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432 lines
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<div class="w3c_leftCol"><h2 class="offscreen">Site Navigation</h2>
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<h3 class="category"><span class="ribbon"><a href="/standards/semanticweb/" title="Up to Semantic Web">Semantic Web <img src="/2008/site/images/header-link" alt="Header link" width="13" height="13" class="header-link" /></a></span></h3>
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<li><a href="/standards/semanticweb/query.html">Query</a></li>
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<li class="current">Ontologies</li>
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<h1 class="title">
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<img src="/2008/site/images/theme-web-semantics" alt="" />Vocabularies</h1>
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<ul class="w3c_toc">
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<li class="toc_prefix">On this page → </li>
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<li><a href="#summary">what is a vocabulary</a>
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<span class="bullet">• </span>
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</li>
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<li><a href="#uses">what are vocabularies used for</a>
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<span class="bullet">• </span>
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</li>
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<li><a href="#examples">examples</a>
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<span class="bullet">• </span>
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</li>
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<li><a href="#examples">learn more</a>
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-->
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<li><a href="#specifications">current status of specifications</a> and <a href="#w3c_groups">groups</a></li>
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<div id="w3c_content_body">
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<div class="line">
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<div class="unit size3on4">
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<h2 id="summary">What is a Vocabulary?</h2>
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<p>On the Semantic Web, vocabularies define the concepts and relationships (also referred to as
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“terms”) used to describe and represent an area of concern. Vocabularies
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are used to classify
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the terms that can be used in a particular application, characterize possible relationships,
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and define possible constraints on using those terms. In practice, vocabularies can be very
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complex (with several thousands of terms) or very simple (describing one or two concepts
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only).</p>
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<p>There is no clear division between what is referred to as
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“vocabularies” and “ontologies”. The trend is to
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use the word “ontology” for more complex, and possibly quite formal collection of
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terms, whereas “vocabulary” is used when such strict formalism is not necessarily
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used or only in a very loose sense. Vocabularies are the basic building blocks
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for <a href="inference">inference</a> techniques on the Semantic Web.</p>
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<h2 id="uses">What are Vocabularies Used For?</h2>
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<p>The role of vocabularies on the Semantic Web are to help data integration when,
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for example, ambiguities may exist on the terms used in the different data sets, or when a bit
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of extra knowledge may lead to the discovery of new relationships.
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Consider, for example, the application of ontologies in the field of health care.
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Medical professionals use
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them to represent knowledge about symptoms, diseases, and treatments. Pharmaceutical companies
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use them to represent information about drugs, dosages, and allergies. Combining this knowledge
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from the medical and pharmaceutical communities with patient data enables a whole range of
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intelligent applications such as decision support tools that search for possible treatments;
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systems that monitor drug efficacy and possible side effects; and tools that support
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epidemiological research.</p>
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<p>Another type of example is to use vocabularies to organize knowledge. Libraries, museums,
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newspapers, government portals, enterprises, social networking applications, and other
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communities that manage large collections of books, historical artifacts, news reports,
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business glossaries, blog entries, and other items can now use vocabularies, using
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standard formalisms, to leverage the power of <a href="linkeddata">linked data</a>.</p>
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<p>It depends on the application how complex vocabularies they use. Some applications
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may decide not to use even small vocabularies, and rely on the logic of the application program.
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Some application may choose to use very simple vocabularies like the one described in the
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<a href="#examples">examples section below</a>, and let a general Semantic Web environment use
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that extra information to make the identification of the terms.
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Some applications need an agreement on common terminologies, without any rigor imposed by a logic system.
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Finally, some applications may need more complex ontologies with complex reasoning procedures.
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It all depends on the requirements and the goals of the applications.</p>
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<p>To satisfy these different needs, W3C offers a large palette of techniques to describe and
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define different forms of vocabularies
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in a standard format. These include <a href="http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/rdf#w3c_all">RDF and RDF Schemas</a>,
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/skos#w3c_all">Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS)</a>,
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/owl#w3c_all">Web Ontology Language (OWL)</a>, and the
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/standards/techs/rif#w3c_all">Rule Interchange Format (RIF)</a>.
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The choice among these different
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technologies depend on the complexity and rigor required by a specific application.</p>
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<h2 id="examples">Examples</h2>
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<p>A general example may help. A bookseller may want to integrate data coming from different publishers.
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The data can be imported into a common RDF model, eg, by using converters to the publishers’
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databases. However, one database may use the term “author”, whereas the other may use the
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term “creator”. To make the integration complete, and extra definition should be added to the RDF data,
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describing the fact that the relationship described as “author” is the same as “creator”. This
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extra piece of information is, in fact, a vocabulary (or an ontology), albeit an extremely simple one.</p>
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<p>In a more complex case the application may need a more detailed ontology as part of the extra
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information. This
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may include formal description on how authors are to be uniquely identified (eg, in a US
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setting, by referring to a unique social security number), how the terms used in this particular
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application relate to other datasets on the Web (eg, Wikipedia or geographic information), how
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the term “author” (or “creator”) can be related to terms like
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“editors”, etc.</p>
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<h2 id="learnmore">Learn More</h2>
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<p>The Semantic Web community maintains a <a href="http://esw.w3.org/topic/SwBooks">list of books</a>
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on a W3C Wiki page. Some of those books
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are introductory in nature while others are conference proceedings or
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textbook that address more advanced topics.
