Toward principles for the design of ontologies used for knowledge sharing
01 Dec 1995-International Journal of Human-computer Studies \/ International Journal of Man-machine Studies (Academic Press, Inc.)-Vol. 43, Iss: 5, pp 907-928
TL;DR: The role of ontology in supporting knowledge sharing activities is described, and a set of criteria to guide the development of ontologies for these purposes are presented, and it is shown how these criteria are applied in case studies from the design ofOntologies for engineering mathematics and bibliographic data.
Abstract: Recent work in Artificial Intelligence is exploring the use of formal ontologies as a way of specifying content-specific agreements for the sharing and reuse of knowledge among software entities. We take an engineering perspective on the development of such ontologies. Formal ontologies are viewed as designed artifacts, formulated for specific purposes and evaluated against objective design criteria. We describe the role of ontologies in supporting knowledge sharing activities, and then present a set of criteria to guide the development of ontologies for these purposes. We show how these criteria are applied in case studies from the design of ontologies for engineering mathematics and bibliographic data. Selected design decisions are discussed, and alternative representation choices and evaluated against the design criteria.
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TL;DR: This paper outlines a methodology for developing and evaluating ontologies, first discussing informal techniques, concerning such issues as scoping, handling ambiguity, reaching agreement and producing definitions, and considers, a more formal approach.
Abstract: This paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive introduction to the emerging field concerned with the design and use of ontologies. We observe that disparate backgrounds, languages, tools and techniques are a major barrier to effective communication among people, organisations and/or software understanding (i.e. an “ontology”) in a given subject area, can improve such communication, which in turn, can give rise to greater reuse and sharing, inter-operability, and more reliable software. After motivating their need, we clarify just what ontologies are and what purpose they serve. We outline a methodology for developing and evaluating ontologies, first discussing informal techniques, concerning such issues as scoping, handling ambiguity, reaching agreement and producing definitions. We then consider the benefits and describe, a more formal approach. We re-visit the scoping phase, and discuss the role of formal languages and techniques in the specification, implementation and evalution of ontologies. Finally, we review the state of the art and practice in this emerging field, considering various case studies, software tools for ontology development, key research issues and future prospects.
3,568 citations
01 Mar 1998
TL;DR: The paradigm shift from a transfer view to a modeling view is discussed and two approaches which considerably shaped research in Knowledge Engineering are described: Role-limiting Methods and Generic Tasks.
Abstract: This paper gives an overview of the development of the field of Knowledge Engineering over the last 15 years. We discuss the paradigm shift from a transfer view to a modeling view and describe two approaches which considerably shaped research in Knowledge Engineering: Role-limiting Methods and Generic Tasks. To illustrate various concepts and methods which evolved in recent years we describe three modeling frameworks: CommonKADS, MIKE and PROTEGE-II. This description is supplemented by discussing some important methodological developments in more detail: specification languages for knowledge-based systems, problem-solving methods and ontologies. We conclude by outlining the relationship of Knowledge Engineering to Software Engineering, Information Integration and Knowledge Management.
3,406 citations
Cites background from "Toward principles for the design of..."
...This requirement and others are expressed in design principles for ontologies ([75], [73], [144], [148])....
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TL;DR: This work introduces the reader to the motivations for solving the ambiguity of words and provides a description of the task, and overviews supervised, unsupervised, and knowledge-based approaches.
Abstract: Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is the ability to identify the meaning of words in context in a computational manner. WSD is considered an AI-complete problem, that is, a task whose solution is at least as hard as the most difficult problems in artificial intelligence. We introduce the reader to the motivations for solving the ambiguity of words and provide a description of the task. We overview supervised, unsupervised, and knowledge-based approaches. The assessment of WSD systems is discussed in the context of the Senseval/Semeval campaigns, aiming at the objective evaluation of systems participating in several different disambiguation tasks. Finally, applications, open problems, and future directions are discussed.
2,178 citations
Cites background from "Toward principles for the design of..."
...—Ontologies, which are specifications of conceptualizations of specific domains of interest [Gruber 1993], usually including a taxonomy and a set of semantic relations....
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TL;DR: A conceptual introduction to ontologies and their role in information systems and AI is provided and how ontologies clarify the domain's structure of knowledge and enable knowledge sharing is discussed.
