Measuring and Analysing the Use of Ontologies: A Semantic Framework for Measuring Ontology Usage

<P>THIS UNIQUE BOOK SUCCINCTLY SUMMARIZES THE NEED TO MEASURE HOW ONTOLOGIES (ONE OF THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE SEMANTIC WEB) ARE CURRENTLY BEING UTILIZED, PROVIDING INSIGHTS FOR VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS. WHERE POSSIBLE IT IMPROVES AND REUSES TERMS IN EXISTING VOCABULARIES/ONTOLOGIES, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE LINKED DATA COMMUNITY. RECENT ADVANCES IN THE SEMANTIC WEB HAVE LED TO A PROLIFERATION OF RESOURCE DESCRIPTION FRAMEWORK (RDF) DATA, WHICH EMPLOY ONTOLOGIES TO SEMANTICALLY DESCRIBE THE INFORMATION ON THE WEB MAKING IT EQUALLY UNDERSTANDABLE FOR BOTH HUMANS AND MACHINES. HOWEVER, TO CREATE A NETWORK EFFECT, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT SELECTIVE ONTOLOGIES ARE USED BY MORE DATA PUBLISHERS TO IMPROVE THE VALUE OF THAT ONTOLOGY. FOR THIS TO HAPPEN, IT IS VITAL TO DISCOVER WHAT IS BEING USED FROM AN ONTOLOGY TO SEMANTICALLY ANNOTATE THE INFORMATION ON THE WEB SPECIFIC TO A GIVEN DOMAIN. ANSWERS TO SUCH BASIC BUT CRUCIAL QUESTIONS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED BY ASCERTAINING HOW ONTOLOGIES IN THE CURRENT SEMANTIC WEB ARE BEING UTILIZED AND ADOPTED. THE PROPOSED FRAMEWORKS TO OBTAIN SUCH INSIGHTS ARE EXPLAINED WITH REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES TO PROVIDE A CLEAR AND DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ONTOLOGY USAGE ANALYSIS.</P> <P>BOTH THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL, THE BOOK IS OF VALUE TO ACADEMICS AND PROFESSIONALS WORKING IN INDUSTRY. SPECIFICALLY, IT IS OF PRIMARY INTEREST TO RESEARCHERS, GRADUATE STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS IN THE AREA OF THE SEMANTIC WEB AND ITS VARIOUS REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS.</P>