Ontology engineering - Theory and practice -

Abstract: Ontology engineering provides us with powerful conceptual tools/methodologies for modeling all kinds of entities in the real world. Because its origin is philosophy, it leads us to analysis of deep conceptual structure of the target world, which eventually enables us to find solid and fundamental understanding about it. In my talk, I will discuss theory and practice of ontological engineering based on my 20-year experience. Theoretical aspect of ontological engineering includes fundamental distinctions between entities with justifications. I discuss if a typhoon and an ocean current are objects or processes, how a process and an event are different, etc. As a common topic to law and language, I discuss ontology of informational objects without going into detail of semiotics. In order to demonstrate utility of ontological engineering, I also discuss a couple of application projects conducted by my group thus far. Examples include ontology of function and its deployment, ontology of learning and instructional theories and a theory-aware authoring tool, and ontology of diseases.