Dimensions of Formality: A Case Study for MKM in Software Engineering

TL;DR

This paper explores how RDFa-based extensions of MKM formats can effectively formalize and encode multi-dimensional classifications and relationships in software engineering documents, enhancing browsing, querying, and data reuse.

Contribution

It demonstrates the suitability of RDFa extensions for encoding complex, multi-dimensional metadata in software engineering documents from an MKM perspective.

Findings

RDFa-based extensions effectively encode multi-dimensional classifications.

Formalized metadata enhances document browsing and querying.

Enables exporting Linked Data for Semantic Web integration.

Abstract

We study the formalization of a collection of documents created for a Software Engineering project from an MKM perspective. We analyze how document and collection markup formats can cope with an open-ended, multi-dimensional space of primary and secondary classifications and relationships. We show that RDFa-based extensions of MKM formats, employing flexible "metadata" relationships referencing specific vocabularies for distinct dimensions, are well-suited to encode this and to put it into service. This formalized knowledge can be used for enriching interactive document browsing, for enabling multi-dimensional metadata queries over documents and collections, and for exporting Linked Data to the Semantic Web and thus enabling further reuse.