Exploring RDF for Expertise Matching within an Organizational Memory

Organizations have realized that effective development and management of their organizational knowledge base is very important for their survival in todays competitive business environment. People, as a special knowledge asset, also attract the interest of many researchers because, only through people communicating with one another, can they really share their tacit knowledge and skills that can be more valuable than explicit documentation. The need to be able to quickly locate experts among the heterogeneous data sources stored in the organizational memory has been recognized by many researchers. This paper examines the advantages of using RDF (Resource Description Framework) for Expertise Matching. The major challenge is to semantically integrate heterogeneous data sources stored in the organizational memory and facilitate users to locate the right people. We present a practical application of this using a case study where PhD applicants can locate potential supervisors before they formally apply to a university.