Ontology

• An ontology is a formal naming of parts of a domain.
• So, you can have objects, and relations between objects.
• A semantic net is an ontology.
• A good XML tag set can be used as a basis for an ontolgy.
• You still need to fill it in.
• The state of the art in AI systems is still domain specific.
• So, if you want to do some work in a big AI system, it is often useful to have an ontolgy.
• The ontology will help you define what is in the domain, and make the system more robust.
• This KR stuff has been going on for a long time (Aristotelian logic is from B.C., and there were quite a few KR systems around in the 70s.). XML was invented in 1998, and only since then has there been a substantial move to XML.