Ontological knowledge maintenance methodology

Abstract

Ontologies are used as a key for semantic modelization, offering consensual and formal knowledge specification. They are more and more applied to open and dynamic environments and modeling knowledge that evolve continuously. To take into account all evolving aspects, ontologies have to be adapted to change requirements. In this paper, we propose a methodological approach for ontological knowledge maintenance. The goal of the methodology is to manage ontology evolution while maintaining consistency and evaluating change impact on ontology quality. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.