YouTube to launch music site with Universal

Google's YouTube and Universal Music Group are aiming to turn Vevo.com into the premier music video website

From Times Online

Google's YouTube and Universal Music Group, the world's largest recording company, are to launch a stand-alone music video website.

The companies are aiming to turn Vevo.com into the premier music video website. Discussions are under way to bring in the other major music publishing groups.

Vevo will be the only place web users can watch high quality video from Universal's roster of big names including U2, 50 Cent and The Killers. The site will be accessed via a new Vevo channel on YouTube or directly at Vevo.com

YouTube will supply the online infrastructure and sales support to showcase Universal's content. The two companies will share advertising revenue from the new site. Vevo, due to launch later this year, will also tap other revenue streams by offering concert tickets and merchandise in due course.

The deal marks a significant step in Google's attempt to generate cash from YouTube, which it acquired for $1.65 billion in 2006. It could also help to ease the music industry's search for greater profits from online music and video by attracting premium advertisers who have been put off in the past by YouTube's high proportion of low quality user-generated videos.
Universal, owned by Vivendi, is by far the most popular channel on YouTube. Its music videos have been viewed more than 3.5 billion times.

Doug Morris, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group, said: "Vevo will bring the most compelling premium music video content and services to the world's single largest online video audience."

He added: "We believe that at launch, Vevo will already have more traffic than any other music video site in the United States and in the world. And this traffic represents the most sought after demographic for advertisers, especially as advertising dollars continue their shift from old media to new."

Universal and YouTube also announced a new contract to allow its content to continue to be licensed on YouTube. The double deal represents a change of direction for the sometimes fractious ties between YouTube and the media industry over copyright issues and licensing terms. Warner Music Group in December ordered YouTube to pull down all music videos on the site featuring Warner artists, after contract negotiations between the two sides broke down.

YouTube is still in dispute with PRS for music, representing composers and songwriters in the UK, over licensing terms and has blocked premium music videos in the UK.

Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, welcomed the deal. He said: "Technology has allowed fans to discover music in endless ways while creating new business opportunities for artists and labels alike."

YouTube, the world's most popular online video site, has been under pressure to create more revenue and has introduced a range of advertising features. YouTube has also introduced technology to help media companies identify their music, videos or TV programs uploaded by the public so that they can choose to have the content taken down or place adverts on it.
Music companies are paid a share of the advertising revenue associated with their content on YouTube as well as a small sum for every time the video is viewed.

The deal comes as other companies try out new ways to make money from online music. The four major music companies have done a deal with MySpace, the social networking site owned by News Corp, parent company of The Times, to create music streaming service MySpace Music from which ad revenue is shared.

Microsoft accepts defeat to Wikipedia and kills off Encarta

Microsoft accepts defeat to Wikipedia and kills off Encarta

From Times Online
March 31, 2009

Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter

Microsoft has announced it will kill off Encarta, its encyclopaedia software and website, later this year, which has crumbled in the face of competition from Wikipedia, the leading encyclopaedia on the web.

After nearly 15 years since it arrived on shelves, Microsoft announced on its website that Encarta will stop being available by the end of the year in most places worldwide.
The company said: “On October 31, 2009, MSN Encarta Web sites worldwide will be discontinued, with the exception of Encarta Japan, which will be discontinued on December 31, 2009. Additionally, Microsoft will cease to sell Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium software products worldwide by June 2009”

The move is a tacit acceptance that Microsoft could no longer compete with the overwhelming popularity of Wikipedia, the free online website that launched in 2001. In January, Wikipedia got 97 per cent of the visits that web users in the US made to online encyclopaedias, according to Hitwise, the internet tracking company. Encarta trailed in second, with 1.27 per cent.

Wikipedia is updated quickly by editors who volunteer their time, allowing it to record events fast. By this morning, the entry on Encarta already stated that it was to be discontinued.
Meanwhile, Encarta articles would be quickly left embarrassingly outdated. The entry on Hillary Clinton still refers to her as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential election, months on from the end of her campaign.

