Ontologies

Shared sets of explicitly defined terminology which provide a deeper level of meaning by providing equivalence relations between terms. Ontologies describe concepts rather than words.

Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com): The branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being.

Table of contents 1 Ontology
2 Ontology Inference Layer
3 Related Links:
4 Related Topics

Ontology

An ontology is “the specification of one’s conceptualization of a knowledge domain.” and is therefore a form of knowledge representation. It is the specs that formally defines relations among terms, eg., taxonomy and set of inference rules. Together they form a richer description of relationships between terms. A formal ontology is a controlled vocabulary expressed in an ontology representation language.

Ontology Inference Layer

This is a proposal for a web-based representation and inference layer for ontologies, which combines the widely used modelling primitives from frame-based languages with the formal semantics and reasoning services provided by description logics.

Ontology Inference Layer (http://www.ontoknowledge.org/oil/index.shtml)