Ontologies
RDFS is useful, but does not solve all the issues
Complex applications may want more possibilities. E.g.:
can a program
reason
about some terms? E.g.:
“if «A» is left of «B» and «B» is left of «C», is «A» left of «C»?”
obviously true for humans, not obvious for a program …
… programs should be able to
deduce
such statements
if somebody else defines a set of terms: are they the same?
obvious issue in an international context
construct
classes, not just name them
restrict a property’s range
when used for a specific class
etc.
W3C’s Ontology Language (OWL) represents the next level
Ivan Herman
, W3C Head of Offices
© 1994-2004, W3C (MIT,ERCIM,Keio)
Edinburgh, 7 April, 2004
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