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Details of <a href="http://www.w3.org/2007/11/Talks/Semantic_Web.html">recent and upcoming
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Semantic Web related talks</a>, given by the <a href="http://www.w3.org/People/">W3C Staff</a>,
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the <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Offices/">staff of the W3C Offices</a>,
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and members of the W3C Working Groups are available separately; the slides
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are usually publicly available. The
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W3C also maintains a <a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/sweo/public/UseCases/">collection of Semantic
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Web Case Studies and Use Cases</a> that
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show how Semantic Web technologies, including vocabularies, are used in
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practice. Finally, the <a href="/2001/sw/SW-FAQ">Semantic Web FAQ</a> may also be of help
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in understanding the various concepts.</p>
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<div id="recentpress"><!-- start generated recent press --><h2>Recent Press</h2>
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<dl>
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<dt>
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<span class="press_date">8 December</span>
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<br />
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<a href="http://blog.antidot.net/">Blog Antidot</a>
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</dt>
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<dd>
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<a href="http://blog.antidot.net/2011/12/08/grande-semaine-pour-lopen-data-francais/">
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“<cite>Grande semaine pour l’Open Data français !</cite>”
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</a>
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</dd>
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<dt>
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<span class="press_date">1 December</span>
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<br />
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<a href="http://computerworld.co.nz/">Computer World</a>
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</dt>
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<dd>
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<a href="http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/ibm-develops-ideas-for-astronomically-big-data">
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“<cite>IBM develops ideas for astronomically Big Data</cite>”
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</a>
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</dd>
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<dt>
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<span class="press_date">26 November</span>
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<br />
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<a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/">Search Engine Watch</a>
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</dt>
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<dd>
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<a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2127381/Volunia-Search-Engine-A-Radical-New-View-of-Search">
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“<cite>Volunia Search Engine: A 'Radical New View' of Search</cite>”
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</a>
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</dd>
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<dt>
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<span class="press_date">22 November</span>
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<br />
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tech/">Huffpost Tech</a>
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</dt>
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<dd>
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<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-hamby/top-three-technologies-to_b_1105022.html">
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“<cite>Top Three Technologies to Tame the Big Data Beast</cite>”
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</a>
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</dd>
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</dl>
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<!-- end generated recent press --></div>
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<h2 id="specifications">Current Status of Specifications</h2>
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<p>Learn more about the current status of specifications related
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to:
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</p>
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<div id="w3c_techs_body"><ul class="show_items"><li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/rdf">RDF</a>
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</li><li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/owl">OWL Web Ontology Language</a>
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</li><li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/skos">SKOS</a>
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</li><li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/earl">Evaluation and Report Language (EARL)</a>
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</li></ul></div>
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<p>These <a href="/Consortium/activities">W3C Groups</a> are
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working on the related specifications:
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</p>
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<div id="w3c_groups"><ul class="show_items">
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/2007/OWL/">OWL Working Group</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/rules/wg.html">Rule Interchange Format Working Group</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/">Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/interest/">Semantic Web Interest Group</a>
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</li>
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</ul></div>
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</div>
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<div class="unit size1on4 lastUnit w3c_rhs">
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<div id="curstatusrhs">
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<h2 class="h4 category">Current Status</h2>
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<ul class="theme right-side">
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<li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/rdf">RDF</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/owl">OWL Web Ontology Language</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/skos">SKOS</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="/standards/techs/earl">Evaluation and Report Language (EARL)</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div id="useitrhs">
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<h2 class="h4 category">Use It</h2>
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<ul class="theme right-list">
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<li class="tutorials_link">
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<a href="/2002/03/tutorials#semanticweb_ontology">Tutorials</a>
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</li>
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<li>Business Case</li>
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<li>Software</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div id="validatorsrhs">
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<h2 class="h4 category">Validators</h2>
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<ul class="theme right-list">
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<li>
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<a title="RDF Validator" href="http://www.w3.org/RDF/Validator/">RDF</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<div id="logosrhs">
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<h2 class="h4 category">Logos</h2>
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<ul class="theme right-list">
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/2007/10/sw-logos.html#sw-owl">OWL</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/2007/10/sw-logos.html#sw-powder">POWDER</a>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a href="http://www.w3.org/2007/10/sw-logos.html#sw-skos">SKOS</a>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<h3>Navigation</h3>
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<h3>Contact W3C</h3>
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