Intermediate information layer. The use of the SKOS ontology to create information about e-resources provided by the public administration

Currently, the issue of information search is based on processing a large number of documents, indexing their contents, and then evaluating the level of their adaptation to the question asked by the user. The development of the web allows to offer certain on-line services which make it possible to shop, book tickets or deal with public-administration issues. The objective of the WKUP system (Virtual Consultant of Public Services) is to assist the user in the process of searching and selecting services. The system gives a possibility of natural language communication in the first stage of interaction. This functionality has been achieved by means of the SKOS ontology. The article presents a general outline of the WKUP system architecture and the functioning of the search engine which interprets the user’s natural-language questions semantically. The article describes the use of the SKOS ontology in the applied answers searching algorithm.