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HANDBOOK OF
METADATA, SEMANTICS
AND ONTOLOGIES
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B1471 Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
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HANDBOOK OF
METADATA, SEMANTICS
AND ONTOLOGIES
editor
Miguel-Angel Sicilia
University of Alcalá, Spain
World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TAIPEI • CHENNAI
7077hc_9789812836298_tp.indd 2 12/11/13 11:18 am
Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
HANDBOOK OF METADATA, SEMANTICS AND ONTOLOGIES
Copyright © 2014 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to
be invented, without written permission from the publisher.
For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright Clearance Center,
Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to photocopy is not required from
the publisher.
ISBN 978-981-283-629-8
Typeset by Stallion Press
Email: enquiries@stallionpress.com
Printed in Singapore
B1471 Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
PREFACE
Metadata in its different forms have become increasingly important in the
last years. This is partly because metadata schemas are devised to bring
structure to information on the Web, in an attempt to describe Web resources
in a more homogeneous way. Also, metadata is the principal way of record-
ing provenance information of Web resources in an explicit way. In conse-
quence, metadata is critical both for interoperability and as a mean to
improve search and assess intellectual property rights.
The proliferation of metadata schemas and ontologies of diverse kind offer
a rich array of languages to describe and annotate Web resources. However,
that diversity can turn into a problem as it has given rise to competing sche-
mas, using different levels of formality and tailored for some particular uses.
While standardization efforts are slowly making these converge, the task of
a metadata expert is nowadays a challenge, as in many cases there are no
clear criteria to decide which form and schema is better for a particular situ-
ation. The recent emergence of the Web of Linked Data has made this land-
scape even more complex, as vocabularies intended to be use to expose data
in RDF form derive in some cases from previous metadata schemas, but in
other cases are devised from scratch. And the use of Linked Data conven-
tions represent a different approach to sharing metadata to previous practices
mainly based on harvesting and interchange of XML files.
In consequence, information managers need to have a broad knowledge
of what is available and what is more important, which are the key properties
of a schema or metadata solution that makes it different from others. There is
currently not any available corpus that compiles knowledge about metadata
in a comprehensive way. That aim is currently hardly attainable due to the
dynamic nature of the field and to the fact that its boundaries are still some-
what fuzzy. It is also challenging as a large part of the work in metadata is
done by communities in particular domains, e.g. agriculture, environmental
sciences, etc.
This book aims at providing an overview of metadata as practiced in a
variety of different domains, and taking a plurality of perspectives. It does not
v
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B1471 Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
vi Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
aim to cover all the domains, schemas and techniques since that task would
nowadays require an encyclopaedic approach. We hope that the book is
useful as a reflection of the metadata field itself: heterogeneous and rich and
at the same time complex. The selection of chapters was done via a process
of peer review that took into account technical correctness and representa-
tiveness to the domain. The result is a somewhat fragmentary but highly
representative overview of domains and topics on metadata. While some of
the chapters may be to some extent not completely updated when the
book is published, they are still appropriate vehicles to inform information
managers so that they can drill down into more details using the book as a
roadmap.
I believe the coming years would be exciting times for professionals and
researchers involved in metadata, and I hope this book represents a modest
contribution towards understanding metadata as a professional and technical
discipline that stands in its own and requires specialized training and
competence.
Miguel-Angel Sicilia
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B1471 Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
CONTENTS
Preface v
Chapter I.1 Metadata Research: Making Digital Resources
Useful Again? 1
Miguel-Angel Sicilia
Chapter I.2 Metadata Typology and Metadata Uses 9
Eva Méndez and Seth van Hooland
Chapter I.3 The Value and Cost of Metadata 41
Miltiadis D. Lytras, Miguel-Ángel Sicilia
and Cristian Cechinel
Chapter I.4 Metadata Quality 63
Xavier Ochoa
Chapter I.5 Ontologies in Systems Theory 89
Emilia Currás
Chapter II.1 Introduction to XML and Its Applications 109
Laura Papaleo
Chapter II.2 Ontologies and Ontology Languages 141
Sinuhé Arroyo and Katharina Siorpaes
Chapter II.3 Topic Maps 157
Piedad Garrido Picazo and Jesús Tramullas
Chapter II.4 Methodologies for the Creation of Semantic Data 185
Tobias Bürger, Elena Simperl and Christoph Tempich
Chapter III.1 Metadata and Ontologies in e-Learning 217
Manuel E. Prieto Méndez,Víctor H. Menéndez
Domínguez and Christian L. Vidal Castro
vii
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B1471 Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
viii Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
Chapter III.2 Metadata and Ontologies for Health 243
Gianluca Colombo, Daniele Merico
and Michaela Gündel
Chapter III.3 Agricultural Knowledge Organization Systems:
An Analysis of an Indicative Sample 279
Nikos Palavitsinis and Nikos Manouselis
Chapter III.4 Metadata and Ontologies for Bioinformatics 297
E. Blanco
Chapter III.5 Metadata and Ontologies for Mechanical Objects’
Design and Manufacturing 315
Fabio Sartori and Stefania Bandini
Chapter III.6 Metadata and Ontologies for Emergency Management 347
Leopoldo Santos-Santos and Tomás Aguado-Gómez
Chapter III.7 Metadata and Ontologies for Tourism 379
Dimitris Kanellopoulos
Chapter III.8 Metadata Standards and Ontologies for Multimedia
Content 403
Tobias Bürger and Michael Hausenblas
Chapter IV.1 Technologies for Metadata Integration
and Interoperability 441
Ricardo Eito-Brun
Chapter IV.2 Technologies for Metadata Extraction 487
Koraljka Golub, Henk Muller and Emma Tonkin
Chapter IV.3 Technologies for Metadata and Ontology Storage 523
Mary Parmelee and Leo Obrst
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B1471 Handbook of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies
CHAPTER I.1
METADATA RESEARCH: MAKING DIGITAL
RESOURCES USEFUL AGAIN?
Miguel-Angel Sicilia
Department of Computer Science
University of Alcalá, Polytechnic building
Ctra. Barcelona km. 33.6
Alcalá de Henares(Madrid), Spain
msicilia@uah.es
The growth of the Web represents also one of its major challenges, as users face the
problem of selecting the pages that are most relevant to their taskfrom a vast amount of
information. Search engines and microdata are an example of a means towards the end
of helping in better targeting search, but there is no universal perfect solution for all
information needs. In addition, the last years have witnessed the emergence of the Web
of Linked Data, fostered by the increasing adoption of openness as a paradigm for
sharing information for the benefit of the commons. Microdata, linked data and other
technologies are no other thing than different ways of using metadata to enhance infor-
mation seeking, targeting and integration. Metadata thus is nowadays the fabric of the
Web. Understanding the different forms and arrangements of metadata is in conse-
quence a required skill for researchers and practitioners that aim at understanding and
getting value from the Web.
Keywords: Metadata, Linked Data, microdata, terminologies
1. Introduction
“Metadata” has become a term frequently used both in academia and also in
the professional context. As an indicator of its growing acceptance as a com-
mon concept, the Google Scholar service1 estimates more than 1 million
results when we formulate a query using only the term. The results’ estimation
1 http://scholar.google.com/
1
