Table Of ContentSemantic Web Technologies and Legal Scholarly
Publishing
Law, Governance and Technology Series
VOLUME15
SeriesEditors:
POMPEUCASANOVAS,InstituteofLawandTechnology,UAB,Spain
GIOVANNISARTOR,UniversityofBologna(FacultyofLaw–CIRSFID)
andEuropean,UniversityInstituteofFlorence,Italy
ScientificAdvisoryBoard:
GIANMARIAAJANI, University of Turin, Italy; KEVINASHLEY, University of Pittsburgh, USA;
KATIEATKINSON,UniversityofLiverpool,UK;TREVORJ.M.BENCH-CAPON,UniversityofLiv-
erpool,UK;V.RICHARDSBENJAMINS,Telefonica,Spain;GUIDOBOELLA,Universita’degliStudi
diTorino,Italy;JOOSTBREUKER,UniversiteitvanAmsterdam,TheNetherlands;DANIÈLEBOUR-
CIER,UniversityofParis2-CERSA,France;TOMBRUCE,CornellUniversity,USA;NURIACASEL-
LAS, Institute of Law and Technology, UAB, Spain; CRISTIANO CASTELFRANCHI, ISTC-CNR,
Italy; JACK G. CONRAD, Thomson Reuters, USA; ROSARIA CONTE, ISTC-CNR, Italy; FRAN-
CESCOCONTINI,IRSIG-CNR,Italy;JESÚSCONTRERAS,iSOCO,Spain;JOHNDAVIES,British
Telecommunicationsplc,UK;JOHNDOMINGUE,TheOpenUniversity,UK;JAIMEDELGADO,Uni-
versitatPolitécnicadeCatalunya,Spain;MARCOFABRI,IRSIG-CNR,Italy;DIETERFENSEL,Uni-
versityofInnsbruck,Austria;ENRICOFRANCESCONI,ITTIG-CNR,Italy;FERNANDOGALINDO,
UniversidaddeZaragoza, Spain;ALDOGANGEMI,ISTC-CNR,Italy; MICHAELGENESERETH,
StanfordUniversity, USA;ASUNCIÓNGÓMEZ-PÉREZ,UniversidadPolitécnicadeMadrid, Spain;
THOMASF.GORDON,FraunhoferFOKUS,Germany;GUIDOGOVERNATORI,NICTA,Australia;
GRAHAMGREENLEAF,TheUniversityofNewSouthWales,Australia;MARKOGROBELNIK,Josef
StefanInstitute,Slovenia;SERGEGUTWIRTH,VrijeUniversiteitBrussels;JAMESHENDLER,Rens-
selaerPolytechnicInstitute,USA;RINKEHOEKSTRA,UniversiteitvanAmsterdam,TheNetherlands;
ETHANKATSH,UniversityofMassachusettsAmherst,USA;MARCLAURITSEN,CapstonePractice
Systems, Inc., USA; RONALD LEENES,Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society, Tilburg
University, TheNetherlands; PHILIPLIETH,Queen’sUniversityBelfast, UK;ARNOLODDER,VU
UniversityAmsterdam,TheNetherlands;JOSÉMANUELLÓPEZCOBO,Playence,Austria;PIERRE
MAZZEGA, LMTG-UMR5563 CNRS/IRD/UPS, France; MARIE-FRANCINE MOENS, Katholieke
UniversiteitLeuven,Belgium;PABLONORIEGA,IIIA-CSIC,Spain;ANJAOSKAMP,OpenUniver-
siteit,TheNetherlands;SASCHAOSSOWSKI,UniversidadReyJuanCarlos,Spain;UGOPAGALLO,
UniversitàdegliStudidiTorino,Italy;MONICAPALMIRANI,UniversitàdiBologna,Italy;ABDUL
PALIWALA,UniversityofWarwick,UK;ENRICPLAZA,IIIA-CSIC,Spain;MARTAPOBLET,RMIT
University, Melbourne, Australia; DANIEL POULIN, Lexum informatique juridique Inc., Canada;
HENRYPRAKKEN,UniversiteitUtrechtandTheUniversityofGroningen,TheNetherlands;HAIBIN
QI,HuazhongUniversityofScienceandTechnology,P.R.China;DORYREILING,AmsterdamDistrict
Court, TheNetherlands; PIERCARLOROSSI,Italy; EDWINAL.RISSLAND,UniversityofMas-
sachusetts,Amherst,USA;COLINRULE,UniversityofMassachusetts,USA;MARCOSCHORLEM-
MER,IIIA-CSIC,Spain;CARLESSIERRA,IIIA-CSIC,Spain;MIGELANGELSICILIA,Universidad
deAlcalá,Spain;RONALDW.STAUDT,Chicago-KentCollegeofLaw,USA;RUDISTUDER,Karl-
sruhe Institute of Technology, Germany; DANIELA TISCORNIA, ITTIG-CNR, Italy; JOAN-JOSEP
VALLBÈ,UniversitatdeBarcelon,Spain;TOMVANENGERS,UniversiteitvanAmsterdam,TheNeth-
erlands;FABIOVITALI,UniversitàdiBologna,Italy;MARY-ANNEWILLIAMS,TheUniversityof
Technology, Sydney, Australia; RADBOUDWINKELS, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
ADAMWYNER,UniversityofLiverpool,UK;HAJIMEYOSHINO,MeijiGakuinUniversity,Japan;
JOHNZELEZNIKOW,UniversityofVictoria,Australia
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/8808
Silvio Peroni
Semantic Web Technologies
and Legal Scholarly
Publishing
2123
SilvioPeroni
DepartmentofComputerScienceandEngineering
UniversityofBologna
MuraAnteoZamboni7
40126Bologna(BO)
Italy
ISSN2352-1902 ISSN2352-1910(electronic)
