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

[Melvin Kumar]

This is such an interesting thread. Love it. 

I do want to offer my humble opinions based on what I experience in my
daily work.

1) I agree with Peter that the terminology should fit your
organization's people . I work with various user groups, Librarians,
computer science folks etc... and the only way I could get my projects
going is setting one standard terminology going.When I work with
vendors, I pass them the standard terminology so that we don't have
miscommunication.

My understanding of the terms and its application:

 Controlled vocabulary -> general sense ( used to to describe list,
thesaurus, taxonomies, ontologies)

 Controlled vocabulary --> strict ( list)

Authority files ( list combined with authority terms for consistency & accuracy)

Taxonomy (traditional)  -> Hierarchical

Taxonomy ( Business) 
 - - Structure  --> Hierarchical  | flat
 - - Presentation 
        --> Faceted  | Non Faceted
        --> Flat | Tree | poly-hierarcy etc...

Thesaurus - Many different types based on Usage.But generally most
have all or some of the relationships.

- - Structure --> TT/BT/NT/RT/UF/U / Poly/Homonyms etc..
 

 Ontology -> More detailed relationships then taxonomies and thesaurus
. Relationships within domain and other domains. Leverages of existing
relationships in taxonomies and thesaurus.

Topic Maps - The TAO concept of Topic Maps is different from ISO 13250
Topic Maps standard. Difference in application?

Jay