Applying Standards to Information Centric Operations
ontologies are not only a good representation of the subject matter but also are mappable to the available data sources .
3.3 TOP LEVEL ONTOLOGIES
Some important conceptual nuances are best addressed by “ partitioning ” the ontology to reflect different concerns . These include for example the distinction between a thing in itself versus a thing in some role or context ( such as a legal entity versus a client or supplier ), and issues regarding occurrences , business processes , plans and actualities , temporality , quantities and values , and many others .
Another outcome of partitioning the ontology is the ability to deal with data as a kind of thing , alongside representations of other kinds thing . Given the kind of ontology in which these concerns are both represented , the resulting ontology framework is able to represent data to world relationships such as data provenance , data quality measures , timeliness and accuracy .
3.4 ONTOLOGY OBSERVATIONS
These case studies reflect the importance of a principled approach to the ontological modeling of real things in the world , and the application of established techniques for this kind of ontology .
To provide the kind of ontology described here ( sometimes called a concept ontology ), the organization needs to ensure that a range of ontology techniques is brought to bear , within a coherent semantics strategy . These include :
• A clear commitment that the ontology represents things in the world
• A principled application of classification theory
• Use of formal logic to represent what kind of thing something is and what distinguishes it from other things
• A focus on concepts rather than words
• Capturing what things mean independently of any specific use case
• The relationship between real-world truth makers and data surrogates for those things
• Clarity about the ontological stance or ontological commitment ( e . g . Realism versus Conceptualism , 4D versus 3D and other such distinctions )
• Use of a good Top Level Ontology , such as BFO , IES or UFO 19
• Use of an ontology in which real world value spaces and data representing measures of those values are both represented and segregated .
19
Unified Foundational Ontology ( UFO ). Available : https :// nemo . inf . ufes . br / en / projetos / ufo / Journal of Innovation 19