Title: Context dependent semantic granularity

Authors: Riccardo Albertoni, Elena Camossi, Monica De Martino, Franca Giannini, Marina Monti

Addresses: IMATI-GE, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, Torre di Francia, Genova, 16149, Italy. ' European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for the Protection and the Security of the Citizen, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, I – 21027 Ispra (VA), Italy. ' IMATI-GE, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, Torre di Francia, Genova, 16149, Italy. ' IMATI-GE, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, Torre di Francia, Genova, 16149, Italy. ' IMATI-GE, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via De Marini, 6, Torre di Francia, Genova, 16149, Italy

Abstract: A fundamental issue to improve the accessibility to information resources is how to efficiently deal with huge amount(s) of data. In this respect, ontology driven techniques are expected to improve the overlap between the Cognitive Space applied by the user and the Information Space, which is defined by the information providers. In this paper we describe a powerful method to extract semantic granularities, which enable the navigation of a repository according to different levels of abstraction. In the formalisation we present, granularities are explicitly parameterised according to criteria induced by the context, which improves the method flexibility. Furthermore, the parameterisation assists the user allowing to formulate and refine the browsing criteria. Case studies are described to demonstrate how granularities ease the information sources browsing and to illustrate how they may vary according to the context. A validation of the cognitive principles behind the method is presented, together with the analysis of the results obtained by the experimentation.

Keywords: semantic granularity; ontology; semantic browsing; application context; accessibility; ontology-driven browsing; cognitive space; information space.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDMMM.2011.041495

International Journal of Data Mining, Modelling and Management, 2011 Vol.3 No.2, pp.189 - 215

Published online: 26 Feb 2015 *

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