EKOSS: A knowledge-user centered approach to knowledge sharing, discovery, and integration on the Semantic Web

EKOSS, which stands for Expert Knowledge Ontology-based Semantic Search, has been developed for the sharing of scientific knowledge using Semantic Web technologies. The EKOSS website provides a publication environment for scientific researchers where they can create by themselves computer-interpretable semantic descriptions of their knowledge resources, such as papers and databases, using ontologies based on description logics and publish those descriptions together with their knowledge resources. At the same time, through the use of inference based on description logics, a person using the EKOSS semantic search system to look for scientific knowledge can more accurately find the knowledge that best matches his or her knowledge requirements. Because the EKOSS approach makes it possible for computers to match knowledge resources and requirements semantically, we hope that the EKOSS system will support not only sharing of scientific knowledge between researchers, but also more effective knowledge transfer to other members of society.