WSMO and WSML

As introduced in the previous chapter Semantic Web Services offer a mechanism for enabling dynamic integration of services by providing explicit descriptions of the function of services, the data they describe, and the mechanisms to interact with them. In order for Semantic Web Services to be successful it is necessary to define a conceptual model that contains all those elements needed to successfully describe Semantic Web Services and on the basis of this conceptual model to provide a modeling language through which SemanticWeb Services can be actually described. Within the context of the book the Web Service Modeling Ontology (WSMO) and its formalism the Web Service Modeling Language (WSML) are used in these two roles to successfully describe Semantic Web Services. This chapter provides an introduction to these two technologies, providing the reader with the key foundational knowledge needed for the rest of the book, as well as a reference source that the reader can browse when needed.