WorkPackage 4
Objectives
To develop methodologies for use in ontology development based on techniques from software engineering, in particular versioning, modularization, and support for adaptation and reuse. Taken together with the other workpackages, this will constitute a complete methodology and toolkit supporting web based ontological engineering.
Description of work
The work will consist of 3 main parts:
- The development of advanced versioning methods and guidelines for cooperative development.
- The development and evaluation of modularisation techniques, including the provision of mechanisms to define and to describe ontology modules and to construct new ontologies from such modules.
- The development and evaluation of techniques for reusing ontologies, including the derivation of new ontologies by refinement and modification, as well as the restructuring of existing ontologies. Integration mechanisms for ontologies that describe the same domain to a different level of detail will also be developed.
Deliverables
- D20 Versioning Framework: A report that describes and evaluates the versioning framework.
- D21 Modularisation Mechanisms: A report that describes the modularisation and construction mechanisms and evaluates their utility in the decomposition and reconstruction of a real-world ontology.
- D22 Refinement Mechanisms: A report describing the refinement, modification and integration mechanisms, and evaluates their utility in refining and integrating real-world ontologies.
Milestones and expected result
The expected result of this workpackage is a set of methodologies for use in ontology development based on techniques from software engineering, and a demonstration of their utility in real-world applications.
- MS3 Versioning framework (month 8).
- MS6 Modularisation mechanisms (month 18).