Without making explicit reference to Wikipedia, Microsoft explained on its decision on its website. “The category of traditional encyclopaedias and reference material has changed,” it said. “People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past. As part of Microsoft’s goal to deliver the most effective and engaging resources for today’s consumer, it has made the decision to exit the Encarta business.”

Encarta was a pet project for Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who was rebuffed in the late 1980s by Encyclopaedia Britannica as a partner to make reference articles available through a CD-ROM.
Mr Gates believed he could change the encyclopaedia business, and eventually signed up with the lesser known Funk & Wagnalls reference books. However, though Encarta successfully shook up the market, Wikipedia better exploited it many years later.

Google boss Eric Schmidt calls on press to work with search engines

Google boss Eric Schmidt calls on press to work with search engines

From Times Online
April 8, 2009

Patrick Foster, Media Correspondent

Newspapers should be working with internet search engines instead of fighting them, the head of Google said yesterday.

Responding to criticism that internet aggregators were reaping revenues by "misappropriating" material created by news organisations, Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said that the industry should work with his company to tailor news to individual consumers.

Newspaper groups have been hit by falling circulations and advertising revenues, at a time when more people than ever before get their news from the internet.

Speaking at the Newspaper Association of America's convention in San Diego, Mr Schmidt said: "We think we can build a business with you.That is the only solution we can see.

"I would encourage everybody: think in terms of what your reader wants. These are ultimately consumer businesses and if you p*** off enough of them, you will not have any more."

Mr Schmidt's comments come after the chairman of the Associated Press, Dean Singleton, accused web firms of misappropriating his company's stories.

“We are mad as hell, and we are not going to take it any more," he said. “We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories.”

Robert Thomson, editor of The Wall Street Journal, whose parent company News Corporation also owns The Times, recently accused websites such as Google of acting like parasites.

He told The Australian newspaper: “There is no doubt that certain websites are best described as parasites or tech tapeworms in the intestines of the internet.

“It’s certainly true that readers have been socialised – wrongly I believe – that much content should be free. And there is no doubt that’s in the interest of aggregators like Google who have profited from that mistaken perception."

How to Choose an eCommerce Package

How to Choose an eCommerce Package

Whether you’re a freelance designer looking for a solution for your latest client, or a new company preparing your first online store, choosing an eCommerce package can be a daunting decision. The industry’s rapid growth over the last few years makes it difficult to immediately determine whether a specific package suits both your present and future needs, but there are a few things you can keep in mind to help you through the process. Below, I’ve outlined the top eleven things to consider when choosing an eCommerce package, considering everything from your company’s growth, your store’s integration and checkout needs—right down to the kind of eCommerce firm you want to work with. By considering the following key areas, you can have a stronger understanding of what your company—or client—needs in an eCommerce package.

Scalability
As your client or your company grows, your eCommerce infrastructure should be able to grow with you, supporting more customers, products, and traffic as needed. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always occur, which is why scalability is such an important element in any eCommerce package. Look for a company that treats your online store as an important long-term investment, and can make appropriate adjustments for growth when changes in technology or customer volume inevitably occur. These priorities will keep you and your site up and running—whether your order volume is five a day or five thousand—without skipping a beat. Remember, an eCommerce company or product should support the total growth of your business, not limit it.

Integration
There may come a time when you need your site’s structure to be able to work well with third party applications (shipping, payment, fulfillment, inventory, EDI, accounting, API, etc.), both internally and externally. Integration is a key to retail success, and especially to eCommerce success, so ensuring that your site can successfully implement the right applications to meet your business’ needs is a must. Consider what your site needs to do, and what it may need to do in the future. Can your eCommerce package provide a site that can work well with the tools that can make these a reality? Are there APIs to make the process easier? Can you extract your previous database and integrate it with your new site? Make sure the eCommerce package you choose accounts for this need for integration and that it’s a system that can work well with the other solutions you need to keep your store—and business—functioning continuously at their highest levels.

