Knowledge Beyond Documents: FAIR Ontologies for Humans and Machines
Abstract
Slides from the invited keynote delivered at the 30th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries the 23rd of September, 2026 (https://tpdl2026.ualg.pt/keynotes/) The FAIR principles have significantly improved the publication and reuse of digital resources, promoting data that are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. However, as AI-based systems increasingly consume and generate knowledge, achieving machine-actionable interoperability requires not only FAIR data but also FAIR ontologies. In this keynote, I will argue that FAIR ontologies are a cornerstone of machine-actionable knowledge. Beyond enabling semantic interoperability, they support knowledge integration, discovery, and explainability across digital infrastructures. I will present recent advances in ontology engineering, discussing practical approaches, tools, and best practices for designing and publishing FAIR ontologies, together with current challenges such as documentation, metadata, versioning, quality assessment, governance, modularity, reuse, and long-term sustainability. Ultimately, I will argue that moving from FAIR Data to FAIR Knowledge requires treating ontologies as first-class FAIR digital resources.
