Ontoforinfoscience: metodologia para construção de ontologias pelos cientistas da informação - Uma aplicação prática no desenvolvimento da ontologia sobre componentes do sangue humano (HEMONTO)

Abstract

Considering the researches about organization and use of information relationed to Information Science, it is possible to notice, in the last years, a meaning growing in using of ontologies as knowledge representation instruments and in other applications of the area. In the biomedical context, for example, the ontologies are used in the standardization of the medical vocabularies as instrument with higher power of expressivity over medical terminologies. However, even with the remarkable growing of the using of ontologies, including the context of Information Science, some needs and problems remain opened, possibly because of the recent proximity of this topic with this area. Among the problems identified in the area of ontologies, named as ontological engineering, that impact of some way in your relation with the Information Science, the problems relationed with the process of building of an ontology stand out more, because, more times, they are obscure for specialists in Knowledge Organization. This research held an investigation of these problems and, from that study, it is proposed own methodology for building of ontologies the OntoForInfoScience -, oriented, mainly, specialists in Knowledge Organization, from the field of Information Science. Such methodology brings as novelty the detailing of the steps of the ontology development cycle, which are not well explained in the current methologies for building of ontologies. It is also important to highlight that the methodology proposed is not entirely new, because its development was based in some steps of the know methodologies NeOn, Methontology and method 101, detailing steps of these methodologies and making adaptations required for Information Science. As results of the OntoForInfoScience methodology, it was perfomed a practical application of this methodology in the development of an ontology about human blood components, named HEMONTO. This ontology has a scientific and social nature relevant, because it proposes to be a support instrument for physicians, laboratorists and specialists of this area in general, in the extraction, manipulation, storage and use appropriate of the blood components in the health