Hi everyone. I'm restarting the UIMA Proposal thread based on the
comments so far, with a revised proposal that more closely follows
http://incubator.apache.org/guides/proposal.html. The first paragraph
was rewritten to more clearly state what the proposal was, in plainer
language. It is also slightly updated, reflecting the submission of
UIMA to OASIS for standardization work.
Abstract:
UIMA is a component framework for the analysis of unstructured content
such as text, audio and video. It comprises an SDK and tooling for
composing and running analytic components written in Java and C++.
Proposal: Unstructured Information Management Architecture framework
Unstructured Information Management applications are software systems
that analyze large volumes of unstructured information in order to
discover knowledge that is relevant to an end user. We propose UIMA, a
framework and SDK for developing such applications. An example UIM
application might ingest plain text and identify entities, such as
persons, places, organizations; or relations, such as works-for or
located-at. UIMA enables such an application to be decomposed into
components, for example "language identification" -> "language specific
segmentation" -> "sentence boundary detection" -> "entity detection
(person/place names etc.)". Each component must implement interfaces
defined by the framework and must provide self-describing metadata via
XML descriptor files. The framework manages these components and the
data flow between them. Components are written in Java or C++; the data
that flows between components is designed for efficient mapping between
these languages. UIMA additionally provides capabilities to wrap
components as network services, and can scale to very large volumes by
replicating processing pipelines over a cluster of networked nodes.
This framework has already attracted a following among government,
commercial, and academic institutions who previously developed analysis
algorithms, but were unable to easily build on each other's works, and
who want to be able to evolve their applications by independently
upgrading parts, as better technology becomes available. Applications
built with this framework are being used with plain text, audio streams,
and mage/video streams, identifying entities and relations, converting
speech to text, translating into different languages, and determining
properties of images.
The UIMA framework runs components in a flow, passing a common data
object containing unstructured information (free text, audio, video,
etc.) through the components. Each component examines the unstructured
information and data added by other components, and adds data of its
own. The framework mandates a standardized form of the data being
passed, and a standardized form of the interfaces to the components.
We propose a project to develop, implement, support and enhance this
framework (and, over time, other implementations) that comply with the
UIMA standard (which has been submitted for standardization work within
OASIS http://www.oasis-open.org. Members of this community are
encouraged to participate in that effort, as well; OASIS has an open
approach to granting Technical Committee voting rights to members of
OASIS, described here: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/process.php#2.4.
The proposal includes both the framework, as well as tools to develop,
describe, compose and deploy UIMA-based components and applications. The
initial work will be based on the UIMA Version 2 framework code
developed by IBM; snapshots of each release of this code are currently
made available on http://sourceforge.net/projects/uima-framework. The
SourceForge versions would be stabilized in maintenance mode, if we are
successful in moving to Apache.
The framework is not specific to any IDE or platform, and does not
depend on other middleware.
Background:
Databases are core components of nearly all applications; they store
information in structured tables. But more and more of the available
digital data is unstructured (e.g. email, web documents, images, audio
clips, video streams) with little information (metadata) attached to
explain its content or context. Although many applications have been
built to process unstructured data, they have either managed it as a
BLOB or they have developed isolated applications for analyzing the
content. In the absence of a standardized means for analytical
applications to share insights extracted from the content, analytical
applications cannot build upon one another. As a result, the industry
has barely begun to tap the value locked in unstructured information.
Standardization is key to achieving component interoperability, with
capabilities to mix components developed in different places and in
Java, C++ and other languages. The Unstructured Information Management
Architecture defines standards for component interoperability and
application composition that will provide this needed unifying standard,
and allow a variety of framework implementations to exist, while
preserving the goal of unstructured information analytic component reuse.
UIMA was built to help developers create solutions that get more value
from unstructured information more quickly and at lower cost by making
it easy to reuse and combine analytic modules from different sources
into new analytic applications. The architecture and the framework have
been validated through work with USA's DARPA which is using it as a
standard for key projects with several universities involved in advanced
linguistics analysis, such as Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Stanford and
University of Massachusetts. Other companies, such as the Mayo Clinic
and Sloan Kettering, are also building efforts around UIMA. In
addition, over 15 software vendors, including companies such as Inxight,
Attensity, ClearForest, Temis, SPSS, SAS, Cognos, Endeca, Factiva and
others, announced plans to support UIMA.
The UIMA framework (binary and/or source code) has been downloaded over
8000 times from IBM alphaWorks (http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/uima)
or SourceForge (http://uima-framework.sourceforge.net).
