Executive Overview of Semantic Government

From DocWiki

An open semantic government is a branch of government from the local level upward that uses the languages and standards of the semantic Web, including RDF, RDFS, OWL, SPARQL and others to integrate existing information assets, using the best practices of linked data and the open world assumption, and targeting knowledge management applications.

The natural scope of the open semantic government is in knowledge management and representation. Suitable applications include open government and collaboration, data federation, data warehousing, search, enterprise information integration, organizational intelligence, knowledge representation, etc. There are seven guiding principles for the open semantic government:

• RDF
• Linked Data
• Open World Mindset
• Layered Approach
• Web-oriented Architecture
• Ontology-driven Apps, and
• Adaptive Ontologies.

Embracing these principles of the open semantic government can bring these knowledge management benefits:

• Domains can be analyzed and inspected incrementally
• Schema can be incomplete and developed and refined incrementally
• The data and the structures within these frameworks can be used and expressed in a piecemeal or incomplete manner
• Data with partial characterizations can be combined with other data having complete characterizations
• Systems built with these frameworks are flexible and robust; as new information or structure is gained, it can be incorporated without negating the information already resident, and
• Both open and closed world subsystems can be bridged.

Moreover, by building on successful Web architectures, the semantic government can put in place loosely coupled, distributed systems that can grow and inter-operate in a decentralized manner. The potential benefits can be summarized as greater insight with lower risk, lower cost, faster deployment, and more agile responsiveness. They are also excellent frameworks for community involvement and feedback.

We're currently expanding this offering. You are welcomed to contribute!