Semantic interoperability has become a key issue for realizing the Semantic Web in its full potential. However, there is a lot of controversy regarding the meaning and scope of the term and scarce formal approaches to the problem of semantic heterogeneity. In this paper, we discuss these approaches and propose a formalisation of semantic interoperability based on the Barwise-Seligman theory of information flow. We argue for a theoretical framework that favours the analysis and implementation of semantic interoperability scenarios. We present an example case of such a scenario where our framework has been applied as well as variations of it in the domain of ontology mapping.
Yannis Kalfoglou, W. Marco Schorlemmer