ISBN978-3-319-04776-8 ISBN978-3-319-04777-5(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-04777-5
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014934451
© SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2014
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthe
materialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,
broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation
storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology
nowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerptsinconnection
withreviewsorscholarlyanalysisormaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeingenteredand
executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this
publicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheCopyrightLawofthePublisher’s
location,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer.Permissions
forusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter.Violationsareliableto
prosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication
doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant
protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Whiletheadviceandinformationinthisbookarebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication,
neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityforanyerrorsor
omissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothe
materialcontainedherein.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Foreword
What you are holding in your hand is a multi-faceted book. From where I stand,
thereareatleastthreedifferentpointsofviewthatcanbetakentoreaditandenjoy
itsideasandconceptualframework.
Firstofall,thisisabookproposinginnovativeideasaboutLegalPublishing.As
such,positioningitwithintheLaw,GovernanceandTechnologySeriesofSpringer
Verlag is proper and true to its nature and aims: Peroni’s work contributes new
conceptsandsolutionsformanaginglegaltexts(doctrineaswellaslegislationand
jurisprudence),placingthemasthecoreculturalinfrastructureuponwhichtheuni-
verse of legal activities is based, whose workflow (from ideation to drafting, to
evaluation, to publication, to evolution, to oblivion or removal) is instrumental to
thecorrectunderstandingoflegalprocesses,andwhosesemanticrepresentationisa
compellingandexemplaryapplicationofSemanticWebtechnologiesthatprovides
solid bases for innovative tools helping professionals and laymen in cataloguing,
searching,andreasoninguponlegalknowledge.
Andyet,asecondmainviewpointemerges,thatofSemanticPublishing,consti-
tutinganexplicit, confessed, andtransparentfocusdrift, wherebylegalpublishing
isheldasbutoneinstanceofmanyinthelargerclassofpublishingcontexts,where
similarities are more important than differences, so that they can be studied and
describedasonediscipline.
In this sense, document publishing can be seen as the main theme of the book,
andthelegaldomainasjustthefrontmostexample.Severaltopicsofgreattimeliness
andcomplexityaretackledandrelevantcontributionsareprovidedunderoneencom-
passingparadigmgivingthemintegrityanduniformity:fromtheissueofmanaging
multiple, reciprocally inconsistent structures over the same content (a well-known
probleminthemarkupcommunitysincetheearlydaysofTEI)totheproblemofthe
accuratedescriptionofthedomainofscholarlypublishing,totheissueofproviding
informativeandeasilyunderstandablepresentationofmetadatarecordsofpublica-
tions to a lay audience, we are shown a full catalogue of tough problems whose
solutionsinliteratureare,atpresent,hardlysatisfactory.YetPeroninotonlytackles
them providing more advanced proposals and ideas than in literature, but does so
byintroducingtoitsfullpowerjustonenewapproach,thatofSemanticWebtech-
nologies,showinghowpowerfulandeleganttheyareinaddressingcomplexissues.
