digital Humanities.

    Lectures:  Lectures will be given in virtually in Zoom, starting 12.1.2022. The Zoom address: 


    https://aalto.zoom.us/j/68503036365?pwd=UVlWWDE0N21kZS9OaVkwQkJvUFFpdz09

    Exercises: The course has mandatory exercises. The assignments are returned using the A+ platform, and the first set of exercises opens on 12.1.2022. Voluntary  exercise sessions will be arranged virtually in Zoom to offer help with the assignments. The Zoom address: 

    https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61043202000?pwd=WllqWFZ1dWdrM0xSYzhNQWNYUGpWQT09




    Enrolling the course

    For the students of Aalto University, the course is compulsory in the Web Technologies, Applications and Science track of the Computer Science major in the Master's Programme in Computer, Communication and Information Sciences. You can enroll the course as usual in Sisu.

    For the students of the University of Helsinki, the course can be included in the Digital Humanities studies at HELDIG, or as an additional course according to the study programme regulations at your own study programme. (Please, check your own study programme before enrolling the course.) To enroll the course as a student of UH, please send an email about this to prof. Eero Hyvönen (eero.hyvonen[at]helsinki.fi).

    Course Contents

    Linked Data and ontologies have become main stream technologies for integrating data from different data sources, for publishing data, and for creating intelligent application on  the Semantic Web. This technology has become ever more important, e.g., in Digital Humanities and various other application areas. For example, museums, libraries, and archives use Linked Data in content portals, such as Europeana. To get an idea about applications of Semantic Web technologies and their use in Digital Humanities, have a look at this video  about the "Warsampo - Finnish WW2 on the Semantic Web" , about "LetterSampo - Historical Letters on the Semantic Web" , and this video   about yet another Sampo-portal in use, "BiographySampo - Artificial Intelligence Reading Finnish Biographies on the Semantic Web". 

    The core content of the course consists of the essentials of Linked Data and Semantic Web technologies and standards such as Resource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL). Rule systems, ontology techniques and Semantic Web tools and applications will also be covered. The theoretical part of the course will be complemented by exercise work.

    Passing the course

    The course has the following compulsory parts:

    • Exercises
    • Examination that will be arranged possibly virtually in spring 2022

    Normally, the final grading is be based on the sum of these two parts, but during the Covid times only grades pass/no-pass may be given.

    Exams

    The next exams will be announced later. Advice for preparing for the exam will be available on a separate Preparing for the Exam page.

    Teachers and contact information

    Lectures: Eero Hyvönen 
    Exercises: Joonas Kesäniemi 
    Responsible professor: Eero Hyvönen

    The email address of the course staff is: cs-e4410 (at) aalto.fi. If you need advice about the exercises, please use the course discussion forum.