About the Project

The Deliberation Knowledge Graph project aims to connect various deliberative process datasets and ontologies into a comprehensive knowledge graph. This project provides a unified framework for analyzing deliberative processes across different platforms and contexts, from formal parliamentary debates to citizen participation initiatives.

By integrating diverse datasets and ontologies, the Deliberation Knowledge Graph enables researchers, policymakers, and citizens to explore the connections between different deliberative processes, identify patterns, and gain insights into how deliberation works across various contexts.

Datasets

The project integrates several datasets related to deliberative processes from various sources:

Featured Dataset: European Parliament Debates

The European Parliament Debates dataset contains structured representations of plenary session debates, converted from verbatim HTML reports into both JSON and RDF formats aligned with the Deliberation Ontology.

This dataset captures the rich deliberative processes of the European Parliament, including speeches, topics, participants, and their political affiliations.

European Parliament Open Data Portal

View Sample JSON View Sample RDF Documentation

Data Structure

{
  "@type": "deliberation:DeliberationProcess",
  "deliberation:identifier": "ep_debate_YYYYMMDD",
  "deliberation:name": "European Parliament Debate",
  "deliberation:hasTopic": [...],
  "deliberation:hasParticipant": [...],
  "deliberation:hasContribution": [...]
}

Deliberation Ontology

The core ontology of this project, which integrates concepts from the ontologies listed below:

Download Deliberation Ontology Download Ontology Mappings

Ontology Mappings

The mappings.owl file contains explicit mappings between the Deliberation Ontology and other standard ontologies like FOAF, Dublin Core, SIOC, AIF, and LKIF. These mappings enable interoperability and integration with existing semantic web resources.

Key mapping relationships include:

• skos:exactMatch - Concepts that are exactly equivalent
• skos:closeMatch - Concepts that are very similar but not identical
• skos:relatedMatch - Concepts that are related but not equivalent
• skos:broadMatch - The source concept is broader than the target
• skos:narrowMatch - The source concept is narrower than the target

Relevant Ontologies

Data Conversion Tools

The Deliberation Knowledge Graph project provides conversion tools to transform various deliberation datasets into RDF format compatible with the deliberation ontology:

All conversion scripts follow a two-step process:

1. Convert the source data to a JSON format aligned with the deliberation ontology
2. Convert the JSON to RDF/XML format using the common convert_json_to_rdf.py script

This approach ensures consistency across all datasets and makes it easy to add new datasets in the future.

Ontology-Specific Graphs

Below are separate Mermaid.js graphs showing how each ontology's core classes and properties map to the Deliberation Ontology (Del). We have extracted only the relevant portion of the large integrated diagram, so you can view them in smaller chunks, per ontology.

1) DELIB Ontology Alignment

2) Argument Interchange Format (AIF) Alignment

3) SIOC Ontology Alignment

4) FOAF Ontology Alignment

5) Dublin Core (DC) Alignment

6) LKIF Ontology Alignment

7) IBIS Model Alignment

Each subgraph above focuses on how the Deliberation Ontology Graph maps to or extends the respective ontology's classes and properties. By splitting the overall mapping into smaller diagrams, we ensure that each relationship set is easier to inspect, maintain, and update.

Documentation

Comprehensive documentation for the Deliberation Knowledge Graph project:

• Data Models Overview - Detailed information about the ontologies and data models used in this project
• Knowledge Graph Model - Explanation of the knowledge graph model and its components
• Deliberation Ontology - The core ontology file in OWL format
• Ontology Mappings - Mappings between the Deliberation Ontology and other standard ontologies