TaToo Semantic Service Environment and Framework Architecture V3

The goal of this document is to specify the TaToo Framework Architecture on an implementation independent level while considering the functional and non-functional requirements identified during the requirements analysis phase. It provides implementation independent descriptions and specifications of components and describes the basic information flows with the help of a set of Core Use-Cases focusing on TaToo’s base functionality.

This document establishes the conceptual framework for the discovery and tagging of resources in TaToo while also considering comprehensively the aspects of multilingualism, security, evaluation, and Linked Data principles. Thereby it describes the TaToo discovery process emphasizing in its relations with other Information Retrieval (IR) systems and the advantages of the semantically-enhanced TaToo tagging process.

It provides several annexes that contain besides the descriptions of all the TaToo Framework components detailed implementation independent (functional) specifications of discovery and tagging related components and a description of the architectural processes applied and the architectural design decisions taken.

The present document has been produced by the consortium of the European Project FP7-247893 Tagging Tool based on a Semantic Discovery Framework (TaToo) and corresponds to the deliverable D3.1.3 - Semantic Service Environment and Framework Architecture V3 of WP3 - Specification. It is the final revision of the initial architecture specification presented in D3.1.1 (TaToo-D311, 2010) and the enhanced specification presented in D3.1.2 (TaToo-D312, 2011).It describes the third and last iteration of the TaToo Semantic Service Environment and Framework Architecture including the achievements and progress made in V1, V2 and V3. It serves as the basis for the third software design and implementation phase of TaToo performed in WP4 – Implementation and thus as blueprint for the reference implementation of the TaToo Framework.

The aim of the TaToo Framework is to provide an infrastructure to bridge the discovery gap between environmental resources and users. The TaToo Framework shall enable experts as well as arbitrary users to share trusted and reliable information and to allow easy semantically-enhanced discovery and tagging of existing environmental information. The architecture outlined in this document contributes to the fulfilments of this aim by establishing the conceptual foundations of the TaToo Framework.

This document has six annexes:

• Annex A (TaToo-D313a, 2012) provides a template for the functional specification of TaToo Public Services.
• Annex B (TaToo-D313b, 2012) provides a template for the functional specification of TaToo Components. In general, the Component Specification Template is used for Tools (User Components) with graphical user interface or any other components that are not realised as services (e.g. certain Core Components).
• Annex C (TaToo-D313c, 2012) contains the final functional specifications of discovery related User Components, Public Services and Core Components according to the templates provided in Annex A and B.
• Annex D (TaToo-D313d, 2012) contains the final functional specifications of tagging, evaluation and linking related User Components, Public Services and Core Components according to the templates provided in Annex A and B.
• Annex E (TaToo-D313e, 2012) explains the scope of the TaToo Framework Architecture and discusses in detail the architectural design process, its objectives, and supporting elements along with the considerations and decisions that resulted in the pursued approach. It furthermore provides a comprehensive overview on the design decisions taken by the TaToo Consortium while specifying the TaToo Framework Architecture.
• Annex F (TaToo-D313f, 2012) contains the functional descriptions of the components identified during the first, second and third iteration of the TaToo Framework Architecture specification. Component descriptions provide a brief overview on the purpose and capabilities of a certain component and act as the basis for functional specifications (Annex C and D).