Ontologies In Information Systems Research Articles

A conceptual investigation of the ontological commensurability of spatial data infrastructures among different cultures

Humans think and communicate in very flexible and schematic ways, and a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the Amazon and associated information system ontologies should reflect this flexibility and the adaptive nature of human cognition in order to achieve semantic interoperability. In this paper I offer a conceptual investigation of SDI and explore the nature of cultural schemas as expressions of indigenous ontologies and the challenges of semantic interoperability across cultures. Cultural schemas are, in essence, our ontologies, but they are markedly different than classical formal ontologies. They shape our ontological commitments to what exists in the world as well as the ways in which we approach and engage the world. And while they help structure our understanding of the world in which we are embedded, they are associative and flexible. They help to focus our attention to particular details of our experiences and give them salience, yet they cannot be simply reduced to a series of extracted features. They allow us to make meaning of the contextualized, cultural experience in which we are always immersed. An SDI is a shared social-technological-informational structure that, if it is to be useful and successful for sustainability in the Amazon, must incorporate and use indigenous cultural schemas. Indigenous communities must have the ability to contribute to the collection of geospatial data and their contributions recognized as legitimate forms of knowledge. In order for the SDI to work, it must recognize the larger cultural landscape to which cultural schemas can connect to the ready-to-hand elements of salient cultural experiences.

A clustering-based semi-automated technique to build cultural ontologies

This article presents and validates a clustering-based method for creating cultural ontologies for community-oriented information systems. The introduced semiautomated approach merges distributed a...

Observations, measurements and semantic reference spaces

What is needed to enable communication about observation and measurement results in information systems? Information system ontologies make a certain conceptualization explicit and partially accoun...

Observations, measurements and semantic reference spaces

What is needed to enable communication about observation and measurement results in information systems? Information system ontologies make a certain conceptualization explicit and partially account for the meanings of symbols associated with this conceptualization. Yet, the meaning of signs denoting measurement results such as “10 m”, “red” or “high” cannot be specified with currently available ontologies. They fail to separate the ontological nature of some observable quality from the specification of how to observe and name the measurement result. We employ the foundational ontology DOLCE for characterizing the ontological nature of observable magnitudes. This involves dealing with ontological questions like “What kinds of observable qualities exist, in which entity does the observed quality inhere and how are the magnitudes of the observed quality structured?”. Then, in order to capture the semantic aspects of an observation result, we introduce semantic reference spaces, which help deal with semantic questions like “Do the signs “10 m”, “33 feet” or “shallow” have the same meaning? Do these signs refer to the same entity, e.g. the depth magnitude of a lake? How to establish a unit of measure?. We posit that the semantic questions can be approached efficiently only if agreement is reached on the ontological questions, and show that the specification of the meaning of signs denoting measurement results is enabled via the extension of the foundational ontology DOLCE with semantic reference spaces. This work was conducted while the author (Probst) was working at the Institute for Geoinformatics, University of Munster, Germany.

The semantic-document approach to combining documents and ontologies

An ontology is a powerful way of representing knowledge for multiple purposes. There are several ontology languages for describing concepts, properties, objects, and relationships. However, ontologies in information systems are not primarily written for human reading and communication among humans. For many business, government, and scientific purposes, written documents are the primary description and communication media for human knowledge communication. Unfortunately, there is a significant gap between knowledge expressed as textual documents and knowledge represented as ontologies. Semantic documents aim at combining documents and ontologies, and allowing users to access the knowledge in multiple ways. By adding annotations to electronic-document formats and including ontologies in electronic documents, it is possible to reconcile documents and ontologies, and to provide new services, such as ontology-based searches of large document databases. To accomplish this goal, semantic documents require tools that support both complex ontologies and advanced document formats. The Protégé ontology editor, together with a custom-tailored documentation-handling extension, enables developers to create semantic documents by linking preexisting documents to ontologies.

Ontology for information systems: artefacts as a case study

The goal of the paper is to analyse some specific features of a very central concept for top-level ontologies for information systems: i.e. the concept of artefact. Specifically, we analyse the relation to be a copy of that is strongly linked to the notion of artefact and—as we will demonstrate—could be useful to distinguish artefacts from objects of other kinds. Firstly, we outline some intuitive and commonsensical reasons for the need of a clarification of the notion of artefact in ontologies for information systems, and we analyse some characterisations of the notion given by two top-level ontologies (Cyc and Wordnet). Secondly, we introduce and critically analyse Tzouvaras’ notion of copy. Thirdly, we try to complete an analysis of copy by distinguishing three kinds of copies: replicas (Tzouvaras’ notion of copy), rigid copies, and functional copies. With the help of these three notions we outline a first and preliminary distinction between artefacts, objects of art and natural objects.

