We have seen how semantic standards promise to be an effective approach to resolving the problems posed by semantic heterogeneity and how they can be the source of applications that help users find and discover information efficiently and effectively. The development of semantic technologies is an ongoing process, whereby any given stage can be the source of application development. The richer the semantics, the greater the possibilities for developing smart applications.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not the case that large expenditures of time and effort are necessary to develop nor to enjoy the advantages of semantic technologies, nor is it the case that structured indexed data are necessary to realize the benefits. As we have shown, even a small investment in the enhancement of relations between vocabularies, both metadata and domain-specific, yields a relatively large return on investment. We have shown several scenarios of varying complexity that enable information providers within the ethics domain to exploit semantic technologies to provide information effectively and allow their users to access it easily.
