In studying Ontology, I constantly find myself searching for an overarching definition that satisfies all perspectives, philosophical and scientific, to mitigate my confusion surrounding the subject. I recently read a long article exhaustively exploring all aspects of ontology, but I found that clarity for this subject lies in application.
The main focus of this paper is the domain ontology, which are theoretical frameworks that apply to certain domains. The theoretical framework concept is an idea stemming from the scientific ontology. In layman’s terms these ontologies seek to standardize informal distinctions and definitions, such as the boundary between a boreal forest and a temperate rainforest. In the pacific northwest, these two biomes exist close to each other, but there is no formal boundary line universally agreed upon by scientists.
In his 2014 paper, Sinha et. al explore this same question, but rather than forests they explore surface water features. The main goal of a domain ontology is to create an exhaustive and sturdy foundation for future study in a topic. In doing so, the researcher searches for the “most essential concepts of a domain” (15). How far must one go in defining and dividing a domain to create adequate definitions of features and classes that best display the relationships that compose that domain?
Smitty_1