The double role of ontologies in information science research

AbstractIn philosophy, Ontology is the basic description of things in the world. In information science, an ontology refers to an engineering artifact, constituted by a specific vocabulary used to describe a certain reality. Ontologies have been proposed for validating both conceptual models and conceptual schemas; however, these roles are quite dissimilar. In this article, we show that ontologies can be better understood if we classify the different uses of the term as it appears in the literature. First, we explain Ontology (upper case O) as used in Philosophy. Then, we propose a differentiation between ontologies of information systems and ontologies for information systems. All three concepts have an important role in information science. We clarify the different meanings and uses of Ontology and ontologies through a comparison of research by Wand and Weber and by Guarino in ontology‐driven information systems. The contributions of this article are twofold: (a) It provides a better understanding of what ontologies are, and (b) it explains the double role of ontologies in information science research.

INFORMATION SYSTEMS: NEW ONTOLOGIES-BASED SCENARIOS

While ontology is still a fertile area of research in the field of Philosophy, Ontologies currently stands for research, development, and application fields in disciplines related with computing, information and knowledge. Information Systems (IS) are essentially knowledge artifacts that capture and represent knowledge in certain domains. Considering that ontologies is generally used to specify and communicate knowledge in a domain, and the growing recognition that ontological principles and concepts can be fruitfully applied to the IS field, one could say that an IS has its own implicit ontology when attributing meaning to the symbols used. Explicitly, however, ontology may play different roles in an IS. The scenarios presented in this article allow visualizing the roles that ontologies are now playing or will play in the near future in IS. There is a wide range of uses for ontologies in the different scenarios - they vary from the conceptual analysis of IS modeling techniques to their use as support for IS design, development and application. Our knowledge on the roles played by ontologies in IS is expected to be expanded.

Sistemas de información: nuevos escenarios basados en ontologías

Mientras la ontologia sigue siendo un area fecunda de investigacion en el campo de la filosofia, las ontologias son actualmente materia de investigacion, desarrollo, y aplicacion en disciplinas relacionadas con la computacion, la informacion y el conocimiento. Los sistemas de informacion (SI) son esencialmente artefactos de conocimiento que capturan y representan el conocimiento sobre ciertos dominios. Considerando que, las ontologias generalmente se usan para especificar y comunicar el conocimiento del dominio y que existe un reconocimiento creciente que los principios y conceptos ontologicos pueden aplicarse fructiferamente en el campo de los SI, se puede afirmar que un SI tiene su propia ontologia implicita, al atribuir significado a los simbolos usados. Sin embargo, de manera explicita, una ontologia puede tener distintos roles en un SI. Los escenarios presentados en este articulo permiten visualizar el rol que las ontologias estan teniendo o tendran en un futuro proximo en los SI. Se ofrece un amplio panorama del uso de las ontologias en diversos escenarios que varian desde el analisis conceptual de tecnicas de modelacion de los SI hasta su uso como soporte para el diseno, desarrollo y uso de los SI. Se espera de esta manera incrementar nuestro conocimiento acerca del rol de las ontologias en los SI.

A Survey on Ontology Creation Methodologies

In the current literature of knowledge management and artificial intelligence, several different approaches to the problem have been carried out of developing domain ontologies from scratch. All these approaches deal fundamentally with three problems: (1) providing a collection of general terms describing classes and relations to be employed in the description of the domain itself; (2) organizing the terms into a taxonomy of the classes by the ISA relation; and (3) expressing in an explicit way the constraints that make the ISA pairs meaningful. Though a number of such approaches can be found, no systematic analysis of them exists which can be used to understand the inspiring motivation, the applicability context, and the structure of the approaches. In this paper, we provide a framework for analyzing the existing methodologies that compares them to a set of general criteria. In particular, we obtain a classification based upon the direction of ontology construction; bottom-up are those methodologies that start with some descriptions of the domain and obtain a classification, while top-down ones start with an abstract view of the domain itself, which is given a priori. The resulting classification is useful not only for theoretical purposes but also in the practice of deployment of ontologies in Information Systems, since it provides a framework for choosing the right methodology to be applied in the specific context, depending also on the needs of the application itself.

Toward an alternative notion of information systems ontologies: Information engineering as a hermeneutic enterprise

In this paper we discuss the construction of information systems ontologies. We summarize and discuss Barry Smith's review (2003a) of the field in the paper, Ontology. In that essay Smith concludes...