Content Management
When managing an online business, you should be able exert control over both your store’s site and your product catalog with relative ease. Content management is something many take for granted, but it’s one of the most important elements of a comprehensive eCommerce package. Catalog management systems can be complicated, so do your research. How long does it take to find products? To edit them? Is it easy to add extra fields for your products, such as a warranty? Also, make sure you consider how the catalog system works with your site design. Can the company or package you choose handle the requirements of your design? If someone else is designing the site for you, can you make changes easily to things like your landing page? Seek a package that offers you the flexibility to extend these changes consistently throughout the site. Remember, this is your store, and your site. If you want a smiling pumpkin on your landing page during the holidays, you should be able to place one there with relative ease.

Analytics
In order for your site and your business to grow, you must be able to track conversions, abandoned carts, what potential consumers are adding to their carts, and other site statistics clearly and easily. Streamlined analytics can allow you to see what’s working in your advertising and your pages, which in turn enables you to make the necessary changes to develop and expand your business. An analytic tool is rare to find in an eCommerce package, so make sure it is easy to integrate a third party application, such as Google Analytics, that can track the statistics important to you or your client’s business. These pieces of information are essential to the growth and success of your online store, and your system should make easy access to said information a priority.

Promotions and Discounts
Sooner or later you will want to provide returning customers with a special discount, or use a coupon as a promotional device. Does the eCommerce package allow for that contingency in your checkout? Can you easily generate creative marketing content and integrate it into the site’s infrastructure, or does the system seem limiting? Coupons and other promotions can be key conversion tools, so make sure your eCommerce package allows for this kind of marketing flexibility. Remember, promotions and marketing tools can make a difference in the crowded online marketplace, and can help set you apart from others with similar products to offer.

Customer Service
Any online retailer will understand how important customer service is to maintaining the success of a business. In choosing an eCommerce package, you’re the consumer, and customer support is just as important. Make sure that your eCommerce package provides you with the elements you need to keep an online business operating at its peak level at all times. Does the vendor offer notifications regarding product updates or enhancements, personalized service, and technical support? Is there an option for live chat? Keep in mind that your eCommerce package provider should offer you the same individualized service that you would give your own customers.

Technical Support
In the same vein, you shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get someone to aid you if there is a problem with your online store—so make sure you can deal with experienced, reliable technical support within the company, and that they are committed to fixing a coding error or bug quickly. Quality counts; be assured that your eCommerce package has people behind it that are as committed to quality and the customer experience as you are.

Intuitive Checkout
As I mentioned previously, convenience is paramount to the online shoppers that will be browsing your store. Customers don’t want to search frantically for a view cart button, or encounter a clunky, confusing checkout page after finally locating the perfect item. The checkout process should be a smooth, streamlined one, a process that your consumers literally shouldn’t have to think about. Look at sites that have used the same package or vendor, and study their checkout processes. Do they force shoppers to search for options that should be upfront and easy to find? Can customers choose from a variety of options for payment and shipping, or are they forced to make unsatisfying decisions? Are they able to condense the process into a one-page checkout? Your eCommerce package should make this an easy, flexible process for customers. Checking-out is the last impression that they get before leaving your site; make sure it’s a good one.

Security
Identity theft is a concern for anyone who puts his or her information online. As an online retailer, customers put their trust in you to keep their credit card numbers, addresses, and purchase records safe. Your chosen eCommerce package must give you the means to keep that trust intact. The security procedures and systems must remain up-to-date throughout the site, and server, email, and checkout systems should be checked consistently. Find out if your eCommerce package includes regular security updates for your system. This commitment to site security should be one of your highest priorities when choosing an eCommerce package. Problems resulting from a poorly designed security system can permanently tarnish your reputation.

