URREF for veracity assessment in query-based information fusion systems

The uncertainty representation and reasoning evaluation framework (URREF) ontology discusses an organization, categorization, taxonomy and definitions of uncertainty. Uncertainty can be either subjective or objective pending its source. For example, the information´s origin can affect the evaluation, processing, and results from information fusion systems. In this paper we explore the coordination of a user and machine, and its effects on the ontology; our focus is on query-based systems. A user requesting information provides refinement of the analysis via queries which are typically semantic in nature. A query that is continuously refined reduces uncertainty and the information can be used in the ontology as part of the source, evaluation, and information quality. For example, a user receiving a response to a query can determine if the response meets the quality, evaluation, and source criteria. The user response (i.e. relevance feedback) to “did this answer your question,” can subsequently alter the uncertainty values. Together with the URREF ontology, query-based information fusion systems can work synergistically to reduce decision uncertainty.