Rationale:
We believe that moving the UIMA framework development to the Apache
development community will lead to faster innovation, better integration
with other open source software, and broader adoption of UIMA,
accelerating the industry's ability to get the most value from text,
audio, and video content. The UIMA framework is becoming attractive to
developers who want to build components; we believe that having UIMA on
Apache will encourage the development of a basic set of open source
components that will jumpstart these developers' efforts. One of the
first components we see possible synergy with is a search component
based on Apache Lucene that would enable semantic search. We like the
concept of the Lucene Sandbox as a way to encourage innovation around
UIMA, and would envision something similar for this project.
Initial Goals:
Some initial work we see in the incubator includes the following:
* redoing the parts of the tooling that were done as derivative works of
Eclipse source code, to enable everything to be licensable under the
Apache license
* extending the framework to better support "scale-out"
* extending the framework to better align with the emerging UIMA
Standards work
* extending the framework to support XMI-based SOAP and/or other service
interfaces
* extending the framework to support OSGi-based approaches to
componentization and packaging
* exploring embeddings of the framework within other interested Apache
projects, including synergies with Lucene
* providing aids to the community to migrate from previous versions of
the framework to the Apache version
* setting up community support: hosting a facility similar to the Lucene
Sandbox to encourage innovation and experimentation; establishing a wiki
and some process to allow better documentation to be developed by the
community, and linking our existing XHTML documentation via an XSL
transform to Apache FOP
Current Status:
* Meritocracy:
Meritocracy seems to us an ideal way to grow the community of developers
around UIMA, it being a controlled, rational way to give those who
positively contribute, more ability to directly contribute. This
approach also gives contributors one of the best reasons to join the
community of volunteers - to be recognized for the merit of their
contributions.
* Community:
Currently, the UIMA Framework development is being done by IBM, with
input from a group of early adopters in industry and government. Going
forward, we see IBM continuing to support several committers working on
it. We have already begun talking with other people outside of IBM that
have expressed interest in contributing towards the development. This
includes members of academic institutions, people working for some of
the software vendors that have announced plans to support UIMA, and
others from companies that have expressed interest since initial
announcements about our open source plans. Multiple non-IBM people have
already expressed desires to become committers.
* Core Developers:
The previous core developers of UIMA are Adam Lally, Thilo Goetz,
Marshall Schor, Edward Epstein, Jaroslaw Cwiklik and Thomas Hampp.
Many others have also contributed. The developers come from both the
Research and Development parts of IBM.
* Alignment:
UIMA has significant synergy with search applications, and we expect to
see integration with Lucene in the future. UIMA makes use of the Apache
Portable Runtime (APR) for C++ support. It is designed to be embeddable
into other frameworks, such as web application servers. Part of UIMA is
Eclipse-based tooling. We use ANT for build scripting. UIMA has
support for various language bindings including C++ and Java; we also
have more limited bindings for Perl, Python, and TCL. UIMA uses Web
Services as part of its approach to wiring up components in its domain.
It makes use of XML services such as Xerces and Xalan.
The development of UIMA has been based on merit with open discussion
among a distributed team of developers, from both Research and
Development organizations.
* License:
The current license for the source code is CPL, with a small number of
files licensed under the EPL (Eclipse Public License), because these
were created as "derivative works" of existing Eclipse open source
code. When the code base is moved to Apache, it will be relicensed
under the Apache license, except for the small number of files licensed
under the EPL as derivative works of Eclipse source files. We plan to
work in the incubator to redo these parts, so the entire offering can be
licensed under the Apache license.
The distribution for the C++ enablement layer includes open source
components ICU (a Unicode package) which has its own license. We plan
to work with community to properly make use of this non-Apache licensed
component.
Our current vision for the future of UIMA has it aligning with and
incorporating other standards-based open source components/protocols,
some of which may have licensing other than the Apache license (for
example, the Xml Metadata Interchange (XMI), and the EMF ECore Model
from Eclipse); we will work with the community in figuring out how to
move forward on this.
* Other IP:
When we requested OASIS to set up a Technical Committee chartered to
develop a platform-independent specification for text and multi-modal
analysis, we specified that it be set up under the "RF on Limited Terms"
mode of the OASIS IP Policy. "RF" means Royalty Free, and the Limited
Terms means companies that are working with us on the Technical
Committee are restricted in adding additional terms.
These are the most liberal terms and make any Essential Claims available
to ALL and ROYALTY FREE.
For the details please refer to:
- http://www.oasis-open.org/who/ipr/ipr_faq.php
- http://www.oasis-open.org/who/intellectualproperty.php
Ultimately of course, there is always a risk that someone in the world
holds a patent that can be claimed as Essential. The most any standards
organization can do is govern the behavior of those who participate in
its work and publicly document the licensing commitment of all
participants.
