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Towards Self-explanatory Ontology Visualization with Contextual Verbalization

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Databases and Information Systems (DB&IS 2016)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 615))

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Abstract

Ontologies are one of the core foundations of the Semantic Web. To participate in Semantic Web projects, domain experts need to be able to understand the ontologies involved. Visual notations can provide an overview of the ontology and help users to understand the connections among entities. However, the users first need to learn the visual notation before they can interpret it correctly. Controlled natural language representation would be readable right away and might be preferred in case of complex axioms, however, the structure of the ontology would remain less apparent. We propose to combine ontology visualizations with contextual ontology verbalizations of selected ontology (diagram) elements, displaying controlled natural language (CNL) explanations of OWL axioms corresponding to the selected visual notation elements. Thus, the domain experts will benefit from both the high-level overview provided by the graphical notation and the detailed textual explanations of particular elements in the diagram.

This work has been supported by the ESF project 2013/0005/1DP/1.1.1.2.0/13/APIA/VIAA/049 and the Latvian State Research program NexIT project No. 1 “Technologies of ontologies, semantic web and security”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://owlgred.lumii.lv/cnl-demo.

  2. 2.

    http://owlgred.lumii.lv.

  3. 3.

    http://owlgred.lumii.lv/online_visualization/.

  4. 4.

    http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/site/resources/.

  5. 5.

    http://www.grammaticalframework.org/.

  6. 6.

    http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/#sec-crossref.

  7. 7.

    http://vowl.visualdataweb.org/protegevowl.html.

  8. 8.

    http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/aceview/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Latvia, Raina Bulvaris 29, Riga, LV-1459, Latvia

    Renārs Liepiņš, Uldis Bojārs, Normunds Grūzītis, Kārlis Čerāns & Edgars Celms

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  1. Renārs Liepiņš
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  2. Uldis Bojārs
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  3. Normunds Grūzītis
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  4. Kārlis Čerāns
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  5. Edgars Celms
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Correspondence to Renārs Liepiņš .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

    Guntis Arnicans

  2. University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

    Vineta Arnicane

  3. University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

    Juris Borzovs

  4. University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

    Laila Niedrite

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Liepiņš, R., Bojārs, U., Grūzītis, N., Čerāns, K., Celms, E. (2016). Towards Self-explanatory Ontology Visualization with Contextual Verbalization. In: Arnicans, G., Arnicane, V., Borzovs, J., Niedrite, L. (eds) Databases and Information Systems. DB&IS 2016. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 615. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40180-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40180-5_1

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