Protege

Protege is an open-source ontology editor, which supports a variety of formats (OWL, RDF, XML Schema). Ontologies are useful for building Semantic Web applications. The purpose of this tutorial is to provide a very brief introduction into what such ontologies look like and what kinds of operations can be performed on them.

Instructions for Installation on private PC

Note: using your own PC is at your own risk. You cannot hold Napier University responsible if your PC or any of your files get damaged or deleted, etc.

  • You can download and install Protege from here If you have sufficient disk space you may choose to install the full version, otherwise choose the basic version.
  • Click on install_protege on your computer.
  • After the installation, Protege should be in your Start Menu/Program files.

    Instructions for Installation in JKCC

    If you are unsure about the installation instructions, ask the lecturer for help before clicking on anything.

  • Open a directory window (eg My Documents). Go to K:\Protege. Click on install_protege. Choose either H:\Protege or H:\ as the destination for your installation (you may need to create a Protege folder first). If you have sufficient disk space you may choose to install the full version, otherwise install the basic version.
  • After the installation, goto the H:\Protege or H:\ and click on "Protege jar executable file".

    Basic exercises using Protege

  • Start Protege; choose the newspaper example.
  • Have a look at the classes and find out which type of Advertisement contains a slot called "image".
  • Using the slots hierarchy, find out what "image" refers to.
  • Which slots does the class Columnist have that are not inherited from Employee?
  • How many instances of advertisements are there? Does any of the instances actually have an image?
  • Using the predefined queries, which people have a salary larger than 100 000?

    This will only work if the full version was installed:

  • In the top menu, click on Project, then on Configure. Select the TGVizTab.
  • Select classes to add, then click on Create Graph.

    More advanced exercise

    Create a new ontology:
  • Select a topic that you are familiar with and that is fairly simple. Examples: an ontology for the Simpson family (from TV, see here for a diagram); or an ontology of pet animals, or ...
  • Decide which classes, slots and instances you need.
  • Enter the information into Protege.