Known Risks:
* Orphaned Software:
UIMA has been in active development for 5 years. The community of users
has steadily grown, and there are now significant commercial and
research organizations actively using it. UIMA is embedded in IBM
software products and is delivered through IBM services engagements. IBM
has developers assigned to it, and is continuing to support its
development. In addition, several people outside of IBM have already
expressed interest in working on UIMA, and have been providing IBM with
initial feedback. One of the objectives of starting this Apache project
is to provide a meritocratic structure for those people to begin more
actively contributing to UIMA.
* Inexperience with Open Source:
The individuals working on this software have background as IBM software
developers. While many of them have experience working with open source
software, none of them has had extensive experience contributing to
other open source software. However, IBM as an organization has
extensive experience contributing to open source projects and will make
available resources to provide guidance to the developers working on
this project.
* Homogenous Developers: (work for same company?)
Currently all the developers work for IBM, although they come from
different geographically dispersed organizations within IBM. We will
reach out during the incubation time to get others to contribute; we
have already received interest from several parties.
* Reliance on salaried developers:
Currently the developers are paid employees of IBM.
* Relationships with Other Apache Products:
We make use of several Apache components (SOAP / Web Services, XML
(Xerces, Xalan), languages (Perl), scripting languages (ANT), Apache
Portable Runtime. In addition, UIMA has been embedded in other
frameworks, such as web application servers, and integrated with search
engines. We are exploring Lucene extensions that could take advantage
of UIMA processed data. We are currently investigating and prototyping
some software packaging concepts based on OSGi; the Apache Incubator
project Felix may have relevance as we go forward. The documentation is
being moved to XHTML and plans to use Apache FOP for producing PDF
reference materials.
* An Excessive Fascination with the Apache Brand
UIMA is already being adopted by a wide cross section of users, both
commercial and academic, world-wide. Our experience shows that analytic
modules can be reused and combined through UIMA making it easier and
faster for developers to build new analytic applications for specific
industries or domains. Given the diversity of content and analytics that
will be required to address the multitude of opportunities - from
military intelligence to quality assurance to contact center analytics
-- growing this infrastructure so that it better aligns with other major
Open Source communities should help accelerate industry's ability to get
value from content assets.
We believe that the Apache community of developers has the experience,
background, visibility, and synergistic resources to encourage and
foster a vibrant developer community around this project.
Documentation:
There is a combination Introduction, Conceptual Overview, Tutorial,
Tools and Framework User's Guides and References, downloadable from
http://dl.alphaworks.ibm.com/technologies/uima/UIMA_SDK_Users_Guide_Reference_2.0.pdf
Scope of the project:
The project will develop implementations of the UIMA architecture (which
is concurrently being submitted to the OASIS standards process),
supporting the breadth of platforms that developers working in this
field are using, including Java, C++, Perl, Python and TCL; and
utilities and tooling to support component and application developers
and assemblers / packagers. It will initially include the Java UIMA
framework for UIMA Version 2 (you can see a snap shot of the Version 2
release SourceForge; the delivered code would this code base plus normal
incremental bug fixes and improvements), plus additional components
(mainly documentation and test cases, which are not currently on
SourceForge). Over time, the project is expected grow to include
supporting various embeddings and integrations with other Apache
components such as search engines and web application frameworks.
Over time, we envision the project becoming an umbrella for related
open-source around UIMA, including things like open-source pre-annotated
corpora, and hosting a facility similar to the Lucene Sandbox to
encourage innovation and experimentation.
The UIMA framework is primarily a set of libraries (in Java, C++, Perl,
etc.), test cases, and UIMA utilities and tools (scripts, plugins,
executables, etc.) used to build, test and debug UIMA analytic
components. The tooling includes several Eclipse platform plugins.
* Initial source
The source currently is maintained in IBM internal software control
systems, with a copy of each release placed on SourceForge. At the time
of launch, we plan to contribute the latest version of the code base
(with some renaming of package prefixes to reflect apache.org), test
cases, build files, and documentation, under the terms specified in the
ASF Corporate Contributor License. We plan to donate the existing C++
enablement layer and the support for Perl, Python, and TCL a few months
later than the initial donation; this delay is to give us time to finish
preparing that code base for Open Source.
* ASF resources to be created
Mailing lists:
* uima-dev
* uima-commits
* uima-user (we already have a substantial user community and expect
them to turn up at Apache soon after we've hopefully been accepted into
the incubator)
For other resources such as Subversion repository, JIRA etc. we hope for
guidance from our mentors.
* Initial Set of Committers
Michael Baessler ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Edward Epstein ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Thilo Goetz ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Adam Lally ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Marshall Schor ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Sponsor:
We are requesting the Incubator to sponsor this. Our current vision is
that it will become a top level project (other projects that develop
UIMA components could become subprojects, for instance).
* Mentors:
Sam Ruby ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Ken Coar ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Ian Holsman ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
* Section 6: Open Issues for Discussion
-Marshall Schor
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