Toward an alternative notion of information systems ontologies: Information engineering as a hermeneutic enterprise

AbstractIn this paper we discuss the construction of information systems ontologies. We summarize and discuss Barry Smith's review (2003a) of the field in the paper, “Ontology.” In that essay Smith concludes with a plea for ontologies that reflect the categories of current scientific theories because they represent our best knowledge of the world. In this context, we develop an argument for a hermeneutic approach to ontologies—one compatible with the orientation introduced into information science by Winograd and Flores (1986) and later developed by many others. To do this, we argue that the literature in the philosophy and history of science supports a hermeneutic interpretation of the nature and growth of science. This, given Smith's argument, shows the relevance of hermeneutics to the creation of information system ontologies. The problems associated with understanding and creating information systems ontologies are addressed fruitfully only if one begins by acknowledging that databases are mechanisms for communication involving judgments and interpretations by intelligent and knowledgeable users. The main contributions of this paper are our conclusions that (a) information system ontologies should take into consideration a perspective of the philosophy and history of science, and (b) hermeneutics as construed by Gadamer (1975, 1979) constitutes a place from which we can understand the tasks of information ontologists and database users.

Animating the Letter: The Figurative Embodiment of Writing from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. Laura Kendrick

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsAnimating the Letter: The Figurative Embodiment of Writing from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. Laura Kendrick G. BenoîtG. Benoît Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Library Quarterly Volume 72, Number 1Jan., 2002 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/603341 Views: 5Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 2002 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:John Buschman Democratic theory in library information science: Toward an emendation, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 58, no.1010 (Jan 2007): 1483–1496.https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20634Frederico T. Fonseca, James E. Martin Toward an alternative notion of information systems ontologies: Information engineering as a hermeneutic enterprise, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 56, no.11 (Jan 2004): 46–57.https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.20099

Tiers of ontology and consistency constraints in geographical information systems

Consistency constraints placed on a database to assure, that values incorporated in the database are consistent, are a well known foundation of Geographical Information Systems. Unfortunately in real situations rules for consistency constraints are not so clear, and inconsistent ontologies are common place, not least in geographical information, covering as it does a much wider realm than many other information systems I have suggested elsewhere 5-tiers of ontology for GIS. Such an ontology can integrate different ontological approaches in a unified system. In this paper the relation of the 5-tier ontology and consistency constraints is explored, and it is shown that different constraints are appropriate to different tiers.

Rough Mereology in Information Systems with Applications to Qualitative Spatial Reasoning

Rough Mereology has been proposed as a paradigm for approximate reasoning in complex information systems. Its primitive notion is that of a predicate of rough inclusion which gives for any two entities of discourse the degree in which one of them is a part of the other. Rough Mereology may be regarded as an extension of Rough Set Theory as it proposes to argue in terms of similarity relations induced from a rough inclusion instead of reasoning in terms of more strict indiscernibility relations. Rough Mereology is also a generalization of Mereology i.e. a theory of reasoning based on the notion of a part. Classical languages of mathematics are of two-fold kind: the language of set theory (naive or formal) expressing classes of objects as sets consisting of ”elements”, ”points” etc. suitable for objects perceived as built of ”atoms” and applied to structures perceived as discrete and the language of part relations suitable for e.g. continuous objects like solids, regions, etc. where two objects are related to each other by saying that one of them is a part of the other. Mereological theories for reasoning about complex structures are at the heart of Qualitative Spatial Reasoning. In this paper, we study basic aspects of Rough Mereology in Information Systems. Mereology makes the distinction between entities perceived as individuals (singletons), to which the part predicate may be applied, and entities perceived as distributive classes (sets, lists, general names etc.) of entities. This distinction is made formal and precise within Ontology i.e. Theory of Being based on the primitive notion of the copula is which is also a basic ingredient of theories for Spatial Reasoning. The practical aim of Ontology is to elaborate a system of concepts (notions, names, sets of entities) about which the reasoning is carried out. Therefore, we begin our study with an analysis of a simple rough set-based Ontology (the template ontology) in Information Systems and in this setting we present our approach to Mereology in Information Systems. In this framework we introduce Rough Mereology and we present some ways for defining rough inclusions. We demonstrate applications of Rough Mereology to approximate reasoning taking as the case subject Qualitative Spatial Reasoning. We address here some of its mereo-topological as well as mereo-geometrical aspects.

Ontology and Terminology Servers in Agent-based Health-care Information Systems

A new research paradigm is emerging based on the multi-agent system architectural framework, allowing human and software agents to interoperate and thus cooperate within common application areas. Within a multi-agent system, the different "views of the world" of knowledgeable agents are to be bridged through their commitment to common ontologies and terminologies. We developed a general methodology for the design or integration of new components into a Health-care Information System conceived as a network of software and human agents. In our view, ontological and terminological services are entrusted to dedicated agents, namely ontology and terminology servers, allowing the configuration of suitable application ontologies for distributed applications. The role is described that such servers, operatively coordinated in order to preserve semantic coherence, should play within a distributed Health-care Information System.