On the Implementation of an Algebra of Lightweight Ontologies

Abstract

This paper1 first argues that ontology design may benefit from treating ontologies as theories and from the definition of a set of operations that map ontologies into ontologies, especially their constraints. The paper then defines the class of ontologies used and proposes four operations to manipulate them. It proceeds to discuss how the operations may help design new ontologies. The core of the paper describes an implementation of the operations as a Protégé plug-in, called OntologyManagerTab, and includes use case examples to validate the discussion.