Developing semantic rich internet applications using a model-driven approach

Abstract

At present, the Web sometimes behaves as a heterogeneous mixture of several technologies with distinct purposes. On the road to the so-called Web 3.0, it is essential to integrate and harmonize techniques and technologies from its main branches. In this context, this paper focuses on two of these: Rich Internet Applications (RIA) and the Semantic Web. Although RIAs are the most distinctive and used types of Web 2.0 applications, owing to their intrinsic characteristics, some type of clients such as, search engines and readers for disabled people cannot explore a relevant subset of them. Semantic Web technologies can be the key for opening RIA contents to any client. Specifically, the paper proposes the concept of Semantic RIA as an extension of traditional RIAs that can reuse and share structured knowledge on the Web. Furthermore, it presents Sm4RIA, an extension of OOH4RIA that supports and speeds up the development of these applications. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.