Ontology Engineering from a Database Perspective

Speaker:	Dr. Gottfried Vossen
		Department of Information Systems
		University of Muenster
		Germany

Title:		"Ontology Engineering from a Database Perspective"

Date:		Monday, 12 December 2005

Time:		11:00 am - 12 noon

Venue:		Room 2302 (via lift nos. 17/18)
		The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Abstract:

Ontologies have recently become popular in the context of the Semantic Web
as an appropriate tool for developing a common reference terminology and
language in specific application domains. However, the design and
specification of an ontology still does not follow a generally accepted
methodology, but is considered to be a task based on perception and
intuition. This talk tries to remedy this situation by proposing a novel
methodology for ontology engineering that is based on the phase model of
traditional database design. Accordingly, the design process of an
ontology consists of (1) requirements analysis, (2) conceptual design, (3)
logical design, and (4) physical design. Design guidelines are given which
include continuous evaluation at the end of each phase. The exposition
also provides a running example to ease the understanding of the core
activities in each stage.


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Biography:

Dr. Gottfried Vossen is a Professor of Computer Science at the Department
of Information Systems, University of Muenster in Germany. He received his
master's and Ph.D. degrees as well as the German habilitation in 1981,
1986, and 1990, resp., all from the Technical University of Aachen in
Germany. He has held visiting positions at the University of California in
San Diego, at several German universities including the recently founded
Hasso-Plattner-Institute for Software Systems Engineering in Potsdam near
Berlin, at Karlstad University in Sweden and at The University of Waikato
in Hamilton, New Zealand. In 2004 he became the European Editor-in-Chief
of Elsevier's Information Systems - An International Journal, and he
currently serves as a vice-president and CFO for the German Association
for Computer Science (Gesellschaft fur Informatik e.V.) in Bonn, Germany,
as well as  the Vice-Dean of the Muenster School of Business
Administration and Economics at the University of Muenster.

His research interests include conceptual as well as application-oriented
problems concerning databases, information systems, XML, and workflow
management, where a current emphasis is on data warehouses, meta query
languages, home information systems, process management, and ontology
design for applications related to the semantic web. Dr. Vossen has been a
member in numerous program committees of international conferences and
workshops. He is an author or co-author of more than 100 publications, and
an author, co-author, or co-editor of 20 books on databases, business
process modelling, the Web, e-commerce, and computer architecture.