Ontology Evolution and the Referencing of Resources in Semantic Web Context

Abstract

Because ontologies evolve over time, their evolution needs to be managed. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a framework composed of two main systems: ChangeHistoryBuilder, which tracks and manages the history of ontology changes, and SemanticAnnotationModifier, which provides a support to maintain the integrity of the ontology-based referencing of resources after the ontology evolution. Both systems are based on a formal specification of types of possible changes in OWL-DL ontologies. In concrete terms, this specification is an ontology of ontology changes.