FluentEditor for OWL
FluentEditor for OWL is comprehensive tool for editing and
manipulating complex ontologies using Controlled Natural Language.
Fluent editor provides alternative to XML-based OWL editors that is better
suitable for human users.
It's main feature is using Controlled English as a knowledge modeling
language. Supported via Predictive Editor prohibits one to enter any
sentence that is not grammatically or morphologically correct and actively help
the user during sentence writing. The Controlled English is a subset of Standard
English with restricted grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce the ambiguity
and complexity inherent in full English.
OWL stands for Web Ontology Language (sometimes called Ontology Web Languagea
language). It is developed by the W3C’s Web Ontology Working Group and intended
to be the successor of DAML+OIL. OWL is the most expressive knowledge
representation for the Semantic Web so far. It allows us to write explicit,
formal conceptualizations of human endeavor. OWL can be used in a spectrum of
tasks that appears in the semantic-web applications. It allows describe the
application domain (where formal-semantic plays a crucial role) and application
specification, database schema, database constraints as well as database content
using common language. On the other hand OWL can be used as a language that
allows domain experts (a person with special knowledge or skills in a particular
area of endeavor) to express domain-specific knowledge (valid knowledge used to
refer to an area of human endeavor).
The importance of a well-defined, formal language is clear and known from the
area of programming languages; it is a necessary condition for
machine-processing of information; it describes the meaning of knowledge
precisely; it does not refer to subjective intuitions, nor is it open to
different interpretations by different people (or machines). On the other way,
it is questionable whether the XML-based syntax for OWL is very user-friendly.
Fluent editor provides alternative that is better suitable for human users. We
propose to use Controlled English as a knowledge modeling language.
Supported via Predictive Editor prohibits one to enter any sentence that is not
grammatically or morphologically correct and actively help the user during
sentence writing. The Controlled English is a subset of Standard English with
restricted grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce the ambiguity and
complexity inherent in full English. In the last years Controlled English
established itself in various application fields as powerful knowledge
representation language that is readable by humans and processable by computers.
Texts in Controlled English can automatically be translated into and from
description logic, concretely SROIQ, the basis of the semantic web
language OWL 2.
There are dozens known ontology-editors and the number of them is growing from
day to day. The most famous is Protégé that allows editing ontology and inspect
the inferred knowledge. Both Protégé and Fluent Editor allow support of
knowledge engineering. The main difference between Fluent Editor and Protégé
however lies in the way how the user interacts with the editor. To understand
the meaning of formally ascribed knowledge one is required to have a background
in the field of a formal method, especially in logic. It is hard to trace a
formal knowledge for any authority that does not have such background. On the
other hand, without the support of formal methods it is almost impossible to
trace and understand the impact of even small changes of in the knowledge. This
pragmatic observation of need for a “human-readable language” knowledge modeling
language led us to develop Fluent Editor. When using Fluent Editor, users do not
need any training in formal logic formalisms nor the ICT support when using
Fluent Editor. They are continuously checked if the entered knowledge fulfills
the grammar. Additionally, knowledge engineers are provided with ability to
explore the knowledge due to embedded HermiT reasoner that constantly checks the
consistency of the knowledge base.