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Pune 2020 University,
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MIT School of Engineering, Pune
Department of Information Technology

Course Code: 17BTDA701

Course Name:- Semantic Web and Social Networks

Name of the Instructor: Prof. Kanchan Katake
 Knowledge Representation
• The key idea of the Semantic Web is to
represent information on and about
the current Web using formal
languages that computers can process
and reason with.
• Representing and reasoning with
knowledge are core issues for the
Semantic Web
 Knowledge Representation
• The field of expert systems has developed a
number of logic-based knowledge
representation languages for describing
both the domain knowledge and task
knowledge of such systems.
• Ex. KIF and OCML
• Domain models that captured the
agreement of a group of experts and were
represented using formal languages for
reusability came to be referred to by the
term Ontology.
Knowledge Engineering
 Ontologies and their role in the Semantic
Web
1. Ontologies are expressed in formal languages
with a well-defined semantics.
2. Ontologies build upon a shared
understanding within a community. This
understanding represents an agreement
among members of the community over the
concepts and relationships that are present
in a domain and their usage.
 Ontology
• Simple structures are glossaries or controlled
vocabularies
• An example would be a controlled
vocabularyused inside a support center for
describing incidents reported. Such a controlled
vocabulary facilitates the communication
among the helpdesk and the technical staff of a
support center as it enables a uniform
description of the reported problems.
 Ontology and Semantics
• Semantic networks are essentially graphs that
show also how terms are related to each other.
• In the context of the Semantic Web research, it
is often assumed that an ontology at least
contains a hierarchy between the concepts
• Weaker models with no explicit hierarchies,
such as the folksonomies are often excluded
from the definition.
 Ontology types
• The term lightweight ontology is typically
applied to ontologies that make a distinction
between classes, instances and properties, but
contain minimal descriptions of them.
• On the other hand, heavyweight ontologies
allow to describe more precisely how classes
are composed of other classes, and provide a
richer set of constructs to constrain how
properties can be applied to classes.
An Ontology is..
 Ontologies
• The most common Web ontologies are all
lightweight ontologies due to the need of
serving the needs of many applications with
divergent goals.
• Large, heavyweight ontologies are more
commonly found in targeted expert systems
used in focused domains with a tradition of
formalized processes and vocabularies such as
the area of life sciences and engineering.
 Ontologies and ontology languages for the
Semantic Web
• Ontologies play a special role in the
architecture of the Semantic Web.
 Ontologies and ontology languages for the
Semantic Web
• Ontologies and ontology languages for the
Semantic Web
• The (meta)data and its schema can be made
public either by publishing an RDF or OWL
document online.
• Semantic Web applications collect or query
such data sources, aggregate and reason with
the results.
 Creating Ontologies
• One can create an ontology from scratch, or
reuse an existing ontology while possibly
extending it.
• Machine-processable semantics in both the
mapping of classes and instances play an
important role.
Ontology languages for the Semantic Web

• Ontology languages RDF and OWL, have

• been standardized by the World Wide Web
Consortium.
Resource Description Framework (RDF)

• The Resource Description Framework (RDF)

was originally created to describe resources
on the World Wide Web
• In reality, RDF is domain-independent
• It is the basis of more complex languages such
as OWL.
Resource Description Framework (RDF)
• There are two kinds of primitives in RDF:
– resources
– Literals
• Everything is modelled as a resource that can be
(potentially) identified and described.
• Resources are either identified by a URI or left
blank
• Literals are strings (character literals) with
optional language and datatype identifiers
 RDF
• Expressions are formed by making statements
(triples) of the form
– subject, predicate, object
• The subject of a statement must be a resource
• predicate must be a URI
• object can be either kind of resource or a literal.
• Literals are thus only allowed at the end of a
statement
Resource Description Framework (RDF)

Predicate
Subject (verb) Object
 Resource Description Framework (RDF)

• Graph Data model

• Decompose knowledge into small pieces, with some

rules about semantics or meaning of those pieces.
• “method” rather than a format
 3 Simple Rules
• A fact is expressed as a triple of the form (Subject,
Predicate, and Object). It’s almost like an English
sentence.
• Subjects, predicates, and objects are names of
entities, whether concrete or abstract, in the real
world. Names are either:
1) Global and refer to the same entity in any RDF
document in which they appear, or
2) Local and the entity it refers to cannot be
directly referred, outside the RDF document.
• Objects can also be text values, called literal values.
3 Simple Rules

