Ontology Ontogeny: Understanding How an Ontology Is Created and Developed

Abstract

Abstract. This paper describes the development of a systematic method for creating domain ontologies. We have chosen to explicitly recognise the differing needs of the human domain expert and the machine in our representation of ontologies in two forms: a conceptual and a logical ontology. The conceptual ontology is intended for human understanding and the logical ontology, expressed in description logics, is derived from the conceptual ontology and intended for machine processing. The main contribution of our work is the division of these two stages of ontology development, with emphasis placed on domain experts themselves creating the conceptual ontology, rather than relying on a software engineer to elicit knowledge about the domain. In particular, this paper concentrates on the creation of conceptual ontologies and analyses the success of our methodology when tested by domain experts.

Toward an inclusive semantic interoperability: the case of Cree hydrographic features

“…Our only option was to engage the domain experts in mutually interesting discussions about the Cree language, and consequently further our understanding of Cree geographic categories. Although these constraints render inappropriate survey-based methods of elicitation (Mark and Egenhofer 1995) and spreadsheet-based methods (Mizen et al 2005) used with other groups of domain experts, these methods proved capable of eliciting geographical categories from Cree participants. The goals of this research included adopting a participatory approach, often not used in formal ontology investigations, as well as involving the Cree community in a knowledge preservation exercise.…”

“…To minimize bias, no initial hierarchical structure was imparted to the ontology (Mizen et al 2005). After the properties of the classes were specified, it became clear that some classes had the same set of properties as others, but with additional properties.…”

“…Downloaded by [Gazi University] at 17:50 04 February 2015 Information science has two main kinds of ontologies: conceptual ontologies and logical ontologies. Conceptual ontologies are specified in natural language and can include concept hierarchies, feature catalogs, and concept lattices (Uschold and Gruninger 1996, Frank 2001, Mizen et al 2005. They can be created to guide human communication and ensure its effectiveness.…”

“…We used a bottom-up approach, which imparts no initial hierarchy to the classes (Agarwal 2005, Mizen et al 2005. Formal definitions of classes should suggest that certain classes completely contain the instances of certain other classes.…”

GEO-CEOS stage 4 validation of the Satellite Image Automatic Mapper lightweight computer program for ESA Earth observation level 2 product generation - Part 1: Theory

“…Ahlqvist writes that “to negotiate and compare information stemming from different classification systems (Bishr, 1998; Mizen, Dolbear, & Hart, 2005)… a translation can be achieved by matching the concepts in one system with concepts in another , either directly or through an intermediate classification (Feng & Flewelling, 2004; Kavouras & Kokla, 2002)” (Ahlqvist, 2005). Stehman describes four common types of thematic map-pair comparisons (Stehman, 1999).…”