Integration of Ontologies and Knowledge from Distributed Autonomous Sources

In the context of open environments like the Semantic Web, Peer2Peer systems, Multiagent Systems and Semantic Grids, knowledge-based applications with multiple heterogeneous and autonomous knowledge sources have recently gained increased interest. For autonomous sources, often neither the consistency nor the reliability or the definiteness of the input knowledge can be ensured. This is why there is an increased need for theoretical frameworks and practical tools in order to enable and support the acquisition, representation and integration of such knowledge. This article provides an introduction into the issues of knowledge integration in open environments and presents a selection of outstanding approaches to these issues, focusing on ontologies and shared knowledge.