Proposed Terms for Self-Publishing of Single Experiment
6/3/2006

*** Seeking input from everyone ***


Purpose

To define vocabularies to be used in self-publishing of experiments in RDF/XML. There are three specific goals for this set of vocabularies:
(1) The terms are intended to be used by applications that appeal to users cross all scientific disciplines. 
(2) Although it may be used for any number of applications, its primarily focus at current stage will be enabling more efficient search of information at single experiment level on the web. This is in contrast to searching a paper, which is usually synthesized from many experiments.
(3) It should facilitate new knowledge creation from easy accessing of all relevant experiment information around the world.


Approach

First, define the objects and properties that are needed to describe a single experiment and related objects like project, procedure, tool, person, group, and organization. Since the goal is to develop an ontology for users cross all disciplines, all of these objects should be described in general terms at the highest level. Specialization and granularity will be the consideration for the next stage. 

Second, try to use terms in existing ontologies such as SKOS, DC, FOAF, and Ebiquity ontologies whenever possible.  Define new terms only if no appropriate terms available.  Since the focus is in search engine application, preference will be given to terms that can facilitate web search.

Third, use community process to develop these terms, allowing enough time for everyone interested in this topic to contribute or criticize. The end product of this process will be a RDF file defining all classes and properties.


Proposed Objects and Properties

For each object, a list of terms and their brief descriptions are proposed below. These terms may or may not be defined in any existing ontology. If a term is available in an existing ontology, the related ontology term should be provided. 

 Experiment:
Term
Description
Related Term
Experiment Experiment class, scientific experiment or any experiment, associated with one or more than one projects. boss:Study
associatedProject
A Project that the experiment is associated with, one or more
project:Project
foaf:Project
name Experiment name or an identifier dc:title
description
Description of the experiment, including goal, hypothesis, design, background, etc.
dc:description
hypothesis
Experiment hypothesis if any

procedure
The procedure used by the experiment, an instance of Procedure class

data
Data generated from the experiment

result
Results and conclusions of the experiment

discussion
Further discussion about the experiment and results

startTime
starting date and time
project:startDate
endTime
finish date and time
project:endDate
researcher
A Person who performed the experiment, one or more
dc:creator
dc:contributor
project:associatedWith
type
Experiment type or category
dc:type
dc:subject
relatedResource Associated reference or resource, one or more
project:project:relatedResource
dc:references
relatedPublication Associated publication using this experiment
project:project:relatedPublication
foaf:publications
homepage
Web page for this experiment
foaf:homepage
specialTech
Any special technology used in the experiment that should be highlighted

Note:  In the related term column, "project:" refers to Ebiquity's project ontology.

Project:
Term
Description
Related Term
Project A project.  Experiments are grouped under project. project:Project
foaf:Project
DOAP:project
name
Project name
project:title
foaf:title
startDate
Project start date
project:startDate
endDate
Project end date
project:endDate
description
Project description
project:description
dc:description
category
Category the project belongs to, one or more
dc:type
dc:subject
homepage
Home web page of the project, hyperlink
foaf:homepage
ownBy
A Person  or Group who owns or responsible for the project, one or more
foaf:Agent
hasMember
Member of the project, one or more
project:associatedWith
foaf:member
fundedBy
Funding providers, agency, individual, etc
foaf:Agent
foaf:fundedBy
status
Project status: active, past, etc.
project:status
relatedPublication
Related publication, URL, one or more
project:relatedPublication
relatedResource
Related resource, URL, one or more
project:relatedResource
Note:  In the related term column, "project:" refers to Ebiquity's project ontology.

Procedure:
Term
Description
Related Term
Procedure
Procedure class. Procedures used in a experiment

process Steps in the procedure from start to end
protocolUsed
A Protocol used in the procedure
boss:Protocol
material
Materials used in the procedure, one or more, instance of Product

equipement
Instrument used in the procedure, one or more, instance of Product

software
Software tool used in the procedure, one or more, instance of Product


Protocol:
Term
Description
Related Term
Protocol
Protocol class. A generally applicable experimental procedure.
boss:Protocol
title
Protocal title
dc:title
subject
Topic of the content of the protocol
dc:subject
procedure
An instance of Procedure class

references
Related references and resources
dc:references
createdTime
Time when the protocol is created
dc:created
modifiedTime
Time when the protocol is updated
dc:modified
modifiedBy
A Person
foaf:Person
ownBy
A Person, Group or Organization
foaf:Agent
homepage
Web page for the protocol
foaf:homepage

Product:
Term
Description
Related Term
Product
Product class. For material, reagents, instrument, and software used in experiment

name
Name of the product
dc:title
model
Specific model of the product, usually for instrument

type
Product type
dc:type
manufacturedBy
Manufacturer name

homepage Web page for the product foaf:homepage

Person:
Term
Description
Related Term
Person
Person class.
foaf:Person
name
Full name
foaf:name
title
Job title

salutation
Dr. Mr. Ms. etc.
foaf:title
interest
Research interest
foaf:interest
expertise
Expertise the person has

publications
This person's publications
foaf:publications
weblog
Person's weblog
foaf:weblog
homepage Person's home webpage
foaf:homepage
inGroup
A group the person belongs to
foaf:Group
person:associatedWith
contactInfo
An instance of Contact
contact:ContactInformation
Note:  In the related term column, "person:" and "contact:" refers to Ebiquity's person and contact ontologies.


Group:
Term
Description
Related Term
Group
Group class. A group of researchers who perform and publish experiments
foaf:Group
name
Name of the group
foaf:name
member
Member of the group
foaf:member
organization
An organization that the group belongs to
foaf:Organization
homepage
Home web page of the group
foaf:homepage
contactInfo An instance of Contact contact:ContactInformation


Relevant Ontologies and Vocabularies

RDFS
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/

OWL
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/

XML
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema

DC
http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
http://purl.org/dc/terms/

FOAF ontology: 
http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/

SUMO
http://ontology.teknowledge.com/

SKOS Core Vocabulary
http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-skos-core-spec/

Ebiquity ontologies including project, publication, person
http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/ontology/

DOAP
http://usefulinc.com/doap

BOSS
http://www.charlestoncore.org/ont/boss.html

EXPO
http://sourceforge.net/projects/expo