Merging ontologies requires interlocking institutional worlds

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Colomb, Robert M. | Ahmad, Mohammad Nazir

Affiliations: School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 7 3365 1190; Fax: +61 7 3365 4999; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Merging of ontologies is a frequently addressed problem in the ontology literature. This paper argues that in general two even very similar ontologies cannot be merged. Further, where two ontologies can be merged their conceptualizations are special. They are systems of institutional facts which are interlocking. The argument is based on the literature of the federated database problem and on the concepts of speech act and institutional fact.

Journal: Applied Ontology, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-12, 2007