Semantics, Modular Reasoning, and Collaborative Ontology Design and Ontology Reuse

Abstract. Modular approaches to design and use of ontologies are essential to the success of the Semantic web enterprise. We describe P-OWL (Package-based OWL) which extends OWL, a widely used ontology language that supports modular design, adaptation, use, and reuse of ontologies. P-OWL localizes the semantics of entities and relationships in OWL to modules called packages. P-OWL and the associated tools will greatly facilitate collaborative ontology construction, use, and reuse