Abstract
The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is used to describe Web resources.
The intent of RDF is to define machine-processable information about Web
resources that can be understood by the intended or any other program,
allowing the leveraging of information across multiple systems. RDF however, is
not intended for human readable information, which is what the Yin/Yang Web
attempts to do. The problem the authors of the Yin/Yang web attempt to solve
is to unify the semantic (RDF) and the syntactic (XML) aspects of the Web. By
providing such a unified view of the Web, human users of the Web would be
able to take advantage of the benefits offered by the Semantic Web.
1 Introduction
As the web matures, there are new found utilities for it. With every new utility
there appear obstacles that delay its propagation across the Web. One major
obstacle to the current Web technology has been to overcome the inability to
provide human users with semantic and syntactic tools for searching or surfing
the Web. Although there has been extensive research in this area, most of the
research has focused on enabling machines to understand semantic meaning
with each other.
In this idea paper, I focus on technologies that attempt to merge the gap
between the current Web syntactic technology, namely XML and semantic
technology namely RDF. By merging these two technologies, we bridge the
syntactic and semantic Webs creating a unified model that will enable all Web
users to understand semantic and syntactic meaning by building Ontology’s that
form the foundation for integrating the different types of data that exist in the
Web. For example, I would post a search for a red convertible in a remote
system. The system would understand that by convertible I mean a car and the
car has to be red. Having the freedom to search using natural language
expression, would be the ultimate goal.
2 The Problem
The problem presented to the researchers of The Ying/Yang Web: A Unified
Model for XML Syntax and RDF Semantics (the paper), is how to merge the
syntactic and semantic elements of the web. The idea is to create a data model
that can be used for XML and RDF documents. The model would allow XML data
access and RDF semantic reasoning under the same framework [1].
2.1 The Challenge
Consider a search engine that queries multiple databases that use different
terminology to represent similar concepts. The user defines a search that needs
to be mapped to the different fields of the accessible databases. The search
engine needs to integrate all the different terminology into a single map that it
will access to provide meaning to the user’s search. The challenge is in defining
an ontology that encompasses all the different databases under a context.
Once the ontology has been defined, the model has to provide a means of
accessing the semantic meaning of the data. This becomes problematic because
as the data is converted into XML, some of the semantic relationships between
objects or elements are lost. The model has to provide means of correlating the
XML data and its semantic representation. The reason there is some loss, is
because of the incompatibilities between XML and RDF documents.
The author’s of the paper have developed the framework that solves all the
described issues. There research was proven mathematically by implementing a
mathematical data model.
2.2 Significance
The Yin/Yang Web provides a foundation to what is envisioned for the future of
the Semantic Web. This frame work lays the foundation from which semantic
meaning will be able to be given to data shared across the Web. Although the
frame work is not fully developed in the paper, it is still useful to envision the
future.
References
[1]
The Ying/Yang Web: A Unified Model for XML Syntax and RDF
Semantics – Peter F. Patel-Schneider and Jerome Simeon
[2]
Integrating Applications on the Semantic Web - Hendler, James,
Berners-Lee, Tim and Miller, Eric "Integrating Applications on the
Semantic Web," Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of
Japan, Vol 122(10), October, 2002, p. 676-680.