The Web provides a simple and universal infrastructure to exchange various kinds of information. In order to share, interpret, and manipulate information worldwide, the role of metadata is widely recognized. Indeed, metadata allow us to easily locate information available in the Web, by providing descriptions about the structure and the content of the various Web resources (eg. data, documents, images, etc.) and for different purposes.

The "Semantic Web", a term coined by Tim Berners-Lee, is used to denote the next evolution step of the Web. Associating meaning with content or establishing a layer of machine understandable data would allow automated agents, sophisticated search engines and interoperable services, will enable higher degree of automation and more intelligent applications. The ultimate goal of the Semantic Web is to allow machines the sharing and exploitation of knowledge in the Web way, i.e. without central authority, with few basic rules, in a scalable, adaptable, extensible manner. With RDF as the basic platform for the Semantic Web, a multitude of tools, methods and systems have just appeared on the horizon.

We currently concentrate on the useage of ontologies for the integration of data from different sources.

This area is lead by Karsten Tolle. Please click here for further information and resources.