An ontology is a "cousin" of a thesaurus: a controlled vocabulary, enriched with a rich network of terms and relationships. Like a thesaurus, ontologies are useful for such implementations as document classification and data indexing. Marjorie M.K. Hlava, President and founder of Access Innovations, Inc. with Bob Kasenchak, a project manager of this company, outline a new feature of Data Harmony in development: Ontology Master, a module designed specifically to build and manage ontological networks.
2. WHAT IS AN ONTOLOGY?
Cousin of a thesaurus
Represents detailed relationships between concepts
More specific broader/narrower relationships
More specific associative relationships
Ontology Languages and Standards include:
Common Logic (ISO 24707)
OWL (Web Ontology Language) – Markup
language
Various RDF (Resource Description Framework)
family of Markup languages
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
3. ONTOLOGIES VS THESAURI
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
Thesaurus
Broader Terms
Narrower Terms
Related Terms
Ontology
Is a(n) example of…
Is a part of..
Has part
Has member
Uses…
Eats…
Causes…
Both have synonyms (Non-Preferred Terms)
Ontology
4. SAMPLE RELATIONSHIPS
Cancer [IS A class of] Disease (BT)
Cancer [has subclass] Skin Cancer (NT)
Skin Cancer [IS A Subclass of] Cancer (BT)
Skin Cancer [IS CAUSED BY] UV Rays (RT)
UV Rays [CAUSES] Skin Cancer (RT)
Chemotherapy [TREATS] Skin Cancer (RT)
All of these relationships are customized and defined
for each ontology according to a simple framework
All relationships are reciprocal
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
5. HOW ONTOLOGIES ARE USED
Much in the same way as thesauri, Ontologies are
powerful tools for semantic enrichment, document
classification, search/retrieval enhancement, etc.
The basic process of indexing is the same; it’s the
relationships between the concepts (terms) that are
different
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
6. ONTOLOGY OR THESAURUS?
For many cases, a thesaurus is perfect for
Organizing concepts in a domain
Classifying documents
Auto-suggesting search terms
…and most other publishing needs
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
7. ONTOLOGY OR THESAURUS?
Ontologies are useful for classifying and relating
domains in which defining more specific
relationships are useful to the end user, for
example:
Biology (diseases, disease vectors, organisms)
Manufacturing (suppliers, parts, products)
Materials science (materials, techniques, tests)
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
9. ONTOLOGIES SOUND COOL!
Do I need one?
Maybe!
Maybe not!
What’s the downside?
Labor-intensive and time-consuming to build
Require intensive expert review
Therefore, more expensive and longer
projects
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
10. THEN WHY ARE YOU TELLING US ABOUT
ONTOLOGIES IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
11. ONTOLOGY MASTER
Access Innovations is developing an ontology
construction and management application to
meet demand in the marketplace: Ontology
Master
Sister product of Thesaurus Master
Based on the same framework
Same easy-to-use interface
Works seamlessly with MAI
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.
19. ONTOLOGY MASTER
Currently in development
Projected release in 2014
We are happy to talk to you about your interest in
ontologies, Ontology Master, and your needs
Copyright 2014 Access Innovations, Inc.