(Source: Google Images)

 RDF
• Each triple is complete and unique fact
• Each triple can be joined with other RDF
triples but it still retains a unique meaning
• An object can be a subject itself (Linking to
another triple: represented by an oval shape)
OR a Literal (a string: represented by a
rectangular shape)
RDF: 3 Rules Example

Source: Herman, 2011

 The major organising principle of the Internet is
hyperlinks and RDF elaborates hyperlinks exactly like
HTML.
 But the difference is that HTML uses hyperlinks to
navigate from one place to another and RDF represents
links as identifiable objects. RDF uses URIs
 [e.g [Link] to encode
information that means the link is not only associated to
a URL [e.g [Link] ] but it is tied to a
unique information [e.g #ex1].
 Revisiting XML
• XML stands for extensible Markup Language
• Markup means that certain sequences of characters
in the document contain information indicating the
role of the document’s content
<?xml version=“1.0”?>
<employees>
List of persons in company:
<person name=“John”>
<phone>123456789</phone>
</person>
</employees>
 DTD and XML Schema
• DTD stands for Document Type Definitions
• Specify the names of elements and attributes
(the vocabulary) and their use in documents
• For example, a DTD might prescribe that every
‘person’ element must have a “name”
attribute and may have a child element called
‘phone’ whose content must be text.
DTD and XML Schema

(Source: Google Images)

 DTD and XML Schema
• XML Schemas are a proposed successor to DTDs
• the XML Schema mechanism provides a richer
grammar for prescribing the structure of elements.
• For example, you can specify the exact number of
allowed occurrences of child elements, you can
specify default values, and you can put the
elements in a choice group, which means that
exactly one of the elements in that group is allowed
at a specific location
 Why bother about XML in RDF
• HTML governs the appearance of the information
you look at on the Web.
• XML complements (but does not replace) HTML
by adding tags that describe data
• These tags are invisible to the people who read
the document but visible to computers.
• Tags are already in use on the Web, and
existing bots, like the bots that collect data
for search engines, can read them.
 Why bother about XML in RDF
• RDF does exactly what its name indicates --
using XML tags, it provides a framework to
describe resources.
• To do this, RDF uses triples written as XML
tags to express this information as a graph.

(Source: Google Images)

 XML & RDF
• Even with the framework that XML and RDF
provide, a computer still needs a very direct,
specific way of understanding who or what
these resources are.
• To do this, RDF uses uniform resource
identifiers (URIs) to direct the computer to a
document or object that represents the
resource.
 RDF & XML
• A URI gives a computer a specific point of
reference for each item in the triple -- there's
no need for interpretation or potential for
misunderstanding.
 XML & RDF
• XML provides syntax to encode data
• RDF it is not a language, but a model for
representing data about ‘things on the web.’
• The ‘things’ are resources in RDF vocabulary
• RDF’s basic data model is simple: besides
resources, it contains properties and
statements
 XML & RDF
• A property is a specific aspect, characteristic,
attribute, or relation that describes a resource.
• A statement consists of a specific resource
with a named property plus that property’s
value for that resource.
• RDF description is a list of triples: an object (a
resource), an attribute (a property), and a
value (a resource or free text).
People often feel that RDF and XML are the same. But the fact is
that RDF is a data model which can be represented in XML
(RDF/XML). RDF is a graph data model that makes use of URIs
while XML is a tree data model and doesn’t care about URIs.
 RDF Basics
 Resources
Resources may be authors, books, publishers,
places, people, hotels, rooms, search queries,
and so on
 RDF Basics
 Properties
Properties are a special kind of resources. They
describe relations between resources, for example
‘written by’, ‘age’, ‘title’, and so on. Properties in
RDF are also identified by URIs (and in practice by
URLs).
 RDF Basics
 Statements
• Statements assert the properties of resources.
A statement is an object, attribute-value triple,
consisting of a resource, a property, and a
value. Values can either be resources or
literals. Literals are atomic values (strings), the
structure of which we do not discuss further.
 Constructing RDF
• The foundation is laid by breaking the
knowledge into basically what’s called a
labeled, directed graph
Constructing RDF
 RDF Triples
• Standard syntax of RDF triples:

