A conceptual model for semantically-based e-government portals

Issues of semantic interoperability and service integration for e-government portals are the domain of interest of the present paper. We propose a Conceptual Model for One-Stop e-Government Portals based on the Semantic Web Service technology. We describe our research into building the three basic ontologies and their integration with standard ontologies. The result is a project-independent reusable model. At the same time, we outline a simple methodology for applying the proposed conceptual model into a specific scenario

Supporting public decision making in policy deliberations: An ontological approach

This is the post-print version of the Paper. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 SpringerSupporting public decision making in policy deliberations has been a key objective of eParticipation which is an emerging area of eGovernment. EParticipation aims to enhance citizen involvement in public governance activities through the use of information and communication technologies. An innovative approach towards this objective is exploiting the potentials of semantic web technologies centred on conceptual knowledge models in the form of ontologies. Ontologies are generally defined as explicit human and computer shared views on the world of particular domains. In this paper, the potentials and benefits of using ontologies for policy deliberation processes are discussed. Previous work is then extended and synthesised to develop a deliberation ontology. The ontology aims to define the necessary semantics in order to structure and interrelate the stages and various activities of deliberation processes with legal information, participant stakeholders and their associated arguments. The practical implications of the proposed framework are illustrated.This work is funded by the European Commission under the 2006/1 eParticipation call

Advanced eGovernment Information Service Bus (eGov-Bus)

The eGov-Bus project provides citizens and businesses with improved access to virtual public services, which are based on existing national eGovernment Web services and which support cross-border life events. Requirements and specific rules of these life events are considered, and personalization of user preferences is supported. eGov-Bus is based on adaptable process management technologies, allowing for virtual services which are dynamically combined from existing national eGovernment services. In this way, a comprehensive workflow process is set up, allowing for service-level agreements, an audit trail and explanation of the process to the end user. The eGov-Bus process engine operates on top of a virtual repository, providing a high-level semantic view of information retrieved from heterogeneous information sources, such as eGovernment Web services. Further, eGov-Bus relies on a security framework to ensure all high-level security requirements are met. The eGov-Bus architecture is business oriented, it focuses on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) concepts, asynchronously combining Web services and providing a Service Bus.Frameworks and Guidelines, eGovernment Ontologies, Admininistrative Process Design, Life Events, Web Services, Service Bus Integration

A semantic web service-based architecture for the interoperability of e-government services

We propose a semantically-enhanced architecture to address the issues of interoperability and service integration in e-government web information systems. An architecture for a life event portal based on Semantic Web Services (SWS) is described. The architecture includes loosely-coupled modules organized in three distinct layers: User Interaction, Middleware and Web Services. The Middleware provides the semantic infrastructure for ontologies and SWS. In particular a conceptual model for integrating domain knowledge (Life Event Ontology), application knowledge (E-government Ontology) and service description (Service Ontology) is defined. The model has been applied to a use case scenario in e-government and the results of a system prototype have been reported to demonstrate some relevant features of the proposed approach

Unlocking the potential of public sector information with Semantic Web technology

Governments often hold very rich data and whilst much of this information is published and available for re-use by others, it is often trapped by poor data structures, locked up in legacy data formats or in fragmented databases. One of the great benefits that Semantic Web (SW) technology offers is facilitating the large scale integration and sharing of distributed data sources. At the heart of information policy in the UK, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the part of the UK government charged with enabling the greater re-use of public sector information. This paper describes the actions, findings, and lessons learnt from a pilot study, involving several parts of government and the public sector. The aim was to show to government how they can adopt SW technology for the dissemination, sharing and use of its data

Gap Analysis Methodology for Identifying Future Ict Related eGovernment Research Topics – Case of “Ontology and Semantic Web” in the Context of eGovernment

Modern ICT enables governments all over the world to improve their operation in order to become more efficient and effective. Despite of all possible benefits of using modern ICT, governments still struggle with the problems of inefficiency of their operation. eGovernment is being discussed in many contexts. Expectations of research and implementation in this field were high. However, many investments have not met the visions and reached the maturity aimed at. What are the deficiencies of current developments in eGovernment? What is the role of research in advancing the field? In an European Commission - funded project, eGovRTD2020, eGovernment research is being investigated in terms of current state of play and future needs of eGovernment research based on visionary scenarios of governments using modern ICT in 2020 for their service provision and interaction with their constituency (citizens, companies, other governments, etc.). To understand the future needs of eGovernment research, a structured methodology of analyzing the gaps of current research in respect to the future needs has been developed. This paper presents the gap analysis methodology with the example of identified gap and future research theme “semantic web and ontology in the context of eGovernment”

Toward user oriented semantic geographical information systems

User Oriented Geographical Information Systems, a recent adaptation of classical GIS concepts to everyday usage, are becoming more and more present in the web landscape. Recent developments show the need of adding higher semantic levels to the existing frameworks, to improve their usage, as well as to ease scalability. We point out limits of actual examples, related to handling heterogeneous data, scalability issues, and expressiveness, and suggest a framework for building a Semantic User Oriented GIS. Notably this framework aims to address the peculiarities of the geographical space domain, and to offer a cognitively sound interface to the user

EgoIR: ontology-based information retrieval intended for eGovernment

The eGovernment is a field of applications for the Semantic Web. The eGovernment also is becoming an important research area and faces considerable challenges to achieve interoperability because of the semantic differences of interpretation, complexity and width of scope. It is however an open question how to apply these techniques fruitfully in the eGovernment domain. This paper addresses the importance of providing a semantic application that, within the eGovernment domain, is capable of dealing with the issue of the retrieval of government documentation in a timely and accurate way. In this paper, we present an approach ontology-based for retrieving government information

A Business Ontology for supporting cross border cooperation between European Chambers of Commerce

The recent EU enlargement opens up new opportunities, but poses new issues to be addressed. In particular, in order to enable and support cooperation between firms from different countries, it is necessary to address interoperability issues. The LD-CAST project aims at enabling cross border cooperation between European chambers of commerce (CCs) for supporting the development of private company initiatives. The project objective is to build a European network of portals that will enable end users (mainly private companies) to access in a seamless mode services provided by public organizations registered in each portal. This paper briefly presents a cooperation framework for semantic interoperability mainly based on the following semantic technologies: ontology management, semantic annotation, and semantic search and discovery. Finally the business ontology produced in the course of the project is presented.The recent EU enlargement opens up new opportunities, but poses new issues to be addressed. In particular, in order to enable and support cooperation between firms from different countries, it is necessary to address interoperability issues. The LD-CAST project aims at enabling cross border cooperation between European chambers of commerce (CCs) for supporting the development of private company initiatives. The project objective is to build a European network of portals that will enable end users (mainly private companies) to access in a seamless mode services provided by public organizations registered in each portal. This paper briefly presents a cooperation framework for semantic interoperability mainly based on the following semantic technologies: ontology management, semantic annotation, and semantic search and discovery. Finally the business ontology produced in the course of the project is presented.Uninvited Submission