Ontology-Driven Software Development in the Context of the Semantic Web: An Example Scenario with Protégé/OWL

Recent efforts towards the Semantic Web vision have lead to a number of standards such as OWL and Web Service languages. While these standards provide a technical infrastructure, software developers have little guidance on how to build real-world Semantic Web applications. Based on a realistic application scenario, we present some initial thoughts on a software architecture and a development methodology for Web services and agents for the Semantic Web. This architecture is driven by formal domain models (ontologies). The methodology applies best practices from agile development methodologies, including systematic tests, short feedback loops, and close involvement of domain experts. We illustrate how these techniques can be put into practice using the modern Semantic Web development tool Protégé, and indicate future possibilities.