Semantic Web

The Semantic Web is an initiative of W3C to provide a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is a collaborative effort led by W3C with participation from a large number of researchers and industrial partners. It is based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF), which integrates a variety of applications using XML for syntax and URIs for naming.

"The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation." -- Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, Ora Lassila, The Semantic Web, Scientific American, May 2001

The primary semantic web technologies - RDF and OWL are of primary interest to OsEra as a distributed metadata repository, as components of the semantic core as well as a source of semantically rich models.

Please see the OsEra Project Page for the Semantic Web.

Semantic Web in OsEra

The Semantic Web is a core OsEra technology providing multiple benefits.

RDF as Metadata Infrastructure

OsEra depends on metadata for architectures, artifacts and technologies being manipulated as metadata in shared repositories.  The two primary technologies providing for this in OsEra are RDF repositories and the Eclipse-EMF "Eclipse Modeling Framework".  As the basis for the semantic web, RDF also provides a robust environment to manage, integrate and publish OsEra architectures.  An OsEra project is currently underway to provide a bridge between these two metadata environments.

RDF and OWL as modeling Languages and as part of the semantic core

RDF and OWL are used as semantically rich modeling languages.  These languages are increasingly used as the next step passed "controlled vocabularies" by providing capabilities of formal semantics.  RDF and OWL semantics have been integrated into the semantic core.

Semantic Grounding of Architectures

These Ontologies are seen as ways to tie formally unrelated models and architectures together.  This is referred to as "semantically grounding" an architecture.  By semantically grounding an architecture, terms and concepts in that architecture are tied to reference Ontologies that are then used to bridge between architectures using semantic tooling.

Current Work

  • The MOF/RDF Bridge - The MOF/RDF bridge will allow MOF based information such as UML, EDOC and ER models to be published as a semantic web resource.  This project bridges the gap between the modeling and ontology worlds.
  • Semantic Core both integrates the semantic web concepts and is expressed as an OWL ontology.

Next Steps

  • Implement RDF as an OMG MOF - This project will further close the gap between modeling and Ontologies by providing a "Meta Object Facility" layer over RDF.  By implementing the MOF over RDF all MOF standards compliant modeling assets will be immediately available as semantic web assets.  In addition, the web distribution and semantic linking capabilities of the the semantic web will become available tot he MOF.
  • Fully implement the semantic core semantics using semantic web technologies.  OWL, RDF and SWIRL will be used to implement the semantic core semantics, this will provide inference capabilities over all models in modeling languages that have been integrated with the semantic core.

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