<rdf:Description rdf:about=“subject”>
<predicate rdf:resource=“object” />
<predicate>literal value</predicate>
<rdf:Description>
 RDF: Example 1
• <?xml version=“1.0” encoding=”UTF-8”?>
• <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf=“[Link]
mlns:feature=“[Link]
• <rdf:Description rdf:about=“[Link]
cartoon#mickey-mouse”>
• <feature:character rdf:resource=“[Link]
character#funny”/>
• </rdf:Description>
• </rdf:RDF>
RDF: Example 1
Example 2

(Source: Dublin Core)

Example 3

(Source: Google Images)

 LOD: Linked Open Data
• Linked Data best practices for using the web to
link information using RDF and IRIs/URIs.
• LOD cloud estimated 3000 repositories
containing over 150 billion pieces of data.
– Dbpedia -> Data from wikipedia
– Geonames->Geospatial triples
– FOAF-> Friend of A Friend
– Dublin Core-> Metadata standards
Introduction to SPARQL

• SPARQL stands for ‘SPARQL Protocol and RDF

Query Language’
• Designed specifically to query RDF databases.
SPARQL queries are sent from a client to a
service known as a SPARQL endpoint using the
HTTP protocol.
 SPARQL
• In addition to the language, W3C has also
defined:
– The SPARQL Protocol for RDF specification: it
defines the remote protocol for issuing SPARQL
queries and receiving the results.
– The SPARQL Query Results XML Format
specification: it defines an XML document format
for representing the results of SPARQL queries.
 SQL
• SQL is the standard language for a Relational
Database System.
• All the SQL statements start with a keyword
like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, ALTER,
DROP, CREATE, USE, SHOW
 SPARQL Vs SQL
• Both, SQL and SPARQL, give access to the user
to create, combine, and consume structured
data.
• Difference is that RDF is a post-Web language;
that is, it allows one to use web identifiers
• Consider the following example:
– SELECT [Link], [Link] FROM Person,
Address WHERE [Link]=Address. ID AND
[Link]=“Mumbai”
 SPARQL Vs SQL
• A SPARQL query of the same data could look like –
SELECT?name?city WHERE{
 
?who<Person#fname>?name;
<Person#addr>?adr.
?adr<Address#city>?city;
<Address#state>“Mumbai”
}
 Constructing a SPARQL query
• The SPARQL query language is based on matching
graph patterns.
As a simple example, consider the following query:
PREFIX rdf: <ht
tp://[Link]/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> PREFIX rdfs:
<[Link] SELECT ?c
WHERE
{
?c rdf:type rdfs:Class .
}
Format for constructing a SPARQL query:
 Example:
• PREFIX school-info: <[Link]
SELECT ?name WHERE {
• ?school a school-info:School.
•  
• ?school school-info:establishmentName ?name.
•  
• ?school school-info:districtAdministrative <ht
tp://[Link]/id/local-authority-district/ Mumbai>.
•  
• }
•  
• ORDER BY ?name
Building A SPARQL Query
 Building A SPARQL Query
• Select All Data
Construct a query that will select all the plant URIs
(subjects) and plant family names (literal-type objects)
from the given data:
[Link] plants: <[Link]
[Link] * WHERE
3.{
4. ?name plants:family ?family
5.}
 Query Result
01.<?xml version="1.0" ?>
02.<sparql xmlns="[Link] 25.<result>
26.<binding name="name">
[Link]:xsi="[Link]
27.<uri>[Link]
instance">
</uri>
04.<head> 28.</binding>
05.<variable name="name"/> 29.<binding name="family">
06.<variable name="family"/> 30.<literal>Aralianae</literal>
07.</head> 31.</binding>
08.<results> 32.</result>
33.<result>
09.<result>
34.<binding name="name">
10.<binding name="name"> 35.<uri>[Link]
11.<uri>[Link] f</uri>
ri> 36.</binding>
12.</binding> 37.<binding name="family">
13.<binding name="family"> 38.<literal>Malvaceae</literal>
14.<literal>Magnoliaceae</literal> 39.</binding>
40.</result>
15.</binding>
41.<result>
16.</result> 42.<binding name="name">
17.<result> 43.<uri>[Link]
18.<binding name="name"> tia</uri>
19.<uri>[Link] 44.</binding>
/uri> 45.<binding name="family">
20.</binding> 46.<literal>Magnoliaceae</literal>
47.</binding>
21.<binding name="family">
48.</result>
22.<literal>Liliaceae</literal> 49.</results>
23.</binding> 50.</sparql>
24.</result>
 Building A SPARQL Query
• Select Only "Magnoliaceae" Family
– Return only those plants from the Magnoliaceae family from
our data set.
[Link] plants: <[Link]
[Link] * WHERE
3.{
4. ?name plants:family "Magnoliaceae"
5.}
 Query Result
01.<?xml version="1.0" ?>
02.<sparql xmlns="[Link]
[Link]:xsi="[Link]
04.<head>
05.<variable name="name"/>
06.</head>
07.<results>
08.<result>
09.<binding name="name">
10.<uri>[Link]
11.</binding>
12.</result>
13.<result>
14.<binding name="name">
15.<uri>[Link]
16.</binding>
17.</result>
18.</results>
19.</sparql>
You may like to try SPARQL queries of your own
using our linked data tool suite RDF Studio. RDF
Studio has full SPARQL help (including
autocomplete of your queries) to help you write
queries as you type.
 CREATE, INSERT, UPDATE?
* New specifications such as 
SPARUL (SPARQL/Update) and SPARQL+ are
being developed to address this problem
Where are we?

