DAML-ONT: An Ontology Language for the Semantic Web

Knowledge Systems Laboratory
Stanford University

Abstract: DAML-ONT: An Ontology Language for the Semantic Web

By all measures, the web is enormous and growing at a staggering rate. This growth has made it simultaneously increasingly difficult and important for humans and programs to be able to quickly and accurately access information and services available on the web. A semantic web-a web where the meanings of terms are captured and exploited-can provide the foundation for convenient access to web content. The DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML) program is aimed at providing a language and toolset enabling the transformation of the web from a platform that focuses on presenting information to a platform that focuses on understanding and reasoning with information. In this paper, we describe the initial DAML language aimed at capturing the meaning of terms, thereby providing an ontology language for the web. We introduce DAML-ONT by way of examples and include an axiomatization of the language.

Deborah L. McGuinness, Richard Fikes, Lynn Andrea Stein, and James Hendler. ``DAML-ONT: An Ontology Language for the Semantic Web ''. In Dieter Fensel, Jim Hendler, Henry Lieberman, and Wolfgang Wahlster, editors. Spinning the Semantic Web: Bringing the World Wide Web to Its Full Potential. abstract .

This pre-print version of the paper to be published is available in word format and html format.

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