Lightweight ontologies

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss the notion of lightweight ontologies. First defining what we mean by ontology in our sense, we proceed to relate ontology to other related knowledge organisation structures, formal and less formal. We then consider the notion of lightweight ontology, principally based on the expressivity of the ontology description, rather than other possible aspects such as scope, depth or computational tractability, though as we discuss, these other aspects are not entirely unrelated. We then look at ontologies and the semantic web, the emergence of which over the past 10-15 years has seen increased interest in ontologies and associated topics. We proceed to examine 3 key areas where ontologies are being used in IT systems today and briefly discuss the centrality of ontologies and semantic technology to computer science in the future. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.