v
vi Foreword
Namely, multiple hierarchies are in fact managed through overlapping markup as
suggested long ago in literature, but through the use of Semantic Web ontologies
Peronigiveslifetoafullynewmeta-markuplanguage, EARMARK,thatsuccess-
fullyandautomaticallyreplacesXMLwithoutloosingthegeneralityandavailability
ofitstools.Similarly,metadataforscholarlypublishingareinfactmanagedthrough
ontologies, as suggested in innumerable publications of the last twenty years, but
Peronisuggestsaunifyingframeworkofeightdifferentontologies,SPAR,integrat-
inginthesameconceptualizationissuesasdifferentastheFRBR-baseddescription
oftherelationshipsbetweenversionsofthesamework,thefinestdistinctionofroles
and stages in scholarly publishing, the rhetorical roles of sections and fragments
in scholarly articles.Also and consequently, the familiarity of Peroni to Semantic
Web technologies allows him to produce end-user tools that are immediately and
concretelyusefultothelaymanandprofessionalalike:hisdocumentationtool,his
keyconceptextractorandhisvisualizationtoolforOWLontologiesareimmediately
useful in the publishing domain and therefore in the legal publishing domain, but
theyare,atheart,extremelygeneraltoolsthatareusefulwhereverOWLontologies
areemployed.
Butthereisathirdpointofviewinthisbook,abackgroundthemeconnectingall
foregroundtopics.Wecouldcallitthetime-andcontext-awaredesignpattern, an
approachtodescribingandformalizingcomplexdomainsbytakingintoaccountthe
unavoidableevolutionsintimeorcontextthatsoonerorlaterwillaffectthedesign.
Forinstance,traditionalontologiesforpublishingoftenconsidereditionsasfirst-
class concepts, fixed in time and absolute in their nature, and therefore downplay
the existence of connections between subsequent versions or variants of the same
publication;ontologiesoforganizationaldomainoverloadthedescriptionoftheac-
tors involved with the roles they hold, as if role was a persistent characteristic of
anindividualoranorganization:isbeingamemberoftheparliamentapermanent
or transient characteristic of a politician? Is being a draft discussed by a specific
commission a permanent or transient characteristic of a bill? Handling time and
context-aware characterization of complex domains is not straightforward, and al-
thoughliteratureofbestpracticesforontologydesignhasfrequentlydiscussedthe
drawbacksofignoringtimeinformalizations,andhasproposedanumberofdesign
approaches that take care of time and contexts, the world is full of important and
widespreadontologiesthatdescribesketchesofrealityfrozenintime,possiblynot
wrongnow,butsurelytobecomewrongsometimeinthefuture.Peroni’sapproachis
systematically,sometimespainfullyawareofthefactthattimeandcontextschange
andaffectformalizations,andmakessurethatthemarkuplanguages,theontologies,
thetoolsheproposescanhandleinasophisticatedmannerdomainsthatevolvein
timeandthathavedifferentcharacteristicsdependingoncontexts.Fromthispointof
view,IbelievethatSection5.5ofthisbook,providingtheontologicaldesignpattern
for handling time and context aware formalizations of domains, is the conceptual
pivotofthewholebook,andprovidesthefundamentalsofanextremelymatureand
self-consciousscholarlyapproachbyPeroni.
Foreword vii
Inthelastfiveyears,IwitnessedSilvioPeroni’sculturalevolutionfromtheearly
projectsasaneagermasterstudenttothefullscientificmaturityofthisbook,arich
rewriting and extension of his PhD thesis. It is with pleasure and fondness that I
seemanylongandthought-provokingdiscussionswithhimendupinthisbookas
fully-expressedandconvincingargumentations,dutifullybackedupinliteratureand
tightlyconnectedwithpracticalapplicationsandactualtools.Ifeelhonouredtohave
beeninvolvedinhisworkandtohavebeencollaboratingwithSilviointheseyears.
