NeOn is investigating the entire development and evolution lifecycle of networked ontologies that enable complex, semantic applications. We want to pay special attention to integrating NeOn research into work practices. Therefore, the methodology, toolkit and infrastructure are intertwined with their deployment and testing from the early phases of the project. NeOn uses a case-centred methodology, which means that our research results are applied to the real-world cases involving partners from industry and public bodies.

So, why is all this research work on evolving, networked ontologies needed? Most of the existing practices for the development of ontologies focus on a single ontology, on a global consistency of such an ontology, and, in principle, on a linear development. This is very restrictive– it is as if we all communicated in a single language and completely disregarded our cultural or historical specifics. Single ontology means single viewpoint on the problems, situations and solutions. If in our everyday life we use many different viewpoints, why can't designers of semantic applications and engineers developing knowledge models do the same? In NeOn, we see several dimensions, in which the existing single-ontology style of work need to be enriched:

• Managing the dynamics and evolution of ontologies in an open, networked environment, which is the primary focus of our work package 1
• Providing support for collaborative development of networked ontologies, which is the primary scope of our work package 2
• Facilitating contextual awareness and using context for developing, sharing, adapting and maintaining networked ontologies – content of our work package 3
• Improving means for human-ontology interactions; i.e. interactions between social and technological sub-systems, which is the focus of our work package 4

Tell me more about...

• NeOn and dynamics of networked ontologies
• NeOn and collaborative aspects of networked ontologies
• NeOn and contextual sensitivity in networked ontologies
• NeOn and human-ontology interaction
• NeOn and the methodology for ontology lifecycle

Wanting to know details...

If you are interested in the results of our academic and industrial research, the best starting point is to see our publications. These are various papers and articles, usually coming from among the submissions to various conferences, journals, etc. They are prepared by NeOn members and we are updating their list as soon as an item becomes publicly available.

Take me to the list of NeOn publications.