[SCL] "ontologies"

[John F. Sowa]

Pat,

Your quotation supports everything I have claimed:
an ontology is a set of sentences used to define
the terminology or vocabulary of some domain.

Please note the following phrase in the passage
you cited (copied below):

   "One now sees ontologies used as central controlled
    vocabularies...."

That is consistent with the definition in the OWL
document, with the definition by the U. of Manchester
gang in my other citation, and with the definitions
on my web site:

    http://www.jfsowa.com/ontology/gloss.htm

Summary:  An ontology is what goes into the T-box,
not the A-box.  A theory can go into either the
T-box or the A-box.

And by the way, I would vote for the word "dialect"
as a replacement for "skin".

John
_______________________________________________________

"Ontologies have moved beyond the domains of library science, 
philosophy, and knowledge representation.  They are now the concerns of 
marketing departments, CEOs, and mainstream business.  Research analyst 
companies such as Forrester Research report on the critical roles of 
ontologies in support of browsing and search for e-commerce and in 
support of interoperability for facilitation of knowledge management and 
configuration.  One now sees ontologies used as central controlled 
vocabularies that are integrated into catalogues, databases, web 
publications, knowledge management applications, etc.  Large ontologies 
are essential components in many online applications including search 
(such as Yahoo and Lycos),  e-commerce (such as Amazon and eBay), 
configuration (such as Dell and PC-Order), etc.   One also sees 
ontologies that have long life spans, sometimes in multiple projects 
(such as UMLS, SIC codes, etc.).  Such diverse usage generates many 
implications for ontology environments."