Understanding and Modeling Context in Data Integration

The pragmatic context of information is a fundamental characteristic that is not often formally addressed in data integration. This paper discusses the challenges of modeling the multiple contexts at play in data integration. A simple data integration context modeling framework is introduced that we believe addresses important issues of representing a pragmatic context. It allows for multiple data sources from similar domains to be brought together without having to designate one as the “true” semantics. An example is provided showing how this approach supports integration efforts.