Use shape expression schema to validate ontology instance data

[dazza-codes]

http://shexspec.github.io/primer/#quickStart

Often ontology entities are created or modified with a specific RDF graph pattern in mind for instance data expressed in the ontology. The shape expression schema is a formal way to specify these graph patterns. These graph patterns are often examples of instance data - the google docs for developing bibliotek-o often have such instance data examples to provide concrete RDF triples that express the desired use and utility of an ontology feature.

One way to use ShEx schema could be to combine sample data, the ontology and a converter to create instance data that could be validated against the ShEx schema. The idea here is to enable something like a test-driven development practice for ontology development. It's something like:

• create the graph pattern desired and express it in ShEx
  • run a ShEx validation process
  • if the new ShEx changes an existing pattern, it should break the validation process
  • if the ShEx is a new pattern, it should break the validation process (usually)
  • this is the Red phase of a test-driven development process
• modify the ontology to satisfy the ShEx validation
  • run a ShEx validation process
  • iterate on the ontology development/refactoring to get it to validate
  • this is the Green phase of a test-driven development process

[VladimirAlexiev]

Nice approach. You could also consider SHACL, which is W3C standardized, although more verbose and lacks some nice ShEx features (recursive shapes). Ping me if you want a list of implementations.

[dazza-codes]

FYI, I'm no longer watching this or working on LD4* projects.