Ontologies In Information Systems Research Articles

For the sake of simplicity: Applying software design parsimony to the content of information system ontologies

Although many information system ontologies (ISOs) claim to be parsimonious, the notion of parsimony seems to influence the debate on ISOs only at the level of vague and uncritical assumption. To challenge this trend, the paper aims to clarify what it means for ISOs to be parsimonious. Specifically, section 2 shows that parsimony in computer science generally concerns software design and, together with elegance, is one of the two aspects of the broader notion of simplicity. Section 3 transforms the main claims of parsimony in software design into claims about the content of ISOs, the combination of which is hereafter called “parsimony of content”—where “content” refers only to the content of ISOs. Sections 4-7 discuss the application of this parsimony to the design of ISOs, and outline different kinds (and combinations) of parsimony of content. Finally, section 8 considers whether parsimony of content could provide some criteria both for selecting and/or classifying the contents of ISOs and for choosing between different and equally consistent ISOs.

On the Informativeness of Information System Ontologies

The current (still limited) use of the notion of informativeness in the domain of information system ontologies seems to indicate that such ontologies are informative if and only if they are understandable for their final recipients. This paper aims at discussing some theoretical issues emerging from that use which, as we will see, connects the informativeness of information system ontologies to their representational primitives, domains of knowledge, and final recipients. Firstly, we maintain that informativeness interacts not only with the actual representational primitives, but also with their variability over time. Secondly, we discuss the correspondence between representational primitives and domains of knowledge of those ontologies. Finally, we explore the possibility of an epistemological discrepancy between human beings and software systems on the understanding of ontological contents.

Completeness in Information Systems Ontologies

In the domain of information systems ontologies, the notion of completeness refers to ontological contents by demanding that they be exhaustive with respect to the domain that the ontology aims to represent. The purpose of this paper is to analyze such a notion, by distinguishing different varieties of completeness and by questioning its consistency with the open-world assumption, which formally assumes the incompleteness of conceptualizations on information systems ontologies.

On the Content of Information Systems Ontologies

Despite the fact that information systems ontologies [ISOs] support the mutual understanding between human beings and software applications, human beings and software applications do not understand ISOs' contents in the same way. The same applies to ontological integration. This paper attempts to account for such discrepancies by emphasizing that while human being can have access to entities represented in ISOs, software applications cannot.

Foundations of information technology based on Bunge\u2019s systemist philosophy of reality

General ontology is a prominent theoretical foundation for information technology analysis, design, and development. Ontology is a branch of philosophy which studies what exists in reality. A widely used ontology in information systems, especially for conceptual modeling, is the BWW (Bunge–Wand–Weber), which is based on ideas of the philosopher and physicist Mario Bunge, as synthesized by Wand and Weber. The ontology was founded on an early subset of Bunge’s philosophy; however, many of Bunge’s ideas have evolved since then. An important question, therefore, is: do the more recent ideas expressed by Bunge call for a new ontology? In this paper, we conduct an analysis of Bunge’s earlier and more recent works to address this question. We present a new ontology based on Bunge’s later and broader works, which we refer to as Bunge’s Systemist Ontology (BSO). We then compare BSO to the constructs of BWW. The comparison reveals both considerable overlap between BSO and BWW, as well as substantial differences. From this comparison and the initial exposition of BSO, we provide suggestions for further ontology studies and identify research questions that could provide a fruitful agenda for future scholarship in conceptual modeling and other areas of information technology.

Application of an Improved Formal Model of the Hybrid Development of Ontologies in Complex Information Systems

Ontologies in artificial intelligence systems are an effective way to represent and integrate knowledge and data. The property of such structures is that any subject area is accurately described in formal language. There is a problem in the research and determination of the adequacy of ontologies under development. The perspective directions are model construction for the development of fuzzy ontologies and also the creation of methods for evaluating adequacy. The achieved results allow one to implement the processes of supporting the development and integration of ontologies of complex systems on the basis of intelligent approaches. The method is proposed to solve the problem of alternative representation and the integration of knowledge and data in artificial intelligence systems. The methodology of improving the model of the hybrid development of fuzzy ontologies is described here; it provides the preliminary modification of models of extensive and intensive progress of ontologies in space and time. The identified features of fuzzy ontology processing allow us to create a procedure for finding and eliminating inadequacies. The software implementation of the application for the integration and presentation of heterogeneous data is carried out. The consumption of Random Access Memory (RAM) for the proposed models is analyzed. The further perspectives of the proposed research are determined in accordance with the principles of classification.

