Functional units: Abstractions for Web service annotations

Paolo Missier, Katy Wolstencroft, Franck Tanoh, Peter Li, Sean Bechhofer, Khalid Belhajjame, Steve Pettifer, Carole Goble

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

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    Abstract

    Computational and data-intensive science increasingly depends on a large Web Service infrastructure, as services that provide a broad array of functionality can be composed into workflows to address complex research questions. In this context, the goal of service registries is to offer accurate search and discovery functions to scientists. Their effectiveness, however, depends not only on the model chosen to annotate the services, but also on the level of abstraction chosen for the annotations. The work presented in this paper stems from the observation that current annotation models force users to think in terms of service interfaces, rather than of high-level functionality, thus reducing their effectiveness. To alleviate this problem, we introduce Functional Units (FU) as the elementary units of information used to describe a service. Using popular examples of services for the Life Sciences, we define FUs as configurations and compositions of underlying service operations, and show how functional-style service annotations can be easily realised using the OWL semantic Web language. Finally, we suggest techniques for automating the service annotations process, by analysing collections of workflows that use those services.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings - 2010 6th World Congress on Services, Services-1 2010|Proc. - World Congr. Serv., Serv.
    PublisherIEEE Computer Society
    Pages306-313
    Number of pages8
    ISBN (Print)9780769541297
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 16 Sept 2010
    Event2010 6th World Congress on Services, Services-1 2010 - Miami, FL
    Duration: 1 Jul 2010 → …

    Conference

    Conference2010 6th World Congress on Services, Services-1 2010
    CityMiami, FL
    Period1/07/10 → …

    Keywords

    • web services
    • workflows
    • semantics

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