A feasibility study of ontology-based automatic document transformation

Anne I Mannette-Wright, Pace University

Abstract

Mutual understanding based on a shared common knowledge is not a new concept. During the Middle Ages commercial traders who spoke different languages overcame this difficulty by evolving a pidgin-type language or Lingua Franca for the purpose of trade. Similarly the problem of transforming a source document of a particular syntactic structure and semantic content into a target document with a different syntactic structure and similar semantic content has existed since the beginning of recorded history when scholars of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds first put pen to paper. This transformation problem can only be solved by developing a shared common understanding that both parties can leverage. This dissertation begins with a description of the overall problem of document transformation. Our ultimate solution to the problem of document transformation involves the usage of an ontology together with a rules base to perform document transformation. We first examine existing research in document transformation using the Extensible Markup language (XML) and XML related technologies and ontologies. The exploration of this problem begins with two case studies using XML and its related technologies. Next we examine the history and definition of what constitutes an ontology. This discussion is followed by a description of the knowledge based models used to represent an ontology focusing on the frame-based knowledge model. A series of three case studies using an ontology and a rules base to develop a shared knowledge environment that can be used to automate the document transformation problem are described. Future directions for the development of these ontology-based models including areas for improvement, scalability and performance are examined.

Subject Area

Computer science

Recommended Citation

Mannette-Wright, Anne I, "A feasibility study of ontology-based automatic document transformation" (2009). ETD Collection for Pace University. AAI3374713.
https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/dissertations/AAI3374713

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