A development methodology for e-Work ontology using RDF/RDFS and PSL

Abstract

The information sources for the e-Work environment are heterogeneous and distributed, and their contents are not machine-understandable. In this article, in order to integrate the syntax and the semantics of this information, we propose a development methodology for e-Work ontology using Resource Description Framework (RDF), RDF Schema (RDFS) and Process Specification Language (PSL). In a layered architecture, we use RDF/RDFS for the data of resources and the taxonomy of the PSL-ontology terms, and we use PSL, which is represented as eXtensible Markup Language (XML), for the process and the inference of the meaning of it. In this way, we can present an integrated representation of the data and the process in the distributed environment of e-Work. We illustrate the ontology building methodology by giving an example of e-Work scenario and application procedure, which is quoted from the RosettaNet e-Business standard and concerns order management, such as quotation and purchase order. The ontology is applied to the scenario.

Keywords:

• Ontology
• e-Work
• electronic business
• RDF/RDFS
• PSL

TAI-WOO CHANG is a Researcher of the Postal Technology Research Center, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute in Daejeon, South Korea. Also he is a PhD candidate in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Seoul National University. He received his BS and MS from Seoul National University. His research interests are Information Systems Integration, e-Business and SCM.

KITAE SHIN is an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering, Daejin University, Pocheon, South Korea. He received his PhD from Seoul National University in 1995. He was a guest researcher of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2000. His research interests are Information Systems, ERP and SCM.

JINWOO PARK is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. He received his BS from Seoul National University, MS from the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Dr of Eng. from University of California, Berkeley. His areas of interest are Manufacturing Automation and Integration, SCM and Reverse Logistics.