This project is developing methods and tools for ordinary web content creators to indicate the structure inherent in their content by drawing a few simple lines or figures over their web site. Their motivation for doing so is to use enhanced browsing and searching capabilities in their local site based on these mappings. These new browsing and searching capabilities are based on the definition of canonical structures (i.e., data model fragments) and domain patterns (a set of instantiated canonical structures) with associated navigation and access paths where domain patterns are easily recognizable by content creators and easily articulated using a simple drawing approach. This work is complementary to yet distinct from much existing effort to transition to a more semantic Web; the focus here is on (simple) local specification (drawing) of mappings with local benefit. This project uses a form of crowd-sourcing to create ontology mappings and (indirectly) create ontologies. This project applies decades of work on data modeling and schema mapping but with structural fragments rather than complete schemas/ontologies, without view update problems (because of the focus on browsing/searching), and with immediate local benefit. The research is motivated by and will be showcased in a series of websites that support public access to instructional materials. In general, this work is expected to contribute (nearly effortlessly yet in a high-quality way) to achieving the vision for the semantic web.
