Ontology approach for the Semantic Web
The development of the Semantic Web offers data content able to be processed by machines, giving way to a wide range of intelligent services. Ontologies have played a key role in this since they define shared and common domain theories and assist users and machines in communicating more effectively. They fill various needs in the Semantic Web such as the storage or exchange of data which corresponds to an ontology, as well as ontology-based reasoning or navigation. In light of this, the WONDERWEB project has created the necessary infrastructure for the vast preparation of ontologies for the Semantic Web. This has included both the creation of web standard ontology languages as well as the simultaneous design of ontological engineering technology. Supporting the development and administration of software components in an application server via an ontology-based approach serves to alleviate the problems previously associated with application server functionalities. The main difference with using the ontology-based approach lies within the conceptual model. That is, with the application server the conceptual model was only implicit, making it difficult to retrieve, survey, validate and maintain bits and pieces of different configurations. On the other hand, the ontology is an explicit conceptual model with formal logic-based semantics. It can therefore capture properties and behaviours of, and relationships between, the components necessary for development and administration purposes. Therefore this approach maintains original flexibility in configuring and running the application server while also adding novel capabilities for the system's developer and user.
