CONCEPTUALIZING SEMANTIC INTEROPERABILITY: A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE KNOWLEDGE LEVEL

Currently, there is a proliferation of database integration approaches in response to the need to achieve semantic interoperability in heterogeneous, distributed and autonomous environments. To date, however, we lack abstract, formal descriptions of the task of semantic interoperation, independent of idiosyncratic implementation details. Such abstract descriptions are needed to aid our understanding of these various complex systems that are being constructed. Therefore, we argue that a knowledge level perspective of interoperable systems is desirable. The knowledge level serves as an abstract specification of what a system should do and facilitates the design and analysis of complex systems. In this paper, we show how an interoperable system, based on the Context Interchange Architecture, may be specified in terms of first-order logic which is an ideal specification language at the knowledge level. This specification represents a theoretical ideal which serves to formalize and communicate the key ideas behind the Context Interchange Approach, unencumbered by the details, limitations and compromises of specific implementations. As such, it provides a rigorous basis for implementing such systems. Similar specifications may also be developed for other models of interoperable systems. As a result, we have a rigorous means of understanding, comparing and analyzing these complex systems.