SEMANTIC WEB

Unit-IV
Syllabus
Taxonomies and Ontologies: Overview of Taxonomies, Defining the Ontology
Spectrum, Topic Maps, Overview of Ontologies, Syntax, Structure, Semantics, and
Pragmatics, Expressing Ontologies Logically, Knowledge Representation .
Overview of Taxonomies
Here is the information technology de昀椀nition for a taxonomy:
The classi昀椀cation of information entities in the form of a hierarchy,
according to
the presumed relationships of the real-world entities that they represent.
A taxonomy is usually depicted with the root of the taxonomy on top, as
in
Figure 7.1. Each node of the taxonomy—including the root—is an
information
entity that stands for a real-world entity. Each link between nodes
represents a
special relation called the is subclassi昀椀cation of relation (if the link’s arrow
is
pointing up toward the parent node) or is superclassi昀椀cation of (if the
link’s
arrow is pointing down at the child node). Sometimes this special relation
is
de昀椀ned more strictly to be is subclass of or is superclass of, where it is
understood
to mean that the information entities (which, remember, stand for the real
world entities) are classes of objects.
In Figure 7.1, examples include the class Person, its subclasses of
Employee and Manager, and its superclass of Agent (a legal entity, which
can
also include an Organization, as shown in the 昀椀gure).
As you go up the taxonomy toward the root at the top, the entities
become
more general. As you go down the taxonomy toward the leaves at the
bottom,
the entities become more specialized. Agent, for example, is more
general than
Person, which in turn is more general than Employee. This kind of
classi昀椀cation system is sometimes called a generalization/specialization
taxonomy.
A taxonomy is a semantic hierarchy in which information entities are related by either the
subclassification of relation or the subclass of relation. The former is semantically weaker
than the latter, so we make a distinction between semantically weaker and semantically
stronger taxonomies. Although taxonomies are fairly weak semantically to begin with—
they don’t have the complexity to express rich meaning—the stronger taxonomies try to
use this notion of a distinguishing property. Each information entity is distinguished by a
distinguishing property that makes it unique as a subclass of its parent entity (a synonym
for property is attribute or quality).

Consider the distinction between mammal and reptile under their parent subphylum
Vertebrata (in Figure 7.2, a dotted line between Mammalia and Diapsida shows that they
are at the same level of representation, both being subclassifications of Vertebrata).
Although both mammals and reptiles have four legs (common properties), mammals are
warm-blooded and reptiles are cold- blooded. So warm-bloodedness can be considered at
least one of the properties that distinguishes mammals and reptiles; there could be others.
One other distinguishing property between mammals and reptiles is the property of egg-
laying. Although there are exceptions (the Australian platypus, for example), mammals in
general do not lay eggs, whereas reptiles do. (Reptiles also share this property with
birds, fish, and most amphibians, but we will not elaborate that distinction here.)
Why Use Taxonomies?
1. Importance of Classifying Information: it emphasizes the importance of organizing
information by classifying it, similar to how libraries use the Dewey Decimal System.
By giving structure and meaning to information, it becomes easier to find and navigate.
This is crucial for both users searching for products or services and for businesses
wanting their offerings to be discovered.

2. Example of Internet Search: When you search on the internet, you typically use
keywords. If the information isn't classified or structured properly, it may not show up
in search results, even if it's the best fit for what you're looking for. This means
valuable products or services might go unnoticed, resulting in missed opportunities for
both buyers and sellers.

3. Purpose of Taxonomies: Taxonomies, or classification systems, simplify the process

of finding information, especially when you only have a vague idea of what you're
looking for. They provide a framework for organizing diverse topics into categories,
making it easier to navigate through a large amount of information.

4. Comparison to Dewey Decimal System: The Dewey Decimal System used in

libraries is given as an example of a taxonomy. It divides subjects into broad
categories, providing a structured way to organize books and help library visitors find
what they're looking for.
In essence, the text stresses the importance of classifying information to make it easily
discoverable and navigable, drawing parallels between internet searches and the
organization systems used in libraries.

Topic Maps Concepts

The XTM standard15 identifies the key concepts of Topic Maps. The key concepts are topic,
association, occurrence, subject descriptor, and scope. We describe these concepts in the
following
Topic
Anything can be a topic—that is, any distinct subject of interest for which assertions can be made.
A topic is a representation of the subject; according to the XTM standard, it acts as a resource that
is a proxy for the subject.
A subject is the what—for instance, “Front Royal, Virginia” or “the Mars Lander” or “inventory
control” or “agriculture”; a topic is an information representation of the what. So a topic
represents the subject that is referred to. If the subject is “Front Royal,” then the topic would be
Front Royal. Because subjects can be anything, topics can be anything. A topic is just a construct
in Topic Maps, one of the essential building blocks. The way the subject of a topic is referred to
is by having the topic point to a resource that expresses the subject. The resource either
constitutes the subject (and so addresses the subject) or indicates the subject. In either case, the
subject of the topic is represented by an occurrence of a resource, and it is the nature of that
resource that determines the addressability of the subject. If the resource uses the resourceRef
XTM construct, then it constitutes the subject and is addressable. If the resource uses the
subjectIndicatorRef construct, then it indicates the subject and is not directly addressable. Web
objects are addressable; non-Web objects are not directly addressable and so must be indicated
(for example, all occurrences of the same topic are about the same subject, though they are
distinct resources). A resource occurrence can also have a data value that is directly specified
inline.
Like topics, occurrences can also be of different types, specified by the topicRef markup.
Occurrences are ways to characterize a topic. Because they can represent any information to be
associated with a topic, they can also act as attributes of a topic, though XTM does not really
distinguish attributes from other information, a distinction that is sometimes made in other
schema or knowledge representation languages.
As depicted in the preceding example, the association located-in is specified to be a (undirected)
relationship between two members. A member is just a set of topics, in this case two topics
identified as the URIs #Front-Royal and #Virginia, and demarcated by the topicRef constructs.
This example also shows an important aspect of associations: The topics that are related by the
association assume different roles in that association. The topic referenced as #Front-Royal is in
the #city role, and the topic #Virginia is in the #state role of the #located-in association. An
association role specifies how a particular topic acts as a member of an association, its manner of
playing in that association. If there were a uses association between Sammy Sosa and a Rawlings
34-inch Pro
the same scope as that topic. That is why topic maps should be merged if they
have the same base name; they indicate the same subject having the same scope.
 Overview of Ontologies.
Ontologies are about vocabularies and their meanings, with explicit, expressive, and well-
defined semantics—possibly machine-interpretable.

Ontology Example
Both underscore an important point: There is no logical difference between a graphical and a
textual endition of an ontology (or any other model, for that matter). This fact is important,
because a key point is that an ontology is represented in a knowledge representation language
(such as a Semantic Web language like DF/S, DAML+OIL, OWL, or in an ontology language that
predates the Semantic Web, such as Ontolingua/KIF/Common Logic, OKBC,CycL, or Prolog).