Toward ontology evaluation across the life cycle (original) (raw)

Problem Currently, there is no agreed on methodology for development of ontologies, and there is no consensus on how ontologies should be evaluated. Consequently, evaluation techniques and tools are not widely utilized in the development of ontologies. This can lead to ontologies of poor quality and is an obstacle to the successful deployment of ontologies as a technology. Approach The goal of the Ontology Summit 2013 was to create guidance for ontology developers and users on how to evaluate ontologies. Over a period of four months a variety of approaches were discussed by participants, who represented a broad spectrum of ontology, software, and system developers and users. We explored how established best practices in systems engineering and in software engineering can be utilized in ontology development. Results This document focuses on the evaluation of five aspects of the quality of ontologies: intelligibility, fidelity, craftsmanship, fitness, and deployability. A model for the ontology life cycle is presented, and