Chris,
> Curious term - 'ontology engineering'.
CM: For better or worse, it's been around for at least 20 years. Although I have to say I don't know why you find it curious. It's particularly apropos insofar as it highlights the fact that ontologies, in the sense relevant here, are artifacts that are designed, constructed, and maintained and, if done correctly, are built upon sound methodological and mathematical foundations.
I guess this reflects the different contexts from which we think about these things. I observe the precision and commitments to logic in your language and thinking. In the world of complex knowledge systems that I banter in each day .... well that is another matter entirely.
I have traditionally thought of engineering in different ways than you might have in your mind .... But, having looked this up through google search – perhaps I would be advised to think about this idea in a broader sense.
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of people.
Richard