UMBC CMSC 771 Spring 2001
Theory and Practice of Knowledge Representation
http://www.csee.umbc.edu/771/
Section 0101 schedule # 1731
This course will cover some basic techniques and algorithms for representing
and reasoning about information and knowledge. It is designed to be useful
and relevant for students interested in artificial intelligence, databases,
and web-based information systems. Topics will include: rule-based systems,
frame-based representation languages, description logics, constraints,
truth maintenance systems, representing and reasoning about time, processes,
uncertainty, etc, using and marinating ontologies, knowledge sharing,
etc. We'll also look at how some of these techniques are being used in
in support of intelligent agents, advanced databases, ecommerce applications,
advanced web systems, and software engineering tools. Students will learn
to use one of more advanced software tools for building and maintaining
large ontologies and we'll examine several large general purpose ontologies.
Finally, students will learn to impress their friends, potential employers
and (most importantly) venture capitalists by being able to throw around
large, fancy sounding words like ontology, epistemology, axiomatization,
and circumscription while still knowing which end of a web server is up.
Prerequisites: Students should have taken a graduate level AI
course (e.g., CMSC 671) or a graduate level database class (e.g., CMSC
661).
When and Where: Tuesday and Thursday from 2:00pm to 3:15pm in
ACIV 31
Instructor: Tim Finin,
finin@umbc.edu
TA: Zhongli Ding, zding1@csee.umbc.edu
Text books and papers: We will use John F. Sowa's book,
Knowledge Representation:
Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations, which can
be purchased at the UMBC bookstore or online.
We will also read a number of papers available
online or handed out in class.
Structure: Class time will be spent with about 60% lecture and
40% student-led presentation and discussion of readings. We will use
the class mailing list to carry out additional discussion, comment and
interactions. This will be a required part of the course and the quality
and level of your participation in online discussions will play a part
in determining your grade. So, please read, think about and respond
to messages sent to the 771 mailing list.
Assignments: Students will be required to prepare
and present material to the class, complete several short assignments
and engage in a longer project, either individually or as part of a
group. Presentations should be done in Powerpoint and will be added
to a collection for the course and posted to the web.
Software:
We will use one or more of the following software systems: Concept Map,
Loom, Ontolingua, Classic, OKBC, XSB, Prolog, Rational Rose, and Visio.
Syllabus:
The syllabus is ambitious and we won't be able to cover it all,
but we will try.
Mailing
list:
There is a class mailing list with a hypermail
archive which you can subscribe to. Send a message to
majordomo@cs.umbc.edu with the text "subscribe 771" in the body
of the message to subscribe.
Resources:
There is a page of links to useful web resources.
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