[Sigia-l] Question about the use of the term 'ontology'

[Lars Marius Garshol]

* Alexander Johannesen
| 
| Ok, so since "ontology" can encompass pretty much anythig you want,
| Topic Maps will fit into that. I agree. :) Hmm, 'ontology' doesn't
| mean much without constraints really, does it? It all comes down to
| how everybody defines the word and it what context they use it. Too
| diluted for general chit-chat, I feel. :)

It *is* kind of diluted in general usage. I tried to define it as

  "an ontology is a model of a subject domain consisting of entity
  types, property types, and relationship types, where the entity
  types usually have some degree of class hierarchy, and the model is
  meant to reflect the domain more or less directly as it is"

which I think works, and I think topic maps fit that. (There's more to
topic maps, of course, but topic maps *are* models of this kind.)

-- 
Lars Marius Garshol, Ontopian         <URL: http://www.ontopia.net >
GSM: +47 98 21 55 50                  <URL: http://www.garshol.priv.no >