This page relates to my current PhD research relating to semantic heterogeneity, information search and integration - in the context of the Semantic Web and Ontology.  It will generate ontology examples using XML-based RDF, RDF Schema and OWL, together with other relevant technologies.

The main areas of consideration will involve:

• An examination of ontology mapping issues at both Upper (foundational) and Domain/Context levels.
• Consideration of modularity within the context of small "geographical" OWL ontologies.
• Formulation of theory regarding module reuse and the identification of primary and secondary contexts. The issues of effectiveness and efficiency in ontology design will be considered, with particular relevance to minimising ontology specification redundancy.
• Consideration of how such contexts can be best applied in a motivating application ontology.
• A Jena-based java applet has been developed to support:
  • Ontology query.
  • Ontology search using a web-crawler process.
  • Selective dynamic importation of the results of ontology searches.
• The java interface will also be developed to support ontology-based semantic search.
• Searches will analysed using a test data population of 100 Web pages.
• The search results will be considered against results generated by conventional keyword indexing search engines.

Presentations and Papers

• "Information Dynamics, Perspectives, and Risks",  February 2005, pdf.
• "Data Modelling for Data Integration", research topics presentation, March 2005, ppt.
• "Understanding Structural and Semantic Heterogeneity in the Context of Database Schema Integration", In Proceedings of the SIXTH Conference in the Dept. of Computing, (Journal of the Dept. of Computing, UCLan, Issue Number 4, pp. 29-44, ISSN 1476-9069), May 2005, pdf. [citation][citation][citation]
• "Schema and Semantic Heterogeneity in Database Schema Integration", presentation, SIXTH Conference of Dept. of Computing, UCLAN, May 2005, ppt.
• "Developing "Geo" Ontology Layers for Web Query", presentation to Graduate School Conference, December 2005, ppt.
• "Semantic Web, Ontology Integration, and Web Query", presentation at Dept. of Computing Seminar, March 2006, pps.
• "Developing Ontologies based on RDF-OWL Semantic Web languages", presentation to Graduate School How-to@2, April 2006, pps.
• "Ontology Modules by Layering - Facilitating Reuse in a Geographical Semantic Web Context", presentation SEVENTH Conference of Dept. of Computing, UCLAN, 20 June 2007, ppt.
• "Geographical Ontology Modules for Efficient Semantic Web Reuse", presentation, Ordnance Survey Research Labs, Southampton, 28 June 2007, ppt.

Useful Ontology Links

• Buffalo Ontology Page
• Cyc Project and OpenCyc
• DAML
• IEEE Standard Upper Ontology Working Group
• Laboratory for Applied Ontology and Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering (DOLCE)
• On-To-Knowledge
• Onto Med
• OntoWeb and Knowledge Web
• Protege
• Semantic Web Org
• Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment Working Group
• Sowa's KR Ontology and top-level categories
• Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (SUMO)
• Wonder Web
• W3C Web Ontology Language (OWL)