Semantic Technology For e-Government

Abstract

In the last five years a number of significant developments have occurred that motivate the use of Semantic Technology in e-Govemment. In 2001, the US President announced 24 e-Government initiatives (US President's E- Govemment Initiatives, 2001). In 2004 the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) was first published (Federal Enterprise Architecture, 2004). It is well-known that Semantic technology is an enabler for federation, mediation, aggregation and inferencing over information from diverse sources. Why then, not advocate its use for helping solve interoperability, integration, capability reuse, accountability and policy governance in agencies, across agencies and even across governments? With this vision, TopQuadrant set out in 2002 to bring Semantic Technology to the attention of the emerging technology work-groups of the US Government at their "Open Collaboration" Workshop meetings in Washington DC (Collaborative Expedition Workshops). What followed is a success story of growing awareness and advocacy of semantic technology in e-Govemment