D5.2.1 NeOn Protocols for Exchanging and Sharing Ontologies

Within the task T5.2 (in WP5), we intend to list protocols and techniques for exchanging and sharing ontologies and related metadata. These protocols and techniques support collaborative construction and dynamic evolution of networked ontologies. The networked ontologies are in environments where geographically distributed teams carry out re-engineering, alignment, merging, learning and evaluation activities. The identification of protocols and techniques for exchanging and sharing information is crucial for this task. The title ” NeOn protocols for exchanging and sharing ontologies” could be seen a bit misleading because it could seem that we are going to describe or define protocols to be used in the NeOn project in this deliverable. It will be in WP6 where protocols and techniques that will be used in the NeOn architecture will be defined. So, the aim of this deliverable is to enumerate and describe some protocols, formats and standards that could serve as input to WP6. Some of them are already chosen in WP6, others could be taken into account in a future for implementing new features according to future needs. The method used for deciding which type of protocols and techniques for exchanging and sharing information in the literature are going to be included in this deliverable is to analyse the requirements already established in D6.1.1 ” Requirements on NeOn Architecture”. The analysis of D6.1.1 allowed us to identify a list of potential NeOn needs related to protocols, formats and standards for exchanging and sharing information (e.g., protocols for accessing remote services, version management protocols, etc.). For each particular type of protocol and technique, we have included widely used and/or standardized realizations as well as new ones that are being currently proposed in other research projects. Out of the scope of this deliverable is to review and analyse them in depth and to provide a recommendation to WP6. Another important aspect is to analyse protocols from a social component of collaboration. Since in WP2, deliverable D2.1.1, include a section on social protocols trough the literature on collaboration, with the goal of doing the deliverable self-contained, we have also included a summary of the content presented there. Again, it is out of the scope of this deliverable to decide the collaboration process to be used in NeOn, which is the goal of WP2. In summary, the role of this document is to analyse the state of the art of technical and social protocols and techniques and related issues (such as formats and standards) for exchanging and sharing information according to the needs identified in D6.1.1. To define the technical NeOn protocols for exchanging and sharing ontologies and social protocols are out of the scope of this deliverable, so, they will be defined in WP6 and WP2 respectively.