We think of Activity descriptions as metadata – glue tying together system resources around the generic semantics of activity. Thus we encode Activity descriptions in RDF. The semantic web is an ideal platform to provide the flexibility, extensibility, and data integration necessary to support the inherent variability and adaptability of business activities.
We are developing an OWL ontology of Unified Activity. The core ontology captures the essential features and structure of the generic concept of collaborative activity, which enables activity-like information from different applications and contexts to be unified, exchanged across systems and companies, and presented in a consistent vocabulary to people. The core ontology is extensible to accommodate the specific features of different business activity domains. Thus, activity-like entities in different business domains (e.g. tasks in a workflow) can be exchanged and understood at the level of the core activity semantics.
The Unified Activity representation is managed in an RDF-based Activity Metadata Repository that integrates information from various sources. UAM supports people by providing activity contexts for their informal collaborations and by being an intermediary to formal workflow processes. UAM provides a semantic paradigm for effectively extending eBusiness systems with the intelligence, adaptability, and creativity of knowledgeable and experienced workers.
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