(Source: Google Images)

 RDF Schema
• Abbreviated as RDFS, RDF(S), RDF-S, or RDF/S
• Set of classes with certain properties using the
RDF extensible representation language
• Intended to structure RDF resources
• Editors:
Dan Brickley, Google
R.V. Guha, Google
 Main RDFS constructs
• RDFS classes
• Associated properties and
• Utility properties
• Classes
 rdfs:Resource is the class of everything.
All things described by RDF are resources.
 rdfs:Class declares a resource as a class
for other resources.
 Defining a class
• Suppose an organization [Link] wants to use RDF Schema
to
provide information about motor vehicles, vans and trucks.
• To define classes that represent these categories of vehicles, we
write the
following statements (triples):
ex:MotorVehicle rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:Van rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:Truck rdf:type rdfs:Class .
• In RDFS, a class
C is defined by a triple of the form
C rdf:type rdfs:Class .
using the predefined class rdfs:Class and the predefined property
Notation:
• Class names will be written with an initial
uppercase letter, while property and instance
names are written with an initial lowercase
letter.
 RDF Constructs
• rdfs:Literal – literal values such as strings and integers.
Property values such as textual strings are examples of
RDF literals. Literals may be plain or typed.
• rdfs:Datatype – the class of datatypes. rdfs:Datatype
is both an instance of and a subclass of rdfs:Class. Each
instance of rdfs:Datatype is a subclass of rdfs:Literal.
• rdf:XMLLiteral – the class of XML literal values.
rdf:XMLLiteral is an instance of rdfs:Datatype (and thus
a subclass of rdfs:Literal).
• rdf:Property – the class of properties.
 RDFS constructs
• Properties
• Properties are instances of the class rdf:Property
• Described as a relation between subject resources and
object resources.
• rdfs:domain of an rdf:predicate declares the class of
the subject in a triple whose second component is the
predicate.
•  rdfs:range of an rdf:predicate declares the class or
datatype of the object in a triple whose second
component is the predicate.
 Example
• ex:Book rdf:type rdfs:Class .
• ex:Person rdf:type rdfs:Class .
• ex:author rdf:type rdf:Property .
• ex:author rdfs:domain ex:Book .
• ex:author rdfs:range ex:Person

