Multi-dimensional Ontology Views via Contexts in the ECOIN Semantic Interoperability Framework

This paper describes the coupling of contexts and ontologies for semantic integration in the ECOIN semantic interoperability framework. Ontological terms in ECOIN correspond to multiple related meanings in different contexts. Each ontology includes a context model that describes how a generic ontological term can be modified according to contextual choices to acquire specialized meanings. Although the basic ECOIN concepts have been presented in the past, this paper is the first to show how ECOIN addresses the case of "single-ontology with multiple contexts" with an example of semantic integration using our new prototype implementation.