TY - GEN
T1 - Using shape expressions (ShEx) to share rdf data models and to guide curation with rigorous validation
AU - Thornton, Katherine
AU - Solbrig, Harold
AU - Stupp, Gregory S.
AU - Labra Gayo, Jose Emilio
AU - Mietchen, Daniel
AU - Prud’hommeaux, Eric
AU - Waagmeester, Andra
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - We discuss Shape Expressions (ShEx), a concise, formal, modeling and validation language for RDF structures. For instance, a Shape Expression could prescribe that subjects in a given RDF graph that fall into the shape “Paper” are expected to have a section called “Abstract”, and any ShEx implementation can confirm whether that is indeed the case for all such subjects within a given graph or subgraph. There are currently five actively maintained ShEx implementations. We discuss how we use the JavaScript, Scala and Python implementations in RDF data validation workflows in distinct, applied contexts. We present examples of how ShEx can be used to model and validate data from two different sources, the domain-specific Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and the domain-generic Wikidata knowledge base, which is the linked database built and maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation as a sister project to Wikipedia. Example projects that are using Wikidata as a data curation platform are presented as well, along with ways in which they are using ShEx for modeling and validation. When reusing RDF graphs created by others, it is important to know how the data is represented. Current practices of using human-readable descriptions or ontologies to communicate data structures often lack sufficient precision for data consumers to quickly and easily understand data representation details. We provide concrete examples of how we use ShEx as a constraint and validation language that allows humans and machines to communicate unambiguously about data assets. We use ShEx to exchange and understand data models of different origins, and to express a shared model of a resource’s footprint in a Linked Data source. We also use ShEx to agilely develop data models, test them against sample data, and revise or refine them. The expressivity of ShEx allows us to catch disagreement, inconsistencies, or errors efficiently, both at the time of input, and through batch inspections. ShEx addresses the need of the Semantic Web community to ensure data quality for RDF graphs. It is currently being used in the development of FHIR/RDF. The language is sufficiently expressive to capture constraints in FHIR, and the intuitive syntax helps people to quickly grasp the range of conformant documents. The publication workflow for FHIR tests all of these examples against the ShEx schemas, catching non-conformant data before they reach the public. ShEx is also currently used in Wikidata projects such as Gene Wiki and WikiCite to develop quality-control pipelines to maintain data integrity and incorporate or harmonize differences in data across different parts of the pipelines.
AB - We discuss Shape Expressions (ShEx), a concise, formal, modeling and validation language for RDF structures. For instance, a Shape Expression could prescribe that subjects in a given RDF graph that fall into the shape “Paper” are expected to have a section called “Abstract”, and any ShEx implementation can confirm whether that is indeed the case for all such subjects within a given graph or subgraph. There are currently five actively maintained ShEx implementations. We discuss how we use the JavaScript, Scala and Python implementations in RDF data validation workflows in distinct, applied contexts. We present examples of how ShEx can be used to model and validate data from two different sources, the domain-specific Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and the domain-generic Wikidata knowledge base, which is the linked database built and maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation as a sister project to Wikipedia. Example projects that are using Wikidata as a data curation platform are presented as well, along with ways in which they are using ShEx for modeling and validation. When reusing RDF graphs created by others, it is important to know how the data is represented. Current practices of using human-readable descriptions or ontologies to communicate data structures often lack sufficient precision for data consumers to quickly and easily understand data representation details. We provide concrete examples of how we use ShEx as a constraint and validation language that allows humans and machines to communicate unambiguously about data assets. We use ShEx to exchange and understand data models of different origins, and to express a shared model of a resource’s footprint in a Linked Data source. We also use ShEx to agilely develop data models, test them against sample data, and revise or refine them. The expressivity of ShEx allows us to catch disagreement, inconsistencies, or errors efficiently, both at the time of input, and through batch inspections. ShEx addresses the need of the Semantic Web community to ensure data quality for RDF graphs. It is currently being used in the development of FHIR/RDF. The language is sufficiently expressive to capture constraints in FHIR, and the intuitive syntax helps people to quickly grasp the range of conformant documents. The publication workflow for FHIR tests all of these examples against the ShEx schemas, catching non-conformant data before they reach the public. ShEx is also currently used in Wikidata projects such as Gene Wiki and WikiCite to develop quality-control pipelines to maintain data integrity and incorporate or harmonize differences in data across different parts of the pipelines.
KW - Digital preservation wd:Q632897
KW - FHIR wd:Q19597236
KW - RDF wd:Q54872
KW - ShEx wd:Q29377880
KW - Wikidata wd:Q2013
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066789636&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85066789636&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-21348-0_39
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-21348-0_39
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85066789636
SN - 9783030213473
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 606
EP - 620
BT - The Semantic Web - 16th International Conference, ESWC 2019, Proceedings
A2 - Hitzler, Pascal
A2 - Fernández, Miriam
A2 - Janowicz, Krzysztof
A2 - Zaveri, Amrapali
A2 - Gray, Alasdair J.G.
A2 - Lopez, Vanessa
A2 - Haller, Armin
A2 - Hammar, Karl
PB - Springer Verlag
T2 - 16th International Semantic Web Conference, ESWC 2019
Y2 - 2 June 2019 through 6 June 2019
ER -