For a property, we can have zero, one, or

more than one domain or range
statements.
 RDFS constructs
• rdf:type is a property used to state that a resource is an
instance of a class.
• rdfs:subClassOf allows to declare hierarchies of classes.
• rdfs:subPropertyOf is an instance of rdf:Property that is
used to state that all resources related by one property
are also related by another.
• rdfs:label is an instance of rdf:Property that may be used
to provide a human-readable version of a resource's
name.
• rdfs:comment is an instance of rdf:Property that may be
used to provide a human-readable description of a
resource.
 Defining Sub Classes
Now suppose [Link] wants to define that
vans and trucks are
specialized kinds of motor vehicle.
• This can be done with the following RDF
statements:
ex:Van rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
ex:Truck rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
 Properties of rdfs:subClassOf
The rdfs:subClassOf property is reflexive
and transitive.
• Examples:
– If we have a class ex:MotorVehicle then RDFS allows
us to infer the statement
ex:MotorVehicle rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
– If we have the statements
ex:Van rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
ex:MiniVan rdfs:subClassOf ex:Van .
then RDFS allows us to infer the statement
ex:MiniVan rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
 RDF Schema Predefined Classes
The group of resources that are RDF Schema classes is
itself a class called rdfs:Class. All classes are instances of
this class.
• In the literature, classes such as rdfs:Class that have
other classes as instances are called meta-classes.
• All things described by RDF are called resources, and are
instances of the class rdfs:Resource.
• rdfs:Resource is the class of everything. All other
classes are subclasses of this class. For example,
rdfs:Class is a subclass of rdfs:Resource.
 Important (Tricky?) Details
A class may be a member of its own class
extension (i.e., an instance of itself).
Example: rdfs:Class rdf:type rdfs:Class .
• A property may be applied to itself.
Example: rdfs:domain rdfs:domain rdf:Property .
• The semantics of RDF and RDFS are formalized
appropriately so that we do not have problems
with these features
 RDFS constructs
• Utility Properties
– rdfs:seeAlso is an instance of rdf:Property that is
used to indicate a resource that might provide
additional information about the subject resource.
– rdfs:isDefinedBy is an instance of rdf:Property
that is used to indicate a resource defining the
subject resource. This property may be used to
indicate an RDF vocabulary in which a resource is
described.
Class and Instance Information as a Graph
 The Graph in Triple Notation
ex:MotorVehicle rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:PassengerVehicle rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:Van rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:Truck rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:MiniVan rdf:type rdfs:Class .
ex:PassengerVehicle rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
ex:Van rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
ex:Truck rdfs:subClassOf ex:MotorVehicle .
ex:MiniVan rdfs:subClassOf ex:Van .
ex:MiniVan rdfs:subClassOf ex:PassengerVehicle .
 Example
Following declares that 'Dog is an animal','Cat1 is a cat', 'Zoos host animals' and 'Zoo1
hosts the Cat2' :

ex:dog1 rdf:type ex:animal

ex:cat1 rdf:type ex:cat

zoo:host rdfs:range ex:animal

ex:zoo1 zoo:host ex:cat2

 Example
• This graph is not well formed because the
system can not guess that a cat is an animal.
We have to add 'Cats are animals' to do a well-
formed graph with :
ex:cat rdfs:subClassOf ex:animal
Example
 Example 2
• <?xml version="1.0"?>
• <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="[Link]
xmlns:rdfs="[Link]
xml:base="[Link] <rdf:Description
rdf:ID="animal">
• <rdf:type rdf:resource="[Link]
schema#Class"/>
• </rdf:Description>
• <rdf:Description rdf:ID="horse">
• <rdf:type rdf:resource="[Link]
schema#Class"/>
• <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="#animal"/>
• </rdf:Description>
• </rdf:RDF>
 Example 2
• <?xml version="1.0"?>
• <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="[Link]
rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:rdfs="[Link]
xml:base="[Link]
<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="animal" />
• <rdfs:Class rdf:ID="horse">
• <rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="#animal"/>
</rdfs:Class>
• </rdf:RDF>
 RDF and RDFS
• RDF is based on making statements about resources (web in
this case) in the form of subject, predicate and objects
expressions (i.e. triples). RDF in general is a method of
conceptual data modelling.
• RDFS provides a mechanism for describing groups of related
resources (RDF), and the relation between them. Example of
these properties are classes, sub-classes, range and domains.
• Example, RDFS is a semantic extension of RDF. A person can
have an RDF instance of an Animal and Dog, RDFS can
specify that Animal is a class and Dog is a sub-class of
Animal.
 Ontology
• Traditional Definition:-
‘Ontology can be defined as a branch of metaphysics
concerned with the nature and relations of being.’
• Some questions always get related to ontology,
• “What can be said to exist?”
• “Into what categories, if any, can we sort existing
things?”
• “What is the meaning of being an entity?”
• “What are the various modes of being an entity?”
 Definition of Ontology
• Ontology is an explicit and abstract modeled
representation of already defined finite sets of
terms and concepts, involved in knowledge
engineering, knowledge management and
intelligent information integration.
• Ontology as an ‘explicit specification of
conceptualization’ - stated by Thomas Gruber
Sample Ontology
 Ontology
• Essential points :
• Ontology defines (specifies) the concepts, relationships,
and other distinctions that are relevant for modeling a
domain.
• The specification takes the form of the definitions of
representational vocabulary (classes, relations, and so
forth), which provide meanings for the vocabulary and
formal constraints on its coherent use.
 Ontology
Conceptualization
• Conceptualization contains the objects,
concepts and other entities that are assumed to
exist in some area of interest and the
relationships that hold them.
• A conceptualization can be defined as a tuple (U,
R) where,
– U is a set called as a universe of discourse.
– R is a set of relations on U.
In the context of ontology, formal means
machine understandable. And share means
consensual knowledge accepted by a group.
 Scope of Ontology
• Ontology defines a common vocabulary for
researchers who need to share information in a
domain.
• It includes machine-interpretable definitions of
basic concepts in the domain and the
relationship among them.
• The definitions and formal constraints of the
ontology do put restrictions on what can be
meaningfully stated in this language.
 Switching from database to Ontology

