A case study on the e-Government Core Vocabularies initiative has just been published in the library.

Core Vocabularies are simplified, reusable, and extensible data models that capture the fundamental characteristics of an entity in a context-neutral fashion. Core Vocabularies can be represented using different formalisms such as RDFS or XMLS.

Much alike SEMIC.EU, Member States in Europe are setting up national e-Government repositories with semantic interoperability assets that are used within a particular context for e-Government. However, to foster cross-border and cross-sector semantic interoperability of electronic public service, harmonization should also start at a higher level of abstraction that surpasses the context of individual interoperability domains, and thus the cultural, legal, organisational differences of individual Member States. In particular, harmonisation requires agreeing on common semantics of fundamental, Core Vocabularies across Europe. Such Core Vocabularies are the starting point for agreeing on new semantic interoperability assets and defining mappings between existing assets. Semantic interoperability assets that map to or extend such Core Vocabularies guarantee a minimum level of cross-domain and cross-border interoperability.

The SEMIC.EU Core Person is a first pilot for the specification of Core Vocabularies by SEMIC.EU. The lessons learned from its development will be used to gain insight in the general development process of Core Vocabularies. The case study shows how fundamental characteristics related to a person are captured and combined into a Core Vocabulary: a representation of a data model that is valid regardless of the context in which the entity is involved.

The case study also outlines the upcoming initiatives of SEMIC.EU with regard to Core Vocabularies.