OpenOntologyRepository Scope

(ref. http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/oor-forum/2008-02/msg00071.html#nid03    (19K2)

also ref: OntologySummit2008_Communique    (1KJ9)

There is often confusion over the distinction between a registry and a repository. Both are data structures or stores. For the purposes of this paper, a registry is defined to be a data structure where data, metadata, knowledge or semantic objects are listed as being available, along with who placed them there, and their conditions of use. A repository is a data structure where data, metadata, knowledge or semantic objects and related artifacts are placed, and can be accessed from; typically repositories include management software. A registry therefore can be considered a portion of a repository, a listing or table of contents for the repository, rather than the entire contents of the repository (which repository can be either centralized or distributed). A simple example of a registry is the Windows Registry, which is a listing or table of installed programs, rather than the entire set of programs themselves and their data.    (185Z)

The purpose of an RDF/OWL Repository is to provide an architecture and an infrastructure that supports a) the creation, sharing, searching, and management of ontologies, and b) linkage to database and XML Schema structured data and documents. Complementary goals include fostering the Semantic Web community, the identification and promotion of best practices, and the provision of services relevant to the RDFS and OWL ontologies and RDF instance stores. In addition, because the Semantic Web languages are represented as formal logics, automated semantic interpretation of content expressed in Semantic Web languages and inference over this content is enabled. Such repositories ultimately will support a broad range of semantic services and applications of interest to enterprises and communities.    (1862)

Achieving these goals will help reduce semantic ambiguity whenever and wherever information is shared, thereby allowing information to be located, searched, categorized and exchanged with a more precise _expression_ of its content and meaning. The artifacts of the repository will provide a semantic grounding for diverse formats and domains, ranging from the conceptual domains and disciplines of communities to technical schema such as WSDL, UDDI, RSS, and XML schema. Perhaps most importantly, the repository will enable wide-scale knowledge re-use and reduce the need to re-invent the wheel to define concepts and relationships that are already understood. An example of the latter are "portals" that contain manually hard-coded information derived from another source.    (1863)

These goals cannot be achieved at once, and must track the evolution of best practices as well as technology itself. It is also good system development practice to bound complexity by defining a system in terms of a series of short-term, achievable objectives. For this reason, as for other such initiatives, it?s envisioned that the RDF/OWL Repository will be developed in a series of phases, proceeding from the simple to the complex, with achievable goals that capitalize on previous experience and the emergence of technology over time. It is important to note that for any given phase, planning and prototyping is always in progress for subsequent phases. These phases are notionally described in the following sections.    (1864)