[Sigia-l] Ontologies

[Peter Cook]

Would anyone like to comment on the relevance of 'ontologies' to IA?  I am
referring to the way this term is used for mapping domains of knowledge,
coming out of the disciplines of Cognitive Science/Artificial
Intelligence/Formal Semantics.

Marcia Bates made some brief critical comments about this in her paper at
http://firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_7/bates/index.html   However, I did not
find this enough to inform or convince me either way.  I am not an expert in
information science or the others listed above.

Michael Denny provides an interesting short article and review of ontology
editors at http://www.xml.com/lpt/a/2002/11/06/ontologies.html

I do have a quibble about using a hallowed term from metaphysics/philosophy
to describe something else.  But I am more interested in the possible
practical applications to IA work.  What is the difference between an
ontology and a controlled vocabulary?  Any pointers to useful resources
about would also be appreciated.

Cheers
Peter Cook
Brisbane, Australia