Bridging the Gap

Since the origin of the Semantic Web, ontologies have played key roles in its design and deployment. Yet the collaboration between the Semantic Web and Applied Ontology communities has remained limited. Within Big Data applications, ontologies appear to have little impact. Principal problems suggest nevertheless that “concepts without data are empty, data without concepts are blind” (Kant paraphrased).

The two communities actually share many common goals, common technologies, and a common interest in well-engineered applied ontologies. Many of those in the Applied Ontology community promote and use Semantic Web technologies and reasoning methods in everyday practice; similarly, many in the Semantic Web community advocate more rigorous and principled ontologies based on ontological analysis. All the communities share the need for a common semantic understanding and a formal representation of the domain at hand. The Semantic Web, Linked Data, and Big Data communities also have challenges to do with large scale applications and linking of vast heterogeneous data, so the communities also have different foci.

The Semantic Web Applied Ontology (SWAO) Special Interst Group of the International Association for Ontology and its Applications (IAOA) is established to bring all perspectives to the table, thus creating a forum for the multiple communities to work collaboratively in tackling the Big Data and common problems.

We hope to make porgress in the following research areas:

• Tackling the semantic heterogeneity, complexity, and variety problems in Big Data with ontologies and reasoning
• Ontology-driven open data integration
• Ontological analysis and related formal methodologies for the Semantic Web and Linked Dat
• Developing common reusable semantic content
• Agile ontology deployment and evolution for the Semantic Web and Linked Data
• Overcoming ontology engineering bottlenecks
• Providing and enhancing community semantic resources (ontology registries and repositories, vocabulary-ontology mappings, data and ontology transformations, automated ontology acquisition and maintenance, etc.
• Making use of ontologies: tools, services, and techniques
• Lightweight, intensive, and hybrid reasoning using ontologies, vocabularies, and rules
• Collaborative ontology development and usage requirements for large-scale internet and intranet ontology applications
• Ways to use ontologies and linked data for participatory governance of large systems
• ...