The 2021 edition of KDI is taught with the presence in class of both lecturers and students. As for the last years, presence, even if not a formal requirement, is strongly suggested given that this is a hands-on lab course. Passing the exam amounts to developing a project, which ultimately will lead to the generation of a Knowledge Graph (and support documentation) starting from data which will have to be found in the Web. This goal will be reached under the continuous supervision of the lectures providing advice and support, and in collaboration, doing joint work with a colleague taking this course. There are no easy or cost-effective ways to achieve this goal without a continuous presence in class. Given the current Covid situation, in case someone taking the course cannot be in class for a certain lecture, that lecture will be registered and made available to him/ her. The request of a registration should be done as soon as possible before the beginning of the lecture (ideally 2-3 days before) and should supported by a valid justification. Notice, however, that these registered lectures will unlikely have the same quality as the physical lecture, in particular for those classes which will consist of one-to-one interactions among the students and the lecturers. In most cases an additional interaction with the lecturers during the Q&A lectures will achieve a better goal (see below).

The lectures will take place following the scheduling indicated in the section Calendar and Material. The course material includes slides, demo videos, support resources and links, all provided on the web site under the Calendar and Material section. For those interested, it is possible to consult the registrations of the lectures of the A.Y. 2020/2021 (here). This might be occasionally useful but with the following two points of attention: (1) while being very similar in spirit to the last year, the course this year presents some substantial differences, all expoiting that the lectures are in presence, and (2) in most cases we suggest you ask the lecturers for feedback or suggestions. In particular, just in order to help student, after the end of each phase of the methodology taught in the KDI course, there will be a Q&A lecture in which the students can ask questions about all their open problems and doubts.

At the end of the course students will be asked to fill an online questionnaire about the overall process and methodology they will have learned. This feedback is very important to us, as it is the basis for a continuous evolution and improvement of the methodology being taught. To this extent students are strongly encouraged to raise doubts, ask questions, discuss the doubts they have about the methodology itself during the Q&A lectures.

The exam will consist of two parts. The first, and most important, will be a presentation, in front of the lecturers and the colleagues, of the work developed. This will consist of a slide presentation, plus a demo. Details will be provided in class about how this will have to be done. The second and last part will consist of a written exam where students will be asked to describe and discuss the work done by the colleague in their group. In fact, the project will be done, modulo exceptions, by groups of two, where each person will be in charge of a different task (one in charge of developing the schema of the Knowledge Graph, the other developing the data populating it). The goal of the written exam will be to make sure that each student has a full understanding of the work done by the partner. But this should come for free for groups working together and continuously discussing the main issues which will arise, still each of them beingin charge of his/her.part.