Definition of Ontology

• Gruber, 1996, An ontology is a explicit specification of a conceptualisation.

• Borst, 1997, An ontology is a formal specification of a shared conceptualisation.

  • formal: machine-readable
  • shared: rather strong requirement, should represent consensual knowledge of a group

• Sowa, 2000, Ontology defines the kinds of things that exist in the application domain.

Notes: