COMP34512: Knowledge Representation
This page contains supporting materials for the module COMP34512 Knowledge Representation given by Bijan Parsia. Information here is subject to change: check this page regularly for additional information and updates.
Coursework and discussion boards are on Blackboard, so please make sure you can log in.
Course Overview
The field of Knowledge Representation (KR) lies at the intersection of (at least) Artificial Intelligence and Information Management. KR is the attempt to provide rich representations of the world and various things in it that supports building programs that are sensitive to the world via these representations. KR has been used to build expert and diagnostic systems, speech recognizers, games, automated planners, etc. and is the foundation of the Semantic Web, an attempt to remake the World Wide Web so that the content is accessible not only to human beings, but to sophisticated artificial agents.
In this course, we will explore various formalisms for knowledge representations primarily focusing on classical first order logic and interesting fragments thereof (primarily, Description Logics). We will look at attempts to represent various parts of commonsense and scientific knowledge, as well as the use of KR for conceptual modeling in information systems. We will pay special attention to knowledge representations found on the Web, and the special challenges involved.
We will also analyze the problems and promises of KR through discussion of some of the seminal articles of the field.
Assessment
Assessment for the course will be 80% examination, 20% exercises and "labs". In addition to the formal lectures, the timetable includes a number of "lab" sessions (during the timetabled slots). Students will be expected to participate in these discussion sessions and present material prepared outside of the timetabled lectures. As a result, attendance for some of the timetabled slots for this module should be considered mandatory.
Late work will generally receive no credit. It is highly recommended that if you have a reasonable excuse to fill a mitigating circumstances form.
Timetable and Lecture Notes
The schedule will be shown below. Lecture notes and associated material will be linked when available. Note that this timetable is subject to change, so you should check this page regularly.
Lectures are on Mondays at 15:00 and Thurs at 11:00 in LF17 in the Kilburn Building.
(The week list will expand as lectures occur. Check back for links.)
| Week | Day | Topic | Resources/Reading | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-4 BB Forum | 1 | Tues, Jan 31 | Introduction and Administrivia | Course Intro |
| Thu, Feb 2 | Knowledge Elicitation | Epistemics material on KA; lots of nice stuff | Knowledge Acquisition | |
| 2 | Tues, Feb 7 | Discussion/Exercise | Knowledge Elicitation (encore) Coursework 1 assigned |
|
| Thu, Feb 9 | Term Extraction, Normalisation, and Characterisation | Moving towards formalization | ||
| 3 | Tues, Feb 14 | Regimentation review (esp. for coursework) Defining |
Toward Definitions | |
| Thu, Feb 16 | Formalising Expressions Semi-Formal Syntax and Semantics First benefits |
Formalising Definitions | ||
| Fri, Feb 17, 23:59: Coursework 1 DUE! | ||||
| 4 | Tues, Feb 21 | Definitions and positioning NCI case study Development vs. Runtime |
Modeling a description logic vocabulary for cancer research" NCIt Browser | Knowledge Representation In Action |
| Thu, Feb 23 | The 5 Roles KR vs. Data Structure Comptuational and Strong & Weak Cognitive Complexity |
"What is a Knowledge Representation?(pdf)(html) | What is a Knowledge Representation? | |
| 5 | Tues, Feb 28 | Propositional Logic: Syntax & Semantics Formalising into Propositional Truth tables Bit of Predicate |
Aho and Ullman on Propositional Logic | Logical Foundations (A Refresher) |
| Thu, Mar 1 | From Propositional to Predicate | Aho and Ullman on Predicate Logic | Logical Foundations (A Refresher) 2 | |
| 6 | Tues, Mar 6 | Comparing propsitional and predicate logic as KR formalism | Formalism Design | |
| Thu, Mar 8 | Computational complexity Design triangle tensions |
OWL Primer OWL Structural Spec |
Formalism Design 2 | |
| 7 | Tues, Mar 13 | More on Computational Issues | ||
| Thu, Mar 15 | Cognitive Adequacy | |||
| 8 | Tues, Mar 20 | Some Logical Nitty Gritty | ||
| Thu, Mar 22 | More Logical Nitty Gritty | |||
| 9 | Tues, Apr 17 | Definition Oriented Development (encore) | ||
| Thu, Apr 19 | Data and Logic | OWL and Data (Properties) | ||
| 10 | Tues, Apr 24 | Navigation vs. Definition Cognitive models Loose semantics |
SKOS | |
| Thu, Apr 26 | Supra-logical services Subsumption abuse IdentityRigidity |
OntoClean | ||
| 11 | Tues, May 1 | Policy Languages Modelling Service mapping |
A Rather Different Use Case | |
| Thu. May 3 | Exam Revision | |||
| 12 | Tues, May 8 | Shape of exam Coverage |
Exam Review | |
| Thu, May 10 | Revision session | |||
Past Papers
Exam paper from 2009-2010.
Exam paper from 2008-2009.
Reading List
Selected papers and technical reports will be distributed during the lectures and suggested readings will be given for particular lectures.