The acronym MOWGLI stands for "Mathematics On the Web: Get it by Logic and -Interfaces". MOWGLI is an European Project founded by the European Community -in the ``Information Society Technologies'' (IST) Programme. The partners are -the University of Bologna, INRIA (Rocquencourt), the German Research Centre -for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI, Saarbruecken), the Katholieke Universiteit -Nijmegen, the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein -Institute, Golm), Trusted Logic (Paris) and TU Berlin.
- -The aim of the project is the study and the development of a technological -infrastructure for the creation and maintenance of a virtual, distributed, -hypertextual library of mathematical knowledge based on a content description -of the information. Currently, almost all mathematical documents available on -the Web are marked up only for presentation, severely crippling the -potentialities for automation, interoperability, sophisticated searching -mechanisms, intelligent applications, transformation and processing. The goal -of MOWGLI is to overcome these limitations, passing from a machine-readable to -a machine-understandable representation of the information, and developing the -technological infrastructure for its exploitation.
- -The project deals with problems traditionally belonging to different -scientific communities: digital libraries, Web publishing, automation of -mathematics and computer aided reasoning. Any serious solution to the complex -problem of mathematical knowledge management needs a co-ordinated effort of -all these groups and a synergy of their different expertise. MOWGLI attempts -to build a solid co-operation environment between these communities. The -current paper will concentrate on the aspects related to digital libraries.
-After a ten years period of electronic publishing in mathematics we are still -confronted with slightly enhanced electronic versions of printed publications. -Almost all mathematical documents available on the Web are marked up only for -presentation, if such an enhancement is available at all. Only a minority of -documents try to care about some of the potentialities for automation, -interoperability, sophisticated searching mechanisms, intelligent -applications, transformation and processing. But these approaches could be -considered as first preliminary steps towards an electronic document providing -all these facilities. Hence, the goal of MOWGLI is to overcome these -limitations, passing form a machine-readable to a machine-understandable -representation of the information, and developing the technological -infrastructure for its exploitation.
- -In order to reach this goal MOWGLI has to deal with problems traditionally -belonging to different scientific communities: digital libraries, Web -publishing, automation of mathematics and computer aided reasoning. To our -knowledge, MOWGLI is the first attempt to build a solid co-operation -environment between these communities. In principle, any serious approach for -providing good tools for mathematical knowledge management needs a -co-ordinated effort of several partners from the above mentioned communities -and a synergy of -their different expertise. The choice of partners for the took this condition -into account, as can be seen below.
- -The goals of MOWGLI largely overlap with the aims of the so called "Semantic -Web" [14]. -Associating meaning with content or establishing a layer of machine -understandable data will allow automated agents, sophisticated search engines -and interoperable services and will enable higher degree of automation and -more intelligent applications. The ultimate goal of the Semantic Web is to -allow machines to share and exploit knowledge in the Web way, i.e. without -central authority, with few basic rules, in a scalable, adaptable, extensible -manner. However, the actual development of the Semantic Web and its -technologies has been hindered so far by the lack of large scale, distributed -repositories of structured, content oriented information. The case of -mathematical knowledge, the most rigorous and condensed form of knowledge, is -paradigmatic. The World Wide Web is already now the largest single resource of -mathematical knowledge, and its importance hopefully be increased by the -emerging display technologies like MathML.
- -Machine understandable information will make possible to offer added-value -services like: -
Due to its rich notational, logical and semantic structure, mathematical -knowledge is a main case study for the development of the new generation of -semantic Web systems. The aim of the MOWGLI project is both to help in this -process, as well as pave the way towards a really useful virtual, distributed, -hyper-textual resource for the working mathematician, scientist or engineer.
- - -Current standards for electronic publishing in mathematics are mainly -presentation oriented. New tools for the management and publishing of -mathematical documents are in development like MathML -[3], OpenMath, OMDoc -([17],[18]) and integrated with different -XML technology [7] (XSLT [8], RDF -[4], [5], SOAP [6], ...). -All these languages cover different and orthogonal -aspects of the information and its management; our aim is not to propose a new -standard, but to study and to develop the technological infrastructure -required for taking advantage of the potentialities of all of current -standards and those which are likely to be established in the near future.
- -MOWGLI makes an essential use of standard XML technology and aspires to -become an example of ``best practice'' in its use, and a pioneering leading -project in the new area of the Semantic Web [12]. -In particular, the potentialities of -XML will be deeply explored in the following directions: -
MathML [3], introducing for the first time a content markup -layer in parallel -with a presentational one, has indubitably been a pioneering project towards -the mining of the mathematical treasure available on the web. Still, its -limitations are evident as well: -
Similarly, the creation and maintenance of the library as a distributed -repository, and the crucial aspect of managing the information in the ``web -way'' requires a light but powerful communication protocol, overcoming some of -the limitations of HTTP (SOAP [6] looks as a promising -solution).
- -Metadata will eventually require a fairly sophisticated model, much beyond -what is currently offered by typical metadata models as the Dublin-Core system -[1]. Here, RDF (Resource Description Framework) -([4], [5]) looks as the right -framework for developing the model, providing a general architectural model -for expressing metadata and a precise syntax for the encoding and interchange -of these metadata over the Web.
