Enhancing workflow with a semantic description of scientific intent

In the e-Science context, workflow technologies provide a problemsolving environment for researchers by facilitating the creation and execution of experiments from a pool of available services. In this paper we will show how Semantic Web technologies can be used to overcome a limitation of current workflow languages by capturing experimental constraints and goals, which we term scientist’s intent. We propose an ontology driven framework for capturing such intent based on workflow metadata combined with SWRL rules. Through the use of an example we will present the key benefits of the proposed framework in terms of enriching workflow output, assisting workflow execution and provenance support. We conclude with a discussion of the issues arising from application of this approach to the domain of social simulation.