Examining the Open-Source Option
Choosing open-source eCommerce solutions for your online business is becoming a popular option, especially for companies seeking greater flexibility. If you decide to pursue an open-source application to manage your store, make sure to thoroughly research and examine your options. Is the project continuously updated, or has it been stagnant for a long time, with very few updates on the project and very little news as to where it is headed? Several open-source solutions are released every year. However, very few have the longevity that you will need to be used as a foundation for your online store. Examine the programmers behind it, and others who use the program. Will you be able to integrate your catalog, products, and orders into it successfully? With some research, open source could be exactly the eCommerce solution that you are looking for, allowing, in some cases, a flexibility you cannot find anywhere else.

Company and Community
Finally, look at the company that’s behind your eCommerce package. What have they done in the past? Are they a growing enterprise, likely to continually make improvements to their firm, and pass on those benefits to you? When considering a package, make sure that the company you are dealing with is credible, with a solid reputation to back up any claims. See where your customer and technical support will come from. Is it in-house or out-sourced? Do they have a solid, supportive community in the form of a forum, blog, or network of satisfied eCommerce businesses? Examine the philosophy behind the company. Email others who’ve used their services in the past, and see what they have to say about the different aspects of the company you may be working with. These are the people who are going to help you build your business and make it a success; choose wisely.

Summary
By keeping these eleven factors in mind as you search for an eCommerce package, you can help yourself avoid issues in the long run that could affect your store or your reputation. Know that no solution is perfect, and a little bit of work may be required to get exactly what you want. Always keep the individual needs of your company in mind when searching for an eCommerce package, and remember that it is their business to keep you doing business—make sure that they’re the right ones for you.

Experiences from Semantic Web Service Tutorials

Experiences from Semantic Web Service Tutorials

Michael Stollberg1, Matthew Moran2, John Domingue3
DERI Austria, University of Innsbruck, Austria
michael.stollberg@deri.org
DERI Ireland, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
matthew.moran@deri.org
Knowledge Media Institute KMI, Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
j.b.domingue@open.ac.uk

Abstract. We have given around 20 tutorials on Semantic Web Services in international
events during the last two years. This position paper presents our
experiences and depicts central aspects relevant for education, dissemination
and exploitation of Semantic Web and Semantic Web service technologies in
academia and industry.

Introduction and Overview of Tutorials
The potential of the Semantic Web will only become tangible if it is widely used. The
pre-requisite therefore is that many people need to know what it is, how to do it, and
how to use it. In order to contribute to the education and dissemination challenge for
the next generation of Web technologies, we have given a series of tutorials on Semantic
Web services. This paper presents our experiences and exposes critical aspects
we have identified for a wide application of Semantic Web technology.

Centered on the Web Service Modeling Ontology WSMO [2] as the most comprehensive
framework for Semantic Web services, the aim of our tutorials is to provide a
thorough overview of the field. Most tutorials are given as full day events. The morning
session introduces the ideas and challenges, and explains the concepts and definitions
of prominent frameworks for Semantic Web services as well as the techniques
developed for semantically enabled discovery, composition, mediation, and execution
of Web services. The afternoon session introduces execution environments for Semantic
Web services as prototypes for semantically enabled service-oriented computing,
and concludes with a hands-on session wherein attendees practically apply the
presented technologies.

Starting in 2004, we have presented around 20 tutorials in international events [1].
The audience has been between 10 and 30 attendees, mainly comprised of students,
academic researchers, and industrial practioners. We observed the following ratio of
attendees with respect to previous knowledge on the field, naturally varying for particular
events: 40% newcomers, 50% researchers or developers that work with related
technologies, and merely 10% of experts in semantic technologies.

Critical Aspects for Education and Dissemination
Through the tutorials we depict certain aspects as critical for achieving the aspirated
proliferation of the Semantic Web and Semantic Web services. We list these and
expose recommendations that should be addressed by the Semantic Web community
in order to successfully proliferate and establish the Semantic Web.

