Ontologies : Domain Presentation
In the context of knowledge
representation and reasoning, the term ontology means a
specification of a conceptualization
[3]
.
An ontology is therefore a description of the concepts
that exist or can exist in a particular domain as well
as of the relationships in which the various concepts
may enter.
Ontologies are designed for knowledge
sharing since they provide the common vocabulary (or
description space) for a set of agents, either human or
software. Therefore, they have a consensual character,
although there is no need for a particular ontology to
be the product of a universal consensus (personal
ontologies may exist).
Examples of existing large scale
ontologies are WordNet [5]
and Cyc [4].
Large, electronically stored and
accessible-through-web ontologies are the backbone of
the Semantic web. Although there may be ontologies
described in a wide range of languages, two of those
languages are en route to become standards: RDF(S) [1]
and OWL [2].
[1]
Dan Brickley and Ramanathan Guha.
Resource Description Framework (RDF) Schema
Specification 1.0. Recommendation, W3C, 2000.
http://www.w3.org/TR/2000/CR-rdf-schema-20000327
[2]
Mike Dean and Guus Schreiber (eds.). OWL
web ontology language: reference. Recommendation,
W3C, 2004.
http://www.w3.org/TR/owlref/
[3] Thomas R. Gruber, Toward principles for the design
of ontologies used for knowledge sharing, International
Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 43(5-6):907-928,
1995.
[4]
Douglas B. Lenat. Cyc: A Large-Scale
Investment in Knowledge Infrastructure. The
Communications of the ACM 38(11):33-38, 1995.
[5]
George Miller. WordNet: A lexical
database for English. Communications of the ACM,
38(11):39–41, 1995. |