Re: [ontolog-forum] Taxonomies and Ontologies

["Brian (Bo) Newman" <bo.newman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jayne, 

While perhaps not semantically complete,  I have found it quite
useful (in presentations to those outside of the ontological communities)
by anchoring such discussions with; "A class hierarchy may also be
called a taxonomy" [1] -- "taxonomies are methods for
describing classification relationships" [2]; explaining that
ontologies (formal or otherwise) provide additional semantic elements
that allow them to covey more meaning that just what is provided by a
taxonomy.  

Normally, before getting to this point, I have already explained the
"Big O,"  "little o" distinction, and I point
out that the development of a taxonomy (as well as the development of a
formal ontology) is normally proceeded by the developer(s) acquiring some
level of domain understanding (their personal domain specific operative
ontology), which they draw upon to create the stylized (formalized?)
artifact -- be it a taxonomy or a formal ontology. 

I hope this helps ... however, as there in no single ontology that
encompasses everyone's view of the world, I'm sure there are others on
this list who may offer somewhat different explanations. 

Cheers -- 

Brian (Bo) Newman
Founder, The KMForum.
Sr. Semantic Analyst, TECHi2

<REFS>------------------

[1] Horridege, M. et al (2004), "A Practical Guide to Building OWL
Ontologies Using The Protege-OWL Plug-in and CO-ODE Tools" ver 1.0,
Aug, 27, 2004 , p.18.  

[2] Lacy, L. (2005), "Owl: Representing Information Using the Web
Ontology Language," Trafford, Victoria, Canada, p .37.


</REFS>----------------
At 08:55 AM 7/13/2005 -0700, you wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I am re-posting this question since it seems there was some anomaly with
> the ontolog server. I hope someone out there can help!
>
> **********************************************************************************
> Hello All,
>
> I am looking for material regarding the relationship between
> ontologies
> and taxonomies. I have seen a couple of slides showing taxonomies as a
> low
> level or foundation level layer in some presentations regarding
> ontologies, but it seems to me to be given short shrift. After all, if
> we
> are to implement the Semantic Web in a robust way, we all need to agree
> on
> the meaning of specific terms that may be used in ontologies or else
> the
> higher level logic becomes a lot less meaningful.
>
> If anyone knows of papers, articles, presentations, etc, on this
> topic,
> please let me know.
>
> Thanks very much in advance,
>
> Jayne
>
>
>
>
> *******************************
> Jayne Dutra
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> Information Architecture and Semantic Engineering
> JPL Knowledge Management
> 818-354-6948
> ******************************
>
>
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