This book covers the basics of semantic web technologies and indexing languages, and describes their contribution to improve methods of formal knowledge representation and reasoning. The methodologies included combine the specifics of indexing languages, Web representation languages and intersystem relations, and explain their contribution to search functionalities in information retrieval scenarios. An example oriented discussion, considering aspects of conceptual and semantic interoperability in processes of subject querying and knowledge exploration is provided. The book is relevant to information scientists, knowledge workers and indexers. It provides a suitable combination of theoretical foundations and practical applications.

Natural Language is not only the most important means of communication between human beings, it is also used over historical periods for the pres- vation of cultural achievements and their transmission from one generation to the other. During the last few decades, the ?ood of digitalized information has been growing tremendously. This tendency will continue with the globali- tion of information societies and with the growing importance of national and international computer networks. This is one reason why the theoretical und- standing and the automated treatment of communication processes based on natural language have such a decisive social and economic impact. In this c- text, the semantic representation of knowledge originally formulated in natural language plays a central part, because it connects all components of natural language processing systems, be they the automatic understanding of natural language (analysis), the rational reasoning over knowledge bases, or the g- eration of natural language expressions from formal representations. This book presents a method for the semantic representation of natural l- guage expressions (texts, sentences, phrases, etc. ) which can be used as a u- versal knowledge representation paradigm in the human sciences, like lingu- tics, cognitive psychology, or philosophy of language, as well as in com- tational linguistics and in arti?cial intelligence. It is also an attempt to close the gap between these disciplines, which to a large extent are still working separately.

Abstract: "This paper describes a knowledge representation scheme for knowledge about the contents of data (for example, 'text') and abstracted information of data. In the proposed scheme, the contents of data are initially represented by a kind of semantic network in which the case frame structure of the data is expressed explicitly, and abstracted information of the data which is extracted from the semantic network is also represented in the form of a semantic network. By step-by-step abstraction, abstractive layers of knowledge about the data are formed, the components of which are eventually linked with corresponding data

The main purpose of this book is to sum up the vital and highly topical research issue of knowledge representation on the Web and to discuss novel solutions by combining benefits of folksonomies and Web 2.0 approaches with ontologies and semantic technologies. The book contains an overview of knowledge representation approaches in past, present and future, introduction to ontologies, Web indexing and in first case the novel approaches of developing ontologies.

The LNCS Journal on Data Semantics is devoted to the presentation of notable work that, in one way or another, addresses research and development on issues related to data semantics. The scope of the journal ranges from theories supporting the formal definition of semantic content to innovative domain-specific applications of semantic knowledge. The journal addresses researchers and advanced practitioners working on the semantic web, interoperability, mobile information services, data warehousing, knowledge representation and reasoning, conceptual database modeling, ontologies, and artificial intelligence. Volume XIV results from a rigorous selection among 21 full papers received in response to a call for contributions issued in September 2008.

Recording knowledge in a common framework that would make it possible to seamlessly share global knowledge remains an important challenge for researchers. This brief examines several ideas about the representation of knowledge addressing this challenge. A widespread general agreement is followed that states uniform knowledge representation should be achievable by using ontologies populated with concepts. A separate chapter is dedicated to each of the three introduced topics, following a uniform outline: definition, organization, and use. This brief is intended for those who want to get to know the field of knowledge representation quickly, or would like to be up to date with current developments in the field. It is also useful for those dealing with implementation as examples of numerous operational systems are also given.