DepartmentofComputerScienceandEngineering Prof.FabioVitali
UniversityofBologna
Preface
This book introduces theories, formalisms and applications that permit effective
interactionbetweenlegalscholarlydocumentsandtheirrelatedsemanticandformal
descriptions,usingthesemantictechnologiesthathavebeenemployedtocreatethe
SemanticWebandLinkedData.SuchanapplicationofSemanticWebtechnologies
totheworldofdocumentsandpublishingisheretermedSemanticPublishing.
ResearchandpublishinginLawhavealongtraditionofapplyingsuchsemantic
technologies to real-world scenarios. In this context, the aim of this book is to
describeandproposesolutionstothreeofthemainissuesfacedbytheapplication
ofSemanticPublishingwithinthecontextofthelegalscholarlydocuments,namely:
theneedfortoolstolinkdocumenttexttoaformalrepresentationofitsmeaning;the
requirementforcompletemetadataschemas/ontologiesthatcanbeusedtodescribe
documents using the language and vocabulary of the world of publishing; and the
demandforeffectiveuserinterfacesthatpermitsuchtoolsandschemastobeapplied
inpractice.
Thefirstsectionofthisbookdescribesmarkuptheoryandtechnology,wherebya
bettercomprehensionofadocumentcanbederivedfromadescriptionofitsstructural
organisationandoftheformalsemanticscontainedwithinit,andfromclarificationof
howthesetwotypesofmarkup—structuralandsemantic—canoverlapandinteract.
In digital documents, the way we say something about a text is by the addition of
markup,bywhichismeantadditionalstatements,notnormallyrenderedvisiblefor
human reading, that define and delimit structural or semantic features of the text.
Markuphasbeenusedforyearsforannotatingdocumentsatalllevelsofgranularity,
from the digital document as a whole to its sub-components. However, the most
commonlyuseddocumentformatsemployedinpublishing(i.e.,XMLandPDF)were
notdevelopedprimarilytoenablesemanticenhancementandoverlappingmarkup,
althoughinprincipleitispossibletousethemforthispurpose.Tofacilitatethetaskof
integratingpotentiallyoverlappingstructuralandsemanticmarkup,Ihavedeveloped
anOWL-basedmarkupmetalanguagecalledEARMARK.EARMARKeddocuments
are collections of addressable text fragments associated with OWL assertions that
describethestructuralandsemanticpropertiesof(partsof)thatcontent.
ix
x Preface
DigitaldocumentsandtheircontentformthefocusofSemanticPublishing,which
enables their automated discovery and connection to other document-related re-
sources and contexts, such as other articles and raw data. Unfortunately, existing
Semantic Web vocabularies are too abstract and incomplete to cover the require-
ments of the publishing world. There is thus an acute need for new vocabularies
(ontologies) that comprehensively describe the different aspects of the publishing
domain.Inthecentralsectionofthisbook,Idescribeasuiteoforthogonalandcom-
plementaryOWL2DLontologymodules,theSemanticPublishingandReferencing
(SPAR)Ontologies,thatenableallaspectsofthepublishingprocesstobedescribed
in machine-readable metadata statements encoded using the Resource Description
Framework(RDF).
Thefinalsectionofthisbookdescribesnewtoolsandinterfacesthatenableusers
touseandinteractwithsuchsemantictechnologiesandtocreatesemanticdata.This
provision of new tools and interfaces is particularly crucial for Semantic Publish-
ing,sinceitsend-usersaregenerallypublishers,researchers,readers,librarians,law
scholars and the like, rather than computer scientists who are experts in semantic
technologies.TheuseofsemanticlanguagesandvocabulariessuchasEARMARK
and the SPAR Ontologies requires simple and easy-to-use human-computer inter-
faces that facilitate their application to Semantic Publishing by non-experts. Here
Iintroducefournewtoolsdevelopedtosupportusers: two(LODEandKC-Viz)to
aidinunderstandinganontology;athird(Graffoo)thatassistsinpresentingsuchan
ontology, or fragments of it, in comprehensible formalised diagrams; and a fourth
(Gaffe)thatisusefulwhenemployingsuchanontologytocreatesemanticdefinitions
ofrealdata.