• Ontologies are the backbone technology for the Semantic Web. Every data item
that is published, communicated, and interpreted by machines shall be based on
ontologies. The pre-requisite therefore is that a shared understanding of domains
is explicated in ontologies. However, we have experienced very limited abilities
in conceptualizing and formalizing for ontology creation
=> Ontology Engineering should become a central topic of academic education

• The central pillar of Semantic Web services are formal descriptions. These need
to be correct (conceptually and formally) – otherwise no mechanized Web service
technology works. We have experienced even less abilities in formal specifications
than for ontology creation

=> Formal Specification is central competence for Semantic Web engineers
• Most Semantic Web and Semantic Web service technologies rely on or extend
existing AI technologies (e.g. knowledge representation, planning, data integration,
process algebras, etc.). Especially for people working in the Semantic Web,
we have experienced fairly limited basic knowledge in related AI techniques
=> education in Artificial Intelligence is the basis for Semantic Web research

• In every tutorial, especially from industrial practioners but also from researchers,
questions were raised on the availability of software tools for modeling ontologies
and Web service descriptions, for reasoning, or for execution environments
=> Tool Provision is a pre-requisite for broad adoption of the Semantic Web

• Service-oriented computing is seen as the paradigm for the next generation of IT
systems, with Web services as the base technology. We have experienced very
limited real-world scenarios for the use of Semantic Web services in SOA.
=> practical SOA scenarios will drive the adoption of Semantic Web services

To conclude, an extensive set of technologies has been developed by the Semantic
Web service community. To demonstrate the attainable benefits, these need to be
applied in broad scale. In consequence, we successively enhance our tutorials and
broaden our activities on education (i.e. academic courses) and dissemination (i.e.
industrial training) of semantic technologies with respect to the identified aspects.

SEO: The True Cost of Doing It Wrong

SEO: The True Cost of Doing It Wrong

By Scott Buresh

There is much debate in the general public and in the search engine optimization community as to what amount companies should pay for search engine optimization expertise.* Prices are all over the board, and can be influenced by an SEO firm's size, reputation (or lack thereof), resources invested in customer service, and many other factors. Moreover, there are a variety of pricing models from which to choose.

Rather than hire a firm, some companies instead opt to attempt this specialized discipline in-house in order to save money. Of course, there is a cost associated with this option as well - labor. Often, the cost of effectively performing SEO in-house, when fully calculated, will be equal to or greater than the costs of outsourcing (due to a sizable learning curve and the necessary testing and experimentation required).

In any case, companies often make decisions on whether to outsource (and if so, which provider to choose) based solely on price. However, one thing that is rarely factored into the decision making process is the potential cost of doing SEO wrong.

The Price Tag
The most obvious cost of doing SEO wrong is the price that was paid for the actual work, whether paid to a firm or toward salaries for internal resources. While this is the most quantifiable cost and the easiest to recognize, it is generally the least expensive consideration. This concept is sometimes difficult to understand, since there is typically a finite sum the company considers "at risk" when they sign a contract with an SEO firm or commit internal resources to the task.

Penalization Issues
In many cases, companies hire shady optimization firms that use underhanded techniques to increase rankings. Other companies use well-intentioned but over-eager internal resources that implement dated, and often dangerous, methodologies. Such strategies may work in the short term, but it is typically only a matter of time before the search engines catch on to the gimmick and the site becomes penalized**. In this scenario, the company actually winds up in a worse situation than before they hired the search firm or committed the internal resources, since now they have lost any search positions with which they started! Afterwards, getting back into a search engine index is difficult and sometimes near impossible.

Lost Opportunity Cost
Search is currently one of the hottest marketing channels in the world, and increasing numbers of companies are jumping into the mix and realizing outstanding returns on their investment. However, it can take several months to attain optimal results with search engine optimization, and choosing the wrong provider or using ineffective methodology can delay any returns. It is critical that the methodologies used at the outset are effective and timely to minimize the waiting period for results.

