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An Analysis of the Origins of Ontology Mismatches on the Semantic Web

An Analysis of the Origins of Ontology Mismatches on the Semantic Web
An Analysis of the Origins of Ontology Mismatches on the Semantic Web
Despite the potential of domain ontologies to provide consensual representations of domain-relevant knowledge, the open, distributed and decentralized nature of the Semantic Web means that individuals will rarely, if ever, countenance a common set of terminological and representational commitments during the ontology design process. More often than not, differences between ontologies are likely to occur, and this is the case even when the ontologies describe identical or overlapping domains of interest. Differences between ontologies are often referred to as ontology mismatches and there is an extensive research literature geared towards the technology-mediated reconciliation of such mismatches. Our approach in the current paper is not to comment on the relative merits or demerits of the various technological solutions that could be used to resolve ontological differences; rather, we aim to explore the reasons why such differences may arise in the first place. In addition to a review of the various factors that contribute to ontology mismatches on the Semantic Web, we also discuss a number of focus areas for future research in this area. An improved understanding of the origins of ontology mismatches will, we argue, complement existing research into semantic integration techniques. In particular, by understanding more about the complex cognitive, epistemic and socio-cultural factors associated with the ontology development process, we may be able to develop knowledge acquisition and modeling tools/techniques that attenuate the impact of ontology mismatches for large-scale information sharing and data integration on the Semantic Web.
semantic web, ontology, owl, semantic integration, ontology alignment, human cognition, ontology mismatches, ontology reconciliation, conceptual processing, knowledge acquisition techniques
Smart, Paul R
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Engelbrecht, Paula C
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Smart, Paul R
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Engelbrecht, Paula C
0f2e8554-abe0-45a5-b936-e88c1b459e0e

Smart, Paul R and Engelbrecht, Paula C (2008) An Analysis of the Origins of Ontology Mismatches on the Semantic Web. 16th International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (EKAW 2008), Acitrezza, Catania, Italy. 29 Sep - 03 Oct 2008.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Despite the potential of domain ontologies to provide consensual representations of domain-relevant knowledge, the open, distributed and decentralized nature of the Semantic Web means that individuals will rarely, if ever, countenance a common set of terminological and representational commitments during the ontology design process. More often than not, differences between ontologies are likely to occur, and this is the case even when the ontologies describe identical or overlapping domains of interest. Differences between ontologies are often referred to as ontology mismatches and there is an extensive research literature geared towards the technology-mediated reconciliation of such mismatches. Our approach in the current paper is not to comment on the relative merits or demerits of the various technological solutions that could be used to resolve ontological differences; rather, we aim to explore the reasons why such differences may arise in the first place. In addition to a review of the various factors that contribute to ontology mismatches on the Semantic Web, we also discuss a number of focus areas for future research in this area. An improved understanding of the origins of ontology mismatches will, we argue, complement existing research into semantic integration techniques. In particular, by understanding more about the complex cognitive, epistemic and socio-cultural factors associated with the ontology development process, we may be able to develop knowledge acquisition and modeling tools/techniques that attenuate the impact of ontology mismatches for large-scale information sharing and data integration on the Semantic Web.

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More information

Published date: 29 September 2008
Additional Information: Event Dates: 29th September-3rd October 2008
Venue - Dates: 16th International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (EKAW 2008), Acitrezza, Catania, Italy, 2008-09-29 - 2008-10-03
Keywords: semantic web, ontology, owl, semantic integration, ontology alignment, human cognition, ontology mismatches, ontology reconciliation, conceptual processing, knowledge acquisition techniques
Organisations: Web & Internet Science

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 265748
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/265748
PURE UUID: f9702259-4c28-44b7-9e1a-68f8148fb954
ORCID for Paul R Smart: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9989-5307

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Date deposited: 10 Jul 2008 18:36
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:15

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Contributors

Author: Paul R Smart ORCID iD
Author: Paula C Engelbrecht

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