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eGovernment

eGovernment
eGovernment
The use of the Semantic Web (SW) in e-government is reviewed. The challenges for the introduction of SW technology in e-government are surveyed from the point of view both of the SW as a new technology that has yet to reach its full potential, and of e-government as a complex digital application with many constraints, competing interests and drivers, and a large and heterogeneous user base of citizens. The spread of SW technology through e-government is reviewed, looking at a number of international initiatives, and it is argued that pragmatic considerations stemming from the institutional context are as important as technical innovation. To illustrate these points, the chapter looks in detail at recent efforts by the UK government to represent and release public-sector information in order to support integration of heterogeneous information sources by both the government and the citizen. Two projects are focused on. AKTive PSI was a proof of concept, in which information was rerepresented in RDF and made available against specially created ontologies, adding significant value to previously existing databases. Steps in the management of the project are described, to demonstrate how problems of perception can be overcome with relatively little overhead. Secondly, the data.gov.uk project is discussed, showing the technical means by which it has exploited the growth of theWeb of Linked Data to facilitate re-representation and integration of information from diverse and heterogeneous sources. Drawing on experience in data.gov. uk the policy and organizational challenges of deploying SW capabilities at national scales are discussed as well as the prospects for the future.
e-government, semantic web, open data, transparency, public sector information
840-900
Springer
Shadbolt, Nigel
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O'Hara, Kieron
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Salvadores, Manuel
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Alani, Harith
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Shadbolt, Nigel
5c5acdf4-ad42-49b6-81fe-e9db58c2caf7
O'Hara, Kieron
0a64a4b1-efb5-45d1-a4c2-77783f18f0c4
Salvadores, Manuel
c1822871-bf33-41cd-bf97-0e927ff74acc
Alani, Harith
70cdbdce-1494-44c2-9dae-65d82bf7e991

Shadbolt, Nigel, O'Hara, Kieron, Salvadores, Manuel and Alani, Harith (2011) eGovernment. In, John Domingue, Dieter Fensel & James Hendler (eds.), Handbook of Semantic Web Technologies. Springer, pp. 840-900.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

The use of the Semantic Web (SW) in e-government is reviewed. The challenges for the introduction of SW technology in e-government are surveyed from the point of view both of the SW as a new technology that has yet to reach its full potential, and of e-government as a complex digital application with many constraints, competing interests and drivers, and a large and heterogeneous user base of citizens. The spread of SW technology through e-government is reviewed, looking at a number of international initiatives, and it is argued that pragmatic considerations stemming from the institutional context are as important as technical innovation. To illustrate these points, the chapter looks in detail at recent efforts by the UK government to represent and release public-sector information in order to support integration of heterogeneous information sources by both the government and the citizen. Two projects are focused on. AKTive PSI was a proof of concept, in which information was rerepresented in RDF and made available against specially created ontologies, adding significant value to previously existing databases. Steps in the management of the project are described, to demonstrate how problems of perception can be overcome with relatively little overhead. Secondly, the data.gov.uk project is discussed, showing the technical means by which it has exploited the growth of theWeb of Linked Data to facilitate re-representation and integration of information from diverse and heterogeneous sources. Drawing on experience in data.gov. uk the policy and organizational challenges of deploying SW capabilities at national scales are discussed as well as the prospects for the future.

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More information

Published date: 2011
Additional Information: DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-92913-0_20 Chapter: 20
Keywords: e-government, semantic web, open data, transparency, public sector information
Organisations: Web & Internet Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 271711
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/271711
PURE UUID: 86fd57a8-b4c0-465f-9557-f595e9b12ee4
ORCID for Kieron O'Hara: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9051-4456

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 24 Nov 2010 12:41
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:09

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Contributors

Author: Nigel Shadbolt
Author: Kieron O'Hara ORCID iD
Author: Manuel Salvadores
Author: Harith Alani

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