OWL Introduction | Beginner Tutorial

• RDF Tutorial
• RDF Introduction
• RDF Rules
• RDF Example
• RDF Main Elements
• RDF Containers
• RDF Collections
• RDF Schema
• RDF Dublin Core
• OWL Introduction
• RDF Reference Manual

OWL Introduction

OWL is a language for processing web information.

Prerequisites Before Learning OWL

To learn OWL, you should have basic knowledge of XML, XML namespaces, and RDF.

If you want to learn these topics first, please visit:

• XML Tutorial
• RDF Tutorial

What is OWL?

• OWL stands for Web Ontology Language
• OWL builds on top of RDF
• OWL is used to process information on the web
• OWL is designed to be interpreted by computers
• OWL is not designed to be read by humans
• OWL is written in XML
• OWL has three sub-languages
• OWL is a web standard

What is an Ontology?

The term "ontology" comes from philosophy, it is the science that studies various entities in the world and how they are related.

For the web, an ontology is about the precise description of web information and the relationships between web information.

Why Use OWL?

OWL is part of the "Semantic Web Vision" - the goal is:

• Web information has exact meaning
• Web information can be understood and processed by computers
• Computers can integrate information from the Web

OWL is Designed for Computers to Process Information

OWL is designed to provide a general method for processing the content of Web information (rather than displaying it).

OWL is designed to be read by computer applications (rather than by humans).

OWL Differs from RDF

While OWL shares many similarities with RDF, OWL is a more powerful language with stronger machine interpretability compared to RDF.

Compared to RDF, OWL has a larger vocabulary and a more powerful language.

OWL Sub-Languages

There are three sub-languages of OWL:

• OWL Lite
• OWL DL (includes OWL Lite)
• OWL Full (includes OWL DL)

OWL is Written in XML

By using XML, OWL information can be exchanged between different types of computers running different operating systems and application languages.

OWL is a Web Standard

OWL became a W3C Recommendation in February 2004.

A W3C Recommendation is considered a web standard by industry and web communities. A W3C Recommendation is a stable specification developed by the W3C Working Group and reviewed by W3C members.

More information about OWL on the W3C website: Web Ontology Language OWL - W3C Semantic Web Activity