- -The fact of encoding also the microscopic, logical level of mathematics opens -the possibility to have completely formalised subsystems of the library -([9],[10]), which could be checked -automatically by standard tools for the -automation of formal reasoning and the mechanisation of mathematics (proof -assistants and logical frameworks -([15],[16]). At the same time, any of these -tools could be used as an authoring system for documents of the library, by -simply exporting their internal libraries into XML, and using stylesheets to -transform the output into a standard, machine-understandable representation, -such as MathML content markup or OpenMath. In MOWGLI we shall use the COQ -Proof Assistant of INRIA [13] as a paradigmatic example of -these applications.
- -An alternative route for the creation of content-based mathematical -information from standard digital repositories by means of a suitable -LaTeX-based authoring system will be explored by the Albert Einstein -Institute. They publish the "Living Reviews in Relativity" -[2], a solely -electronic journal on the Web, which provides refereed, regularly updated -review articles on all areas of gravitational physics. AEI will develop a -LaTeX-based authoring tool interfacing with MOWGLI, and serve as a showcase to -demonstrate how content-mark-up in mathematics improves the usability and -information depth of electronic science journals.
- - -It is clear that the creation and maintenance of large repositories of -content-based mathematical knowledge can only be conceived as a cooperative -and distributed process, comprising not only the creation of documents, but -also libraries of notational rules, metadata and management tools. The crucial -point is to build a minimal infrastructure to start up this process, so that -more and more tools can be added by interested parties. All these -considerations lead to two requirements for the developments in MOWGLI: -
In this way, we put no barrier to third party development and, every time a -standard technology or tool is improved, we can simply benefit of the new -implementation with minimal effort.
- -The MOWGLI architecture is essentially based on three components, which are -distribution sites, standard browsers and plug-outs, and active components, -such as XSLT processors, to elaborate the information. Distribution sites are -simply HTTP and FTP servers, widespread throughout the world; user browsers -are HTTP clients and run on the user host. We do not require any other -components to run on a specific host. Active components must provide answers -to browsers, requiring an HTTP server interface; they must also ask data to -distribution sites, acting as HTTP clients. Hence, MOWGLI is essentially -conceived as an HTTP pipeline.
- -The module client of the distribution sites is the "getter", which maps URIs -to URLs and hence documents, offering functionalities similar to the APT -packet management system -(http://www.debian.org).
- -The main active component is the XSLT stylesheet manager, whose typical -functionality is the application of a list of stylesheets (each one with the -respective list of parameters) to a document. However, other components may be -added in a completely modular way. This is exactly the content-based -architectural design of future web system enabled by XML technology.
- - -The concrete background for the work in MOWGLI is represented by the -activities at the participating institutions. Though details could easily be -obtained from the MOWGLI web-page -(http://mowgli.cs.unibo.it) some short -remarks on this background should be made here.
- -The Department of Computer Science at the University of Bologna is the only -educational institution in Italy to be affiliated to W3C. They care about the -coordination of the project. The HELM project (Hypertextual Electronic Library -of Mathematics, -http://www.cs.unibo.it/helm, see also -[12]) is active in -Bologna since 1999. It is one of the systems of reference mentioned in the -previous section.
- -INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique) is a -French institution located in Rocquencourt. They pursue two projects of -importance for MOWGLI: the Lemme project, introducing and developing formal -methods for use in writing scientific computing software, and the LogiCal -project, which developed the Coq proof assistant (see -[13]).
- -The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is based in -Kaiserslautern and Saarbruecken. Its main mission is technology transfer, i.e. -to move innovations in Artificial Intelligence from the lab to the market -place. Its main MOWGLI-related prototypical product so far has been the -Web-based learning environment ActiveMath that integrates several external services.
- -The Subfaculteit Informatica of Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen hosts a -broad experience in logic, formal methods and theorem proving. They are -involved in several research activities in this domain as the EC sponsored -Network "TYPES", the FTA project (Fundamental Theorem of Algebra), the EC -Working group Calculemus which also deals with OpenMath et al.
- -The role of the Albert Einstein Institute (MPG, Golm) near Potsdam has been -described above already. They provide a test bed with the Living Reviews which -will represent the important link to the domain of mathematical publishing. -This also is the main concern of the partner TU Berlin which is formally -associated to AEI caring about the exploitation and information dissemination -for MOWGLI.
- -Trusted Logic makes the group complete. This is a French start-up company, -which offers a wide range of efficient and secure solutions of smart cards and -terminals in a wide range of areas. Their development methodology includes a -permanent concern of quality and security aspects.
- -As it is common for projects like MOWGLI the cooperation between the partners -is regulated by workpackages and a time schedule for the deliveries. But the -project started formally in March 2002. Hence these things are still theory, -and it will be subject of the next report on MOWGLI to describe, how theory -came into practise.
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-Prof. Dr. Andrea Asperti
-Dipartimento di Scienze dell Informazione
-Universita degli Studii di Bologna
-Via di mura Anteo Zamboni VII
-I - 40127 Bologna
-Italy
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-Prof. Dr. Bernd Wegner
-Fakultaet II, Institut fuer Mathematik
-TU Berlin, Sekr. MA 8-1
-Strasse des 17. Juni 135
-D - 10623 Berlin
-Germany
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