1 / 11

Ontology and the Conceptual Model

Ontology and the Conceptual Model. What is the role of philosophy in the design of Information Systems? AMCIS 2005. Ontology versus Ontologies. Ontology is a branch of philosophy Ontology deals with describing “existence” “The study of being”

lara
Download Presentation

Ontology and the Conceptual Model

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Ontology and the Conceptual Model What is the role of philosophy in the design of Information Systems? AMCIS 2005

  2. Ontology versus Ontologies • Ontology is a branch of philosophy • Ontology deals with describing “existence” • “The study of being” • An ontology formalizes semantics for describing a “sphere of interest” • Domain ontologies?

  3. High-Level Ontologies • Bunge • Sowa • Fiebelman • Brody • Tiles • Other . . .

  4. Natural versus Artificial Systems • Things • Properties • Occurrences • Transformation functions

  5. Transformation Functions Occurrence Transformation Function State 1 State 2

  6. Transformation Functions Occurrence Transformation Function State 1 State 2

  7. Natural Systems Occasionally observed Occurrence Transformation Function State 1 State 2 Observed Inferred, Studied or Guessed Observed or Predicted

  8. Business Systems Mostly observed Occurrence Transformation Function State 1 State 2 Calculated or Defined Defined Calculated

  9. Discovery versus Definition • Much of the hard sciences deal with the discovery of things, observing properties, and understanding transformation functions • In business systems, many (perhaps most) states are defined to be summarizations of events. They need not be discovered and cannot be observed.

  10. Fundamental System Components • Natural systems: Things • Business systems: Events • What are the building blocks of a given Ontology?

  11. Position Statement The value of formal, high-level ontologies that do not give prominence to occurrences is questionable and may inappropriately (and inadvertently) shift the focus of data modeling efforts away from business events to the detriment of diagram quality.

More Related