Proto-OKN Theme 2 Fabric: FabRic Integrating Networked Knowledge (FRINK)

Knowledge graphs have emerged in many domains of science and technology as a powerful means of integrating, structuring, and mining information to extract new knowledge. To fully realize the promise of these knowledge graphs, a concerted effort is needed to synthesize many independently modeled and developed graphs that overlap partially with each other, in terms of their content. The Fabric Integrating Networked Knowledge, FRINK, is a project that meets this challenge by creating capabilities that allow for the uniform deployment, integration, and harmonization of knowledge graphs created under the Proto-OKN program into a unified Open Knowledge Network for query and analysis. Using FRINK to create the Proto-OKN will itself foster in the creation of an Open Knowledge Network (OKN) Community—a social fabric comprising intentional structures that support interpersonal interactions and collective decision making. With FRINK serving as a sociotechnical infrastructure, the OKN community would be able to develop a shared vision for the Proto-OKN and create the social sustainer of the NSF Open Knowledge Network. The Proto-OKN deployed using FRINK is designed to be an open, queryable system. All of the associated software is open source and will be freely available in GitHub, including demonstration workflows that provide key examples and functionality for downstream users.FRINK connects discipline-specific individual knowledge graphs into a transdisciplinary knowledge network. Not only does this enable individual graphs created by Proto-OKN Theme 1 projects to be available to the research and tool-building communities through a common interface, it also conceptually integrates all of that information allowing the formation of unanticipated connections and creative knowledge mining. The FRIK platform will be an open research tool to enable sophisticated queries across an ever-increasing set of domains in support of convergent research. FRINK utilizes Wikidata as a common and diverse knowledge base to help federate knowledge graphs, in the process helping to enrich Wikidata and enhance its utility for scholars worldwide. FRINK combines best-practices in cyberinfrastructure engineering, deep understanding of data modeling and knowledge integration, purposeful user engagement, capable project management and proven team science experience to work with other Proto-OKN components. FRINK will be organized around three objectives, detailing three types of fabric that will bind together the initially disparate graphs developed by Theme 1 teams: (1) Knowledge Fabric: Tools for knowledge graph integration and interoperability. In order to connect together two graphs that may not overlap on their respective content, an innovative strategy is employed using Wikidata as a “knowledge backbone” through which diverse graphs could be linked, cross-queried and analyzed. (2) Technical Fabric: Common knowledge graph deployment strategies and technology based on robust, scalable, cloud-based technical infrastructure and best-practice cloud engineering, A set of query and analytic tools will be deployed for efficiently tapping into a federated knowledge system. (3) Social Fabric: Engagement with Themes 1 and 3 projects to create a common vision, standard semantics, and shared protocol for OKN, along with the enthusiasm to work together to create a unified product with shared values addressing highly diverse use cases.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.