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HOPSProject presentation

Enabling an Intelligent Natural Language Based Hubfor the Deployment of Advanced Semantically

EnrichedMulti-channel Mass-scale Online Public Services

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Project description

HOPS is a three-year project focused on thedeployment of advanced ICT enabled “voice-enabled front-end public platforms” in Europepermitting access for European citizens to theirnearest Public Administration.

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Project Objectives

To address the mass-scale deployment of newonline public services supported and accessibleby voice channels (basically phone, both fixedand mobile), the most accessible and easiestcommunication means used by all EuropeanCitizens.

This will only be possible by the addition of newfully functional advanced technologies enabling todeliver automated services without losing qualityand further enhancing the current functionalities.

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Programme’ Strategic Objectives

• 2.3.1.9 Networked businesses and governments,

“Open, secure, interoperable and re-configurable e-governmentplatforms, applications and multi-modal services. They should bebased on European standards, support national, regional and localinitiatives and deploy as much as possible open source softwaresolutions for all aspects of inter- and intra-government operationsincluding electronic democracy systems, interaction with citizensand businesses, governmental process re-engineering andknowledge management”.

• 2.3.1.7 Semantic-enabled systems and services,

“Facilitating multimedia content mining on the Web and acrossdistributed computing platforms. They should be self-organising,robust and scaleable and enable better mastery of complexinformation spaces through improved analysis, interpretation andvisualisation of high-dimensional objects and content”.

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Technologies

• Voice XML

• Voice Portals

• Natural LanguageProcessing

• Semantic WebTechnologies

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Voice XML portals

Fixed or MobileNetwork

VoicePlatform

(VoxNauta)

Internet/intranet

Service Logic,Content Adaptation, …

Contents (VoiceXML,XML, html, …)

Voice Provider

Content Provider

Application Provider

1 2

34

56

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Natural Language Processing

Semantic queryrepresentation

RecognitionText-To-Speech

Parsing

SemanticInterpretation

DialogManager

Word String

Syntactic Structure

WordnetEN

SPIT

DomainOntology (OWL)

SEMANTIC WEB TECHNOLOGIES

Partial Semantic Representation

Query Answer

Answers andClarification Questions

NLP

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Semantic Web Technologies

Documents

service service service

Automaticupgrade to

Semantic Web

Manual annotationof Semantic

Services

Domain ontologies Service ontologies

Public Administrationinformation

Public Administrationservices

NLPIE

IPO

Semantic queryanswering

(semi) automaticservice composition

Voice Access

Semantic queryrepresentation

OWL OWL-S

Multilinguality

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Integration

Technologies implied in HOPS project are different one from eachother and our challenge is to make them work together.

The integration tasks are aimed to guarantee digital communicationbetween systems designed independently, in order to provide anend-to-end perspective of the whole chain.

VoicePortal

Integration

NLP

Integration

SemanticWeb

Integration

Back-endSystems

In order to achieve an integration standard implementation thatenables communication between HOPS components, is necessary:

• To analyze different data models

• To identify platform dependencies

• To identify access mechanisms to retrieve data from back-endsystems

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Integration

Integ

ration

CommunicationMangement

DataTransformation

Service Broker

The main three layers in an integrationsystem are:• Service Broker: This layer is intended tomanage external services of each component• Data Transformation:The aim of thislayer is to adapt different data formats to acommon data model that enables componentunderstanding.• Communication Management: This layerguarantees data exchange betweencomponents.

SUN Microsystems Spain has a wide experience and knowledge insystem integration and has carried out several integration projectsnot only in government sector but also in telcos, consumer packagegoods and financial sectors.

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Modular approach

DATA

BACK END

ASRAutomatic Speech Recognition

TTSText-to-Speech

V O I C E P O R T A L

NLPNatural Language Process

Semantic Extraction

Semantic Web Query

Service Qualify Result Qualify

Semantic Enriched Data Access Layer

Sem

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eb P

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ssV

oic

eA

cces

s

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Project structure

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Project GANTT

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WP1 Management

DescriptionThe objective of this work package is to ensure the overall management of theproject and to efficiently coordinate the technical and financial project’sdimensions. This workpackage will also aim to co-ordinate the evaluation andquality assessment of the project, the preparation of the exploitation plan and thedissemination of the results.

TasksWP1 will be responsible for the coordination of the production of all the periodicreports expected by the Commission, as defined in the Contract information

DeliverablesD10 Consortium AgreementD11 First Annual ReportD12 Second Annual ReportD13 Third Annual Report

Partners: BCN plus all partners

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WP 2 User RequirementsDescriptionThe objective of this work package is to generate a solid and stable set of user requirementssuitable to guide and set the basis for the further development and integration of operationalprototypes. This workpackage will have a very close collaborative work with WP3, as thetechnological options to be considered will have to be aligned with the overall dimension ofuser requirements, and also the functionalities to be required should be ambitious in natureby realistic in practice.