• RDBMS
• Ontology
• Example:
– you have several databases represented in various
formats and your application insists on an
integration of these databases, you will face
several problems because of their different
formats.
 Taxonomy as a pre-cursor of Ontology

• Taxonomy is a classification of things in a

hierarchical form.
• The backbone of ontology is often taxonomy.
Difference between Ontology and taxonomy
Ontology Taxonomy
Ontologies can be defined as an Taxonomy is defined as a
explicit specification of classification of elements in an
conceptualization. ordered system that indicates natural
relationships.
Ontologies generally include Taxonomies generally do not include
descriptive terms, in order to descriptive keywords for each item.
specify the vocabulary of the node
contents.
Ontologies represent a very Taxonomies are comparatively
complex form of simpler and thrive to organize a
interconnection. subject in a particular way.
Relationships in ontology adhere Taxonomies tend to be quite lenient
to subjective interpretation, about the kind of relationship that
thus, triggering inference. exists between parents and child node
in the classification tree.
 Types of Ontology
• Several types of classifications are proposed
for ontologies based on the characteristic of
ontology’s components.
1) Classification according to purpose
• Application ontology

• Reference ontology
 Types of Ontology
2) Classification according to expressiveness:
• Heavyweight ontology

• Lightweight ontology

3) Classification according to specificity

• Generic ontology

• Core ontology

• Domain ontology
 Why to develop Ontology?
• To share a common understanding of the
structure of information among people or
software agents.
• To enable reuse of domain knowledge.
• To make domain assumptions explicit.
• To separate domain knowledge from the
operational knowledge.
• To analyze domain knowledge.
Why to develop Ontology?

Source: Google Images

 Ontology development life-cycle
• What are the activities involved in the ontology
development process?
• What is the goal of each activity?
• When should I carry out each activity?
• What is the relationship of one activity with the
others?
• Where can I find ontologies with the goal of reusing
them?
• How can I build the ontology for my application?
• Do I need a single ontology or an ontology network?
Stages of development life-cycle of ontology

• Identify the purpose and scope

• Knowledge Acquisition:
• Conceptualization
• Encoding:
• Integrating:
• Documentation:
• Evaluation
Ontology Development and Enhancement

(Source: Google Images)

Ontology development life-cycle
(Source: Google Images)
 Ontology Usage
Following application-independent lifecycle
activities are performed at runtime to support
ontology:
Ontology Population

Cleansing and Fusion

Ontological Commitments
 Ontology Learning
• Ontology learning is defined as the set of
methods and techniques used for building
ontology from scratch, enriching, or adapting
an existing ontology in a semi-automatic
fashion using distributed and heterogeneous
knowledge and information sources, allowing
reduction in time and effort needed in the
ontology development process.
 Ontology Alignment
• Ontology alignment consists of establishing
different kinds of mappings (or links) between
two ontologies, hence preserving the original
ontologies.
 Advantages of Ontology
1) Ontologies promote coherent navigation
2) Flexible entry points
3) Connections
4) Ability to represent any form of information
5) Inferencing
6) Concept matching
7) integrate external content
8) Reasoning
Advantages of Ontology

(Source: Google Images)

 Limitations of Ontology
• Does not define the boundaries of the model
• Size of ontology
• Manual ontology generation
 Web Ontology Language (OWL)
• OWL- W3C Recommendation since 2004
• OWL 2- W3C Recommendation since 2009
• OWL consists of
– Classes/properties/individuals(instances of classes)
• Open World Assumption
– Aabsense of information must not be valued as
negative information
– Ex. sitsNextTo(Person A, Person B)
– Person A may also sit next to another person…
 Web Ontology Language (OWL)
• No Unique Name Assumption
– Difference must be expressed explicitly
– Ex. Person A possibly denotes the same individual
as Person B