Disenchantment Leading to Channel Abandonment
Worse yet, sometimes a company that hired an inexperienced or unscrupulous firm, or used internal resources to little effect, will abandon the idea of pursuing SEO. Frequently, companies will make blanket statements about how SEO "doesn't work for their businesses", because they didn't get results from a single poorly-executed initiative. This mistaken belief is potentially the most expensive cost of doing SEO wrong, since the major increases in revenue that SEO can provide are never realized by such companies (although they are often realized by that company's competitors).

Conclusion
While price can (and should) certainly be a factor in the SEO decision making process, it should not be the primary factor. Unfortunately many companies who think they are saving money when making SEO decisions find out later that the actual costs of doing SEO wrong can make the savings pale in comparison. Worse yet, firms that focus primarily on price will sometimes unknowingly embrace methodologies that put their site at great risk for penalization and at best do not get the anticipated results. Meanwhile, those who abandon SEO entirely due to a single bad experience leave the channel wide open for their competitors, who are usually happy to take advantage.

Towards Web Automation by Integrating Semantic Web and Web Service

Towards Web Automation by Integrating Semantic Web and Web Service

Yi-Chia Chen, Wei-Tek Hsu and Peng-Hsiang HungIndustrial Technology Research InstituteE000 CCL/ITRI Bldg. 51, 195-11 Sec 3, Chung Hsing Rd. Chutung, Hsinchu, Taiwan 310, R.O.C.jchen@itri.org.tw, whsu@itri.org.tw and phhung@itri.org.tw

ABSTRACT

In the recent decade, the amount of information on the Web has grown exponentially. Unfortunately, computers on the web still cannot automatically carry out complex tasks for people. It is because computers cannot understand HTML-based documents. Furthermore, the diversity of computing environments and communication protocols makes computers difficult to cooperate with one another. Semantic Web and Web Services are the two main trends to extend current web, but each of them cannot enable web automation alone. In this paper, we design a generic architecture of intelligent agent, iAgent, which integrates both advantages of Semantic Web and Web Services. We also build a multiagent system, iTour. It shows several iAgents not only be able to manipulate knowledge from semantic markup documents but also cooperate with one another to carry out complex tasks automatically.

INTRODUCTION

In the recent decade, the amount of information on the Web has grown exponentially. Such huge amount of information attracts more and more people to use the Web. Many services have also been provided to serve the large population of users. However, to accomplish a complicated task (such as planning trip for an international conference) on the web, users still need to spend a lot of time to search information and request services from different web sites manually. Some portal sites may provide more complete services by integrating resources from other web sites. However, adding a resource is a labor-intensive work. System developers need to spend much effort in the process of resource integration. Why can't computers automatically use all resources available online to accomplish users' tasks? The reason is that current HTML-based documents are designed for human to read, not for computers to understand. Furthermore, the diversity of computing environments and communication protocols makes computers difficult to cooperate with one another.

Now, Semantic Web [2] and Web Services are the two main trends to extend current web. Semantic Web provides a means to explicitly define or link data's semantics (i.e., the meanings of data and the relations among them) through a semantic markup language. As a result, computers can easily manipulate (extract and make inference from) knowledge in semantic markup documents. On the other hand, Web Services provides XML-based communication protocols to make computers be able to find and invoke other computers' services. These two main trends should be integrated to enable web automation, which make all computers be able to easily use knowledge in documents and work cooperatively to carry out users' tasks. Some researches are also working on this direction, such as DAML-S [1]. In this paper, we design a generic architecture of intelligent agent, iAgent. It integrates Semantic Web and Web Services to achieve web automation. The iAgent also can be configured to be different roles to provide different services. We also build a multiagent system, iTour, by several iAgents. It shows that, several iAgents not only can manipulate knowledge in semantic markup documents but also cooperate to accomplish complex tasks automatically.

