Semantic heterogeneity in document encoding systems is a serious obstacle to the interoperability required to create a critical mass of content for the electronic publishing industry. This is a problem which persists even after a common syntax (e.g. XML) has been adopted, and sometimes even when common vocabularies are used.

To address this problem the Scholarly Technology Group (STG) at Brown University undertook a project, supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to develop a framework for analyzing the fundamental features of semantic heterogeneity in document encoding systems.

PDF version (http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/semantic/semantic_stg.pdf)