Towards Semantic Web Document Engineering

Jacco van Ossenbruggen

Lynda Hardman

CWI Amsterdam

Document Web vs. Semantic Web

• Document Engineering Web
  • XML source formats
  • Delivery formats: (X)HTML, SVG, WML, XSL FO, ...
  • Style and transformation technology: CSS, XSLT, DOM
• Knowledge Engineering & Metadata Web
  • Metadata: RDF, RDF Schema
  • Ontology & logic: DAML+OIL (OWL)
  • ...
• Multimedia Web?
  • SMIL, ...?

Document Web integration issues

• CC/PP and HTTP Content negotiation in:
  • Delivery formats (e.g. SMIL switch)
  • Style and Transformation languages (e.g. CSS media queries, XSLT selectors and modes)
• See also Roger Gimson's position paper

Multimedia isn't Text

• Different abstractions:
  • No pages, columns, floats, scrollbars (no text flow )
• Application of transformation rule not guaranteed to be successful
  • Validation of results or feedback from back-end
• Semantics and layout are tightly bound
  • Semantic preserving transformation and styling

Tim's Semantic Web Wedding Cake

Example (HTML fragment)

<div id="allegory">
  <h1>Musical Allegory<h1>
  <img src="allegory.jpg"/ >
  <p>This is hardly just an ordinary group of musicians.
     The figures are too exotically dressed in oriental
     ...
</div>

Example (RDF metadata)

<museum:Painter rdf:ID="Rembrandt">
  <museum:fname>Rembrandt<museum:fname>
  <museum:lname>Harmenszoon van Rijn<museum:lname>
  <museum:painted rdf:resource="#allegory" />
<museum:Painter>

<museum:Painting rdf:about="#allegory">
   <museum:title>Musical Allegory<museum:title>
   <museum:technique>Chiaroscuro<museum:technique>
<museum:Painting>

Example ("RDF aware XSLT rule")

<xsl:template match=
  "RQL(http://www.museum.com/schema.rdf#Artifact)"> 
  ...
</xsl:template>

• Match on (domain) semantics instead of XML syntax
  • If only to overcome differences between RDF's dialects

"Smart Style"

For Semantic Web aware adaptation & style, CSS, XSLT, CC/PP should be:

• Meta-data aware
• Ontology aware
• Design knowledge aware
• User aware