[owl-s] OWL-S API Development

[Bijan Parsia]

On Sep 13, 2006, at 10:08 PM, Demetris G wrote:

> Hi Bijan,
>
>    thanks for the response. I think Fujitsu was using OWL-S for the  
> their Task Computing project.

Yes indeed they are, and using the OWL-S API and Pellet:
	http://taskcomputing.org/

In fact, it's fair to say that Fujitsu funded the OWL-S API.

> I read a little but about it but I was not able to get too many  
> details. The rest seems to be a bit
> uncertain as you mentioned. If people want to offer their efforts  
> for further development, I am
> assuming there is not an easy way at this point to do that ?

Offer away. We've never gotten too many offers in the past :) Michael  
Danzer popped up and he was given access.

> Are there public CVS repositories

We've migrated (or in the process of migrating) to googlecode. See:
	http://code.google.com/p/owl-s/

> and an organized way to open tickets

Feel free to open them on Google Code.

> and fix bugs

I can't speak for him, but I believe that Michael will manage bugs  
and code patches as he can. That's all we've ever offered.

If people want to become contributers at a higher level, we can  
certainly arrange that.

> or enhance the API

That part is a bit more uncertain. Perhaps Michael will chime in. I'm  
trying to organize some stuff about the future of OWL-S in general  
(e.g., a workshop like OWLED to help chart the future), but I'm  
pretty busy and have no specific resources at Manchester yet. And  
it's not the first (or second) grant on my list to write, absent a  
student or some other coordination (other members of the OWL-S  
coalition in the Eu have expresses some interest in collaboration).  
I'm also more interested in a bit of a fresh start, perhaps building  
on FLOWS or HTN-DL (with a focus on planning there, obviously), than  
pursuing OWL-S per se.

> or that is part of the future
> plans as well ?

I'd be interested in hearing from the list what people are interested  
in, and what they're willing to do. I and Maryland (I'm sure) will  
happily facilitate progress. I know lots of people use it, but I  
don't know how many people are interested in moving it forward rather  
than just using it in their project (which is perfectly  
understandable! I don't object to that at all! I'm just saying that  
resources are a bit scarce at the moment.

I imagine that we'll manage to pull together a release supporting OWL- 
S 1.2 when it's completely done.

If I hear a upswell of interest, I can help organize that, a bit.

I'm speaking a bit speculatively, since, for all I know, Jim is going  
to do a big push on it next week for a project :) So I'm trying to be  
conservative. But I don't think people contributing will ever be  
rejected! If there are dedicated folks, I can probably get a little  
Evren and Mike time to help get things rolling.

Feel free to use this list to discuss ideas, plans, hopes, offers,  
etc.  If folks would like a more real time chat, we could schedule  
one on freecode and I would definitely participate.

If no strong community force emerges, progress will still happen,  
albeit at a likely slower pace as we figure things out and find  
funding and energy. And just settle in our new homes :)

Cheers,
Bijan.