Abstract: This survey provides a conceptual introduction to ontologies and their role in information systems and AI. The authors also discuss how ontologies clarify the domain's structure of knowledge and enable knowledge sharing.
1,763 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2001
TL;DR: This second editionsystematically introduces the notion of ontologies to the non-expert reader and demonstrates in detail how to apply this conceptual framework for improved intranet retrieval of corporate information and knowledge and for enhanced Internet-based electronic commerce.
Abstract: This second editionsystematically introduces the notion of ontologies to the non-expert reader and demonstrates in detail how to apply this conceptual framework for improved intranet retrieval of corporate information and knowledge and for enhanced Internet-based electronic commerce He also describes ontology languages (XML, RDF, and OWL) and ontology tools, and the application of ontologies In addition to structural improvements, the second edition covers recent developments relating to the Semantic Web, and emerging web-based standard languages
1,469 citations
References
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TL;DR: This paper describes a mechanism for defining ontologies that are portable over representation systems, basing Ontolingua itself on an ontology of domain-independent, representational idioms.
12,962 citations
"Toward principles for the design of..." refers background or methods in this paper
...3To support development, we used a set of KIF-based analysis and translation tools provided by the Ontolingua system (Gruber, 1992; Gruber, 1993)....
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...…(Aben, 1992; Akkermans, van Harmelen, Schreibner, & Wielinga, 1990; Angele, Fensel, & Landes, 1992; Fensel & Studer, 1993; van Harmelen & Balder, 1992) We have a start on a technology to put such ontologies in portable form, for comparison and exchange (Genesereth & Fikes, 1992; Gruber, 1993)....
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...For example, the sentence (C ?q) means ?q is an instance of the class C. Definitions are given by the KIF definitional operators defrelation, 3To support development, we used a set of KIF-based analysis and translation tools provided by the Ontolingua system (Gruber, 1992; Gruber, 1993)....
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...We have a start on a technology to put such ontologies in portable form, for comparison and exchange (Genesereth & Fikes, 1992; Gruber, 1993)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the problem of reasoning about whether a strategy will achieve a goal in a deterministic world and present a method to construct a sentence of first-order logic which will be true in all models of certain axioms if and only if a certain strategy can achieve a certain goal.
Abstract: A computer program capable of acting intelligently in the world must have a general representation of the world in terms of which its inputs are interpreted. Designing such a program requires commitments about what knowledge is and how it is obtained. Thus, some of the major traditional problems of philosophy arise in artificial intelligence. More specifically, we want a computer program that decides what to do by inferring in a formal language that a certain strategy will achieve its assigned goal. This requires formalizing concepts of causality, ability, and knowledge. Such formalisms are also considered in philosophical logic. The first part of the paper begins with a philosophical point of view that seems to arise naturally once we take seriously the idea of actually making an intelligent machine. We go on to the notions of metaphysically and epistemo-logically adequate representations of the world and then to an explanation of can, causes, and knows in terms of a representation of the world by a system of interacting automata. A proposed resolution of the problem of freewill in a deterministic universe and of counterfactual conditional sentences is presented. The second part is mainly concerned with formalisms within which it can be proved that a strategy will achieve a goal. Concepts of situation, fluent, future operator, action, strategy, result of a strategy and knowledge are formalized. A method is given of constructing a sentence of first-order logic which will be true in all models of certain axioms if and only if a certain strategy will achieve a certain goal. The formalism of this paper represents an advance over McCarthy (1963) and Green (1969) in that it permits proof of the correctness of strategies that contain loops and strategies that involve the acquisition of knowledge; and it is also somewhat more concise. The third part discusses open problems in extending the formalism of part 2. The fourth part is a review of work in philosophical logic in relation to problems of artificial intelligence and a discussion of previous efforts to program ‘general intelligence’ from the point of view of this paper.
3,588 citations
TL;DR: A mediator is a software module that exploits encoded knowledge about certain sets or subsets of data to create information for a higher layer of applications as discussed by the authors, which simplifies, abstracts, reduces, merges, and explains data.
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TL;DR: In this article, a formalism for reasoning about actions is proposed that is based on a temporal logic, which allows a much wider range of actions to be described than with previous approaches such as the situation calculus.
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TL;DR: In this article, a theory of the nature of knowledge and representation is proposed, namely that there is another computer system level immediately above the symbol (or program) level, and the principle of rationality plays a central role.
2,368 citations