Semantic Framework for an Efficient Information Retrieval in the E-Government Repositories

An enormous quantity of heterogeneous and distributed information is stored in e-government repositories. Access to these collections poses a serious challenge, however, because present search techniques based on manually annotated metadata and linear replay of material selected by the user do not scale effectively or efficiently to large collections. The artificial intelligence and Semantic Web provide a common framework that allows knowledge to be shared and reused in an efficient way. This chapter proposes a comprehensive approach for discovering information objects in large digital collections based on analysis of recorded semantic metadata in those objects and the application of expert system technologies. The authors suggest a conceptual architecture for a semantic search engine. They use case-based reasoning methodology to develop a prototype. OntoloGov is a collaborative effort that proposes a new form of interaction between citizens and e-government repositories, where the latter are adapted to users and their surroundings.