Extensible use of RDF in a business context

Abstract The next generation of intranets should facilitate the structuring of information as well as the organizing of communication in networking organizations. For many organizations, one step in that direction is to structure information by adding metadata. We have encountered problems when applying Dublin Core, a metadata element set developed for discovery of existing information resources on the public Internet, on an extensive intranet. Our conclusion, argued in this paper, is that these problems are a consequence of trying to describe information resources without taking into account the context in which end users create and consume information. The next generation of intranets calls for a more contextual approach. The contribution of this paper is such an approach. We propose a framework including: (1) A model for describing three different areas of resources: business, information and communication, and integrating the resources description areas by means of generic classes, constrains and relations. (2) An extension to the model describing and integrating nodes and relations in networking organizations. (3) An extension to the model describing and organizing the communication of information in the business. The framework suggests an extensible use of RDF (Resource Description Framework) in a business context.