A semantic workflow mechanism to realise experimental goals and constraints

Workflow technologies provide scientific researchers with a flexible problem-solving environment, by facilitating the creation and execution of experiments from a pool of available services. In this paper we argue that in order to better characterise such experiments we need to go beyond low-level service composition and execution details by capturing higher-level descriptions of the scientific process. Current workflow technologies do not incorporate any representation of such experimental constraints and goals, which we refer to as the scientistpsilas intent. We have developed a framework based upon use of a number of semantic Web technologies, including the OWL ontology language and the semantic Web rule language (SWRL), to capture scientistpsilas intent. Through the use of a social simulation case study we illustrate the benefits of using this framework in terms of workflow monitoring, workflow provenance and enrichment of experimental results.