AGENT ARCHITECTURE

An agent for web automation should be able to manipulate knowledge in web documents, provide different services and interact with other agents or users. To meet these requirements, we design a generic architecture of iAgent as Figure 1, which consist of inference, control and communication layer.

The inference layer is the iAgent's essential part, because it is the knowledge base of iAgent. The iAgent stores knowledge in the inference layer and makes inference by it, so iAgent can answer the queries of users or other agents. A typical knowledge base makes inference according to the rules and facts, but we do not predefine rules and facts in the inference layer. Such design makes the inference layer as portable as possible, so different iAgents in different domains can use the same inference layer. The facts are extracted from semantic markup documents which are written in DAML+OIL. The fact translator converts all the DAML+OIL documents into Prolog formats. Despite the DAML+OIL is designed based on Description Logic, which is not suitable for handling complex queries [3], iAgent chooses a Prolog (Horn-logic based) engine, SWI-Prolog, as its inference engine.

The control layer defines the iAgent's services. These services may be simple (answer a query) or complex (integrate different information from several agents in proper order). Some services are common to all iAgents and some are domain dependent for solving domain specific problems, so the control layer consists of common controller and domain controller. The services are designed based on iAgent's rules, because rules make iAgent be able to infer from extracted facts to provide specific services. In the common controller, the iAgent use axiomatic semantics for DAML+OIL [4] as semantic rules to reason the intended semantic meaning of fundamental tags (Class, subClassOf, samePropertyOf,...etc.), so every iAgent can interpret DAML+OIL documents and provide common services to answer basic queries about semantics, for example: list all instances of airport in Taipei. In the domain controller, iAgent provide services to solve domain specific problems by using domain rules, such as: make a trip plan between two cities. Some complex services may need to cooperate with other agents.

The iAgent uses the communication layer to interact with outside world. It can request DAML+OIL documents from other web sites through HTTP protocols. It also can interact with users by JSP (Java Server Page) and Java Servlet, so users can submit tasks through browsers. Web Services provide communication protocols for iAgent to interact with other agents or systems, so iAgent can use SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) to invoke services or search services through the UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) registry. The architecture of iAgent successful integrates advantages of Semantic Web and Web Services. So iAgent can manipulate knowledge by Semantic Web and cooperate with one another by Web Services to enable web automation.

MULTIAGENT SYSTEM

We use several iAgents to build a multiagent system, iTour. The aim of iTour is to arrange a trip for a meeting hold in Taiwan and Figure 2 shows the typical interactions among iAgents. In iTour, meeting agents manage meeting events and they can send meeting announcement to personal agents in DAML+OIL format. After personal agent receives the meeting announcement, it presents related information to the user. If the user would like to attend this meeting, he can tell the personal agent his preferences then request a trip plan for the meeting. Once receiving the request, the personal agent searches a travel agent from UDDI registry and asks the travel agent to provide a trip plan. To complete a trip plan, the travel agent needs to cooperate with other agents. First, it will ask a GIS agent to look for transport stations (railway stations and airports) and hotels nearby departure and meeting location. The transport stations and related constraints will be sent to a transportation agent then it will look for suitable transportation arrangements among these stations. Afterward, a hotel agent receives a list of nearby hotels and related preferences from the travel agent then chooses suitable hotels. Finally, the travel agent can integrate these possible transportation arrangements and hotels to work out complete plans according to user's requests. In iTour, Semantic Web makes iAgents able to manipulate knowledge of DAML+OIL documents and Web Services provide XML-based communication protocols which enable iAgents to find and communicate to one another.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

In the architecture of iAgent, we successfully integrate Semantic Web and Web Services to enable web automation. The iAgent can manipulate knowledge of semantic markup documents and communicate with other iAgents by XML-based protocols. The iTour shows that several iAgents can cooperate to complete complex tasks automatically. In the next step, iAgent will integrate Semantic Web and Web Services more closely to archive fully web automation, for example: semantic based service discovery and service composition.