An Architecture for Semantic Facilitation and Reuse of Directory Metadata

Lei Li
Georgia State University
lli4@gsu.edu

Vijay Vaishnavi
Georgia State University
vvaishnavi@gsu.edu

Art Vandenberg
Georgia State University
avandenberg@gsu.edu

Abstract

Directories provide a well-defined, general mechanism for describing resources within an enterprise. Directory enabled services across organizations require significant coordination of directory structures and standards for directory metadata. In this paper , we investigate the interoperability problem among different directories having heterogeneous structures. Our research is based on the proposition that monitoring, clustering, and appropriate visualization of cross-organizational directory metadata can help identify patterns of practice and evolving standards and ultimately lead to automatic and dynamic evolution of standards. To operationalize our research approach, the Semantically Enhanced Enterprise Directory Services (SEEDS) architecture is developed and a preliminary research prototype is implemented.

Keywords: directory metadata, LDAP, semantic interoperability, semantic facilitation, self-organizing map.