TasksTask 2.1 User Requirements definitionTask 2.2 User Requirements refinement

DeliverablesD21 User RequirementsD22 Refined User RequirementsD23 Final User Requirements

Partners: BCN, COT, LBC, LOQ, ISOC, CSP, TALP,CSI, RUC, SUN, ITD, UOT

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WP3 Enabling TechnologiesDescriptionDefinition of an information retrieval system combining NLP modules with Semantic Webtechnologies. Interaction with the final user will be provided using a voice system viaautomatic speech recognition and text to speech conversions. The main challenge is thedefinition of the integration of multi-lingual NLP modules with emerging Semantic Webtechnologies able of providing informational services to final users using voice portals andspeech recognition

TasksTask 3.1 Voice PortalTask 3.2 Natural Language ProcessingTask 3.3 Semantic Web TechnologiesTask 3.4 Interoperability

DeliverablesD31 VUI design Guidelines for the European Public Administration ServicesD32 Natural Language Processing TechnologiesD33 Semantic Web TechnologiesD34 Interoperability Analysis and Definition

Partners: ISOC, TALP, LOQ, SUN, UOA, UOT, BCN, COT, LBC, RUC, ITD, CSI, CSP

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WP4 Development and IntegrationDescriptionThe Development and Integration WP intends to develop a complete solution according towhat has been defined in WP2 and WP3. This development is planned as a three-prototype-refinement approach in order to obtain results quickly and improve system efficiency withfeedback received from every local city implementation (WP5).

TasksTask 4.1 Architecture SpecificationTask 4.2 Voice Portal DevelopmentTask 4.3 Natural Language Processing DevelopmentTask 4.4 Semantic Web DevelopmentTask 4.5 Integration

DeliverablesD41 HOPS Architecture SpecificationD42 Voice Portal Application SpecificationD43 Natural Language Processing DevelopmentD44 Semantic Web DevelopmentD45 Integration Model Development

Partners: SUN, TALP, ISOC, LOQ, CSI, RUC, ITD, BCN, CSP, LBC, UOT, UOA, COT

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WP5 On-site DevelopmentDescriptionThis workpackage deals with the on-site development and implementation of the prototypesas produced by WP4. As the objective of the project is to provide Local Administrations witha platform that allows them to deploy mass-scale transactional and informational services,the platform will be integrated with the legacy systems in each of the cities. The fact that thison-site integration is carried up in three cities owning absolutely different systems assuresthat the HOPS platform is not linked with a special environment, but can be integrated into awide variety of system architectures.

TasksTask 5.1 On-site Local DevelopmentTask 5.2 Trials

DeliverablesD51 On-site Local DevelopmentD52 Trials Description

Partners: CSI, RUC,ITD, BCN, LBC, COT, TALP, ISOC, CSP, LOQ, SUN, UOT

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WP6 Evaluation and Quality AssuranceDescriptionThe overall objective of WP6 is twofold: a) to determine and execute a methodology and abenchmarked method of evaluating the adequacy of the proposed solutions, and b) toenable the project to have an internal evaluation instrument in order to balance thecontributions of the Public Administrations, Industrial and Academic dimensions with thetechnical and operational issues.

TasksTask 6.1 Evaluation Model Build-upTask 6.2 Pilot MeasurementsTask 6.3 Project Evaluation

DeliverablesD61 Evaluation MethodologyD62 Pilot Evaluation ResultsD63 Final Project Evaluation

Partners: LBC, BCN, COT, TALP, ISOC, CSI, CSP, LOQ, RUC, SUN, ITD

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WP7 Dissemination and ExploitationDescriptionThe overall objective of this workpackage is to act as a tool that will enable the project toreach new prospectors, by setting-up a network of research issues also involving publicadministration bodies. By publishing the HOPS findings in a research arena the project willfurther ensure that the main outcome and the overall work done can be transferred to thebroadest audience, mainly through the European local Government instances.

TasksTask 7.1 DisseminationTask 7.2 Exploitation

DeliverablesD71 Project web site (first release): continuously uptadedD72 Dissemination and Exploitation PlanD73 Final GuidelinesD74 Final Dissemination and Exploitation Report

Partners: COT, LOQ, BCN, LBC, UOT, UOA, TALP, ISOC, CSP, CSI, RUC, SUN, ITD