From manual to semi-automatic semantic annotation: about ontology-based text annotation tools
Michael A. Erdmann, Alexander Maedche, Hans-Peter Schnurr, Steffen Staab · 2026 · 154 citationsRead the paper
Semantic Annotation is a basic technology for intelli- gent content and is beneficial in a wide range of content- oriented intelligent applications. In this paper we present our work in ontology-based semantic annotation, which is embedded in a scenario of a knowledge portal appli- cation. Starting with seemingly good and bad manual semantic annotation, we describe our experiences made within the KA -initiative. The experiences gave us the starting point for developing an ergonomic and knowl- edge base-supported annotation tool. Furthermore, the annotation tool described are currently extended with mechanisms for semi-automatic information-extraction based annotation. Supporting the evolving nature of semantic content we additionally describe our idea of evolving ontologies supporting semantic annotation.
What the full text shows
Working prototype- Development of an ergonomic, knowledge-base-supported annotation tool to replace manual HTML tagging. (KA community portal scenario)
- Integration of an information extraction system to provide semi-automatic annotation suggestions to users. (Ontology-based text annotation)
- Proposed a cyclic process for evolving ontologies to adapt to new semantic terminology and relationships during annotation. (Semantic content evolution)
- Setup
- KA community portal (Knowledge Acquisition community), utilizing the Ontobroker system consisting of a crawler, knowledge base, inference engine, and query interface.
- How
- The authors developed an ergonomic annotation tool supported by a knowledge base and integrated it with an information extraction system for semi-automatic suggestions. They utilized Frame Logic for ontology representation and a proprietary HTML extension for semantic tagging.
- Limitations
- Lack of formal evaluation of ergonomic and semi-automatic mechanisms · Lack of RDF standard support for metadata representation at the time of writing
Summarized by Gemma 4 from the open-access full text · 8 Oct 2026. Read it