Unveiling the Hidden Bride: Deep Annotation for Mapping and Migrating Legacy Data to the Semantic Web

Abstract

The success of the Semantic Web crucially depends on the easy creation, integration and use of semantic data. For this purpose, we consider an integration scenario that defies core assumptions of current metadata construction methods. We describe a framework of metadata creation where web pages are generated from a database and the database owner is cooperatively participating in the Semantic Web. This leads us to the deep annotation of the database directly by annotation of the logical database schema or indirectly by annotation of the Web presentation generated from the database contents. From this annotation, one may execute data mapping and/or migration steps and, thus, prepare the data for use in the Semantic Web. We consider deep annotation as particularly valid because, (i), dynamic web pages generated from databases outnumber static web pages, (ii), deep annotation may be a very intuitive way to create semantic data from a database and, (iii), data from databases should remain where it can be handled most efficiently in its databases. Interested users can then query this data directly or choose to materialize the data as RDF files.

Keywords: Information Search and Retrieval, Online Information Services, User/Machine Systems, Applications and Expert Systems