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Published in:
2007 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Introduction
Published in: Ontology Matching
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
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An ontology typically provides a vocabulary describing a domain of interest and a specification of the meaning of terms in that vocabulary. Depending on the precision of this specification, the notion of ontology encompasses several data or conceptual models, e.g., classifications, database schemas, fully axiomatised theories. Ontologies tend to be everywhere. They are viewed as the silver bullet for many applications, such as database integration, peer-to-peer systems, e-commerce, semantic web services, social networks [Fensel, 2004]. They are, indeed, a practical means to conceptualise what is expressed in a computer format [Brodie
et al.
, 1984]. However, in open or evolving systems, such as the semantic web, different parties would, in general, adopt different ontologies. Thus, merely using ontologies, like using XML, does not reduce heterogeneity: it raises heterogeneity problems to a higher level.