Towards an Information Assessment Framework for Use with the Semantic Web

The extension of the existing Web with meaningful information to form the Semantic Web holds great potential for allowing applications to carry out much more sophisticated tasks than supported by the current Web. As part of carrying out these tasks, Semantic Web applications must access and integrate information from a variety of sources including databases, services, programs, sensors, personal devices, etc. The ability of Semantic Web applications to dynamically assess this information with respect to its trustworthiness and quality is a key contribution to the successful completion of tasks. In addition, increasing interest in the research areas of security and information assurance highlight the need for an information assessment framework for the Semantic Web that incorporates aspects of trust and information quality as both of these aspects are necessary components to information security and electronic commerce. This paper presents a research agenda for the development of an information assessment framework encompassing information quality and trust management or trust agency for the Semantic Web.