An Ontology-based Knowledge Portal for Language Technology Hans Uszkoreit, Brigitte Jrg, Gregor Erbach German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and Saarland University Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 D-66123 Saarbrücken, Germany Abstract In order to be efficient and effective, today’s technology research needs high quality inter- national services for the provision and exchange of results, tools and resources. We have designed and implemented a rather comprehensive knowledge portal for the field of language technology. The service LT World is online and delivers worldwide information on technology and new developments in the field. We call the service a virtual information center since the provided knowledge is distributed over many places. For better access, for the smooth import and export of data and metainformation, and for more efficient maintenance, we have employed ontologies for the structuring and encoding of the knowledge in LT World. To this end, we have designed a complex ontology for the field of language technology that covers results, resources, researchers, projects, organizations, themes, applications, technologies, communications etc. It includes wide-spread representation schemes for lite- rature, languages, web-resources and linguistic data. It strives for compatibility with other information services and initiatives such as OLAC. In the realization we have employed state-of-the-art ontology editing tools, standards and methods. We also have started utilizing advanced language technology for the preparation of the data. In our presentation, we will present the approach, the ontology and the enabled services. 1. Introduction In the project COLLATE 1 funded by the German Ministry for Research and Education, we have created the German Competence Center for Language Technology. Core components of the Center are (i) a virtual information center for all aspects of language technology, (ii) a demon- stration center for advanced language and speech processing R&D systems and avant-garde products, and (iii) an evaluation center concen- 1 The project COLLATE (01 IN A01 A) is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung. trating on the methodology and tools for assessing language technology systems in an application-centered way. The virtual information center LT World has evolved into a comprehensive knowledge portal of worldwide research and development in language technology. The service has been online for more than a year. It serves the R&D scene, actual and potential users of language technology applications, educators, students, research administrators and colleagues in neighboring disciplines. The number of users keeps growing. Our goal has been to build a distributed information service that ! combines and offers for each aspect of LT the best contents available ! exploits hypermedia technology for including useful contents instead of copying them ! is flexible and scalable enough to support the evolution of the discipline ! exhibits a structure that is transparent for both experts and visitors from outside the field ! increasingly utilizes language and knowledge technologies for improved management and presentation of the information. ! is open for exchange of data with other information services in our field, ! has the potential for realizing interoperability with future knowledge services, ! is suited for the sophisticated metadata schemes of the envisaged semantic web. To meet these goals we decided to adhere to a very systematic and thoughtfully constructed design. Without wanting to downplay the importance of good content, we believe that an adequate conceptual structure and the utilization of the most advanced instruments will be essential for the sustained success of the service. For a knowledge portal in our fast-growing technology field that exploits state-of-the-art web technology and interfaces with other web-based information services, only an ontology-based approach supports the needed complexity, scalability and interoperability. However, any comprehensive and intellectually satisfying