A functional ontology for information systems


 
 
 The ontology of information systems — the way in which knowledge claims, and thus theories, are conceptualised and represented — is of particular importance in the information systems field, due to its reliance on relations between entities. This work proposes, demonstrates, and evaluates an alternative ontology for theory description which is arguably more powerful and more expressive than the dominant ontological model.
 
 

How to Restructure PPDRC and MIRC According to DOLCE

Abstract The use of ontologies in information systems for engineering applications calls for ontologies representing experts’ knowledge in a principled and robust manner. The work we present in the paper brings together, on the one hand, two ontologies developed for the engineering domain, namely PPDRC and MIRC and, on the other hand, the DOLCE foundational ontology. The former two have been developed by taking DOLCE as reference model for distinguishing between the high-level entities they quantify over. However, the relation with DOLCE calls for improvements. The ultimate purpose of the paper is to show how the conceptual transparency of domain ontologies can be enhanced by (properly) using a foundational ontology.

Ontology elements identified in different nursing classification systems

Introduction: The International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®) includes an ontology to represent the terms contained within it. In Brazil, in order to contribute to the development of this classification, an ontology was elaborated, comprising the representation of concepts and terms from the International Classification of Public Health Nursing Practice (Classificacao Internacional para as Praticas de Enfermagem em Saude Coletiva – CIPESC®). The identification of ontology elements in the aforementioned classification systems helps to understand how they might be used to represent the elements of nursing practice in an automated manner. Objectives: To identify ontology elements in the ICNP® and CIPESC®. Methods: Documentary, exploratory, and descriptive study. Data collection was based on the capture of structural characteristics of the various versions of the ICNP® and of the CIPESC®, including axis structure and term hierarchy structure. Data analysis was performed by comparing the elements of the captured characteristics with the following ontology elements: concepts, instances, properties, relationships, constrains and axioms. Results: The structural characteristics of ICNP® and CIPESC® are presented. Concepts, properties, relationships, constrains, and axioms were identified in both classifications. Conclusions: An ontology ensures consistency to nursing terminologies, providing evidence for practice and contributing to the unification of the nursing language. This research facilitates the development of ontologies for nursing practice based on nursing terminologies, contributing to the development of health policies by using ontologies in information systems.

Expert System Based on an Ontology Method to Analyze Types of Arabica Coffee Beans

<p class="0abstract">In the past few decades, the use of ontologies in information systems has become popular in many fields, such as website development, database integration, and natural language processing. Because many kinds of coffee beans can be used in coffee shops, the prospective coffee house entrepreneur meets obstacles in terms of choosing the right coffee beans because of multiple unique characteristics. In order to help this cohort make decisions, our study proposed a simulation ontology-based matching for coffee bean selection by inserting three parameters—aroma, flavor, and sour level—as inputs on the website.<span> Arabica coffee bean is used as the principal object in this study and t</span>he outputs would be the beans matched with the parameters that had been inserted. In this study, t<span lang="IN">he </span>system model<span lang="IN"> gained from </span>the ontology method<span lang="IN"> is shown in </span>the implementation by using an example<span lang="IN">.</span></p><p class="0keywords"><strong>Key Words—</strong>Arabica coffee beans, Ontology, OWL, Protégé, SPARQL</p>

Selected Topics on Business Informatics Research: Editorial Introduction to Issue 6 of CSIMQ

Business informatics research bridges management and engineering domains and facilitates communication between scientific and practical applications. The sixth issue of the journal of Complex Systems Informatics and Modeling Quarterly contains four publications that present the extended papers from the workshops of the 14th International Conference on Perspectives in Business Informatics Research (BIR 2015) that was organized in Tartu, Estonia, 26-28 August, 2015. The BIR 2015 workshops captured important and novel topics on information logistics and knowledge supply, security and compliance in business processes, and use of ontologies in information systems. Within this context the fifth publication included in this issue complements the topic of the business informatics research with the investigation of a model-driven approach on the gesture-based interaction in information systems.

A Model based Visualization Framework for Cross Discipline Collaboration in Industry 4.0 Scenarios

The Industry 4.0 initiative fosters close collaboration between various disciplines in product development. Collaborative aspects are addressed by several research activities, namely Systems Engineering and more precisely by Model Based Systems Engineering. This work contributes a new method for interdisciplinary communication by an integrated visualization of conceptual models. The method describes an environment for direct communication between experts in related disciplines. Common application scenarios are business process management workshops in which process experts have to achieve commitment with experts from other disciplines like computer science, logistics or engineering. Especially in Industry 4.0 scenarios, mutual understanding between experts from several domains is crucial for a successful process setup, planning and preparation of production scenarios. The method comprises a theoretical framework for establishing inter-model relationships and their visualization. For establishing links between models, an ontology based approach is applied. The Bunge-Wand-Weber Ontology for information systems provides a generic and yet applicable basis for establishing consistent inter-model relationships. For supporting communication processes the integrated models should be displayed. To provide an understandable visualization a three-dimensional environment is proposed, in which the linked models are arranged and displayed. The scientific basis is given by applying the concept of visual variables described in the scientific discipline of information visualization. The depth of space extends the set of visual variables. Applied to the semantic concept of integrated models a discriminable visualization of integrated models is achieved.

Research in Agricultural and Environmental Information Systems

Information systems relate to diverse applications, but, until recently, the use of this technology in agriculture and environment has been relatively behind the applications in the industrial sector. The publication of IJAEIS started in 2010 in order to promote the new research advances in information systems applied to agriculture and environment. This paper presents an overview of the different scientific issues presented in the 50 papers published in IJAEIS between 2010 and 2013. The authors summarize the different contributions presented in IJAEIS and the authors identify the main trends in the field of agricultural and environmental information systems (ontologies, communication systems, spatial information processing, etc.).

The politics of performative ontology in information systems

This article argues that information systems (ISs) and information system ontologies (ISOs) are powerful devices that perform reality in profound ways. The development and use of ISOs are forms of ontological politics through which interests are promoted, identities established and resources distributed. ISOs are ideological in so far as their political nature is not recognised while serving partial interests. This happens when ISOs are seen as merely technical, inevitable and natural. A democratic politics of ISs and ISOs is needed in order to make public these political actions. This article aims to create a critical awareness of the ways in which technologies perform reality an d argues that the political agenda must be activated through the opening up of terrains of dissensus and contestation within the technical performances of reality. It provides examples of such ontological politics of technology.Keywords: Information system ontologies, performativity, technology, politics, contestation

A semantic metrics suite for evaluating modular ontologies

Ontologies, which are formal representations of knowledge within a domain, can be used for designing and sharing conceptual models of enterprises information for the purpose of enhancing understanding, communication and interoperability. For representing a body of knowledge, different ontologies may be designed. Recently, designing ontologies in a modular manner has emerged for achieving better reasoning performance, more efficient ontology management and change handling. One of the important challenges in the employment of ontologies and modular ontologies in modeling information within enterprises is the evaluation of the suitability of an ontology for a domain and the performance of inference operations over it. In this paper, we present a set of semantic metrics for evaluating ontologies and modular ontologies. These metrics measure cohesion and coupling of ontologies, which are two important notions in the process of assessing ontologies for enterprise modeling. The proposed metrics are based on semantic-based definitions of relativeness, and dependencies between local symbols, and also between local and external symbols of ontologies. Based on these semantic definitions, not only the explicitly asserted knowledge in ontologies but also the implied knowledge, which is derived through inference, is considered for the sake of ontology assessment. We present several empirical case studies for investigating the correlation between the proposed metrics and reasoning performance, which is an important issue in applicability of employing ontologies in real-world information systems.

Comparison of MDA and DSM Technologies for the REA Ontology Model Creation

Using the ontology in information systems means an improvement of the possibility of solving tasks based on domain knowledge. The quality design of the ontological model is base of well-functioning system. In this area the most commonly used technology is MDA (Model driven development), which provides solid base for modeling language’s metamodel definition. This article aims to compare this technology with a new approach to visual modeling – the DSM (Domain-specific modeling) technology. Using the narrow focus on specific domain and full code generation the DSM allows easy and rapid development of the ontological system. The REA (Resource–Events–Agents) ontology, intended for business processes modeling was used for comparison of these technologies.

Design and evaluation of Ubiquitous Information Systems and use in healthcare

Designing Ubiquitous Information Systems (UIS) for supporting complex everyday situations requires extended design methods and models. To address this, we introduce design models as a special class of conceptual models that support design processes for IS in general and UIS in particular. Design models for UIS are concise abstract conceptual models of key situations that conceive social, informational, physical, and service properties as requirements for targeted Information Systems. In this paper, we show how design models can be derived from narratives of key situations, guided by information systems ontologies, and domain specific input theories. This conceptual level offers an innovative approach for designing Ubiquitous Information Systems (UIS) in general and Healthcare Ubiquitous Information Systems (H-UIS) in particular. The proposed design approach is applied for developing H-UIS for reducing Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) by improving the communications between patients and healthcare professionals. Using the domain specific input theory of Health Promotion Model (HPM), the modeling guidelines for design models are generated and utilized in the development of a H-UIS to avoid ADEs. The H-UIS improves several processes involving information technologies for healthcare professionals. The system is empirically evaluated and results show high level of interest among users and initial positive adoption effects. Open issues and future research opportunities are also presented at the end.

An ontology for enterprise and information systems modelling

The Unified Enterprise Modelling Language (UEML) aims to support precise semantic definition of a wide variety of enterprise- and IS-modelling languages. In the longer run, it is also intended as a...

An ontology for enterprise and information systems modelling

The Unified Enterprise Modelling Language (UEML) aims to support precise semantic definition of a wide variety of enterprise- and IS-modelling languages. In the longer run, it is also intended as a hub for integrated use of enterprise and information system (IS) models expressed in different languages. To achieve this, UEML provides a common ontology that interrelates the semantics of many existing modelling languages. This paper presents the motivation and background for the UEML work. It then presents the structure and contents of UEML's evolving common ontology, the Unified Enterprise Modelling Ontology (UEMO), which has been established through analyses of 130 modelling constructs from a selection of 10 enterprise- and IS-modelling languages. It goes on to discuss the current state of UEMO and its further evolution. Finally, conclusions and paths for further work are offered.

Toward a regional ontology for information systems project management

PurposeThe paper aims to paper an overview of a completed doctoral thesis which pursued the development of underlying theory (ontology) to give coherence to research in the information systems (IS) project management space.Design/methodology/approachAs a result of the considerable concern about a lack of underlying theory in project management the author has chosen to investigate the development of underlying theory to serve as a regional ontology to give debates undertaken to improve IS project management coherence. The thesis is a critical interpretive a priori effort. In the pursuit of the goal of developing a regional ontology, the notions, concepts and theories related to existentialism and social construction were investigated. These were investigated because the research literature places considerable emphasis on the need to understand as‐lived project experiences.FindingsOne of the significant outcomes that results from this research is the development of a proposed regional ontology. This was achieved by fusing the theories of Heidegger's Dasein, Bourdieu's “Theory of practice” and Maturana and Varela's “Theory of living systems”. The regional ontology is a consolidation of the various concepts defined by these researchers. These theories complement each other to give rise to a relational model of social construction which also has related phenomenological, existential and biological perspectives.Practical implicationsThe proposed ontology was interpreted using the popular alternatives that have recently emerged alongside the established best practices such as project management body of knowledge. The perspectives of complex, responsive processes of relating, the temporary organisation, agility and organisational becoming were reviewed using the regional ontology. The interpretation process illustrated that the regional ontology is able to provide a more fundamental and coherent context to subsume and delimit these emerging new frames.Originality/valueThe thesis also discusses the researcher's view of contemporary project management practice that accords with the regional ontology principles. Through argument and the contemporary context of IS project management practice that was sketched, the principles of the regional ontology are illuminated. Through this process it was possible to claim that established best practice modes of education should not exist in isolation but should instead be situated within a wider analogical context that embraces the values of learning, becoming and innovating.