Mediators over taxonomy-based information sources

We propose a mediator model for providing integrated and unified access to multiple taxonomy-based sources. Each source comprises a taxonomy and a database that indexes objects under the terms of the taxonomy. A mediator comprises a taxonomy and a set of relations between the mediator's and the sources' terms, called articulations. By combining different modes of query evaluation at the sources and the mediator and different types of query translation, a flexible, efficient scheme of mediator operation is obtained that can accommodate various application needs and levels of answer quality. We adopt a simple conceptual modeling approach (taxonomies and intertaxonomy mappings) and we illustrate its advantages in terms of ease of use, uniformity, scalability, and efficiency. These characteristics make this proposal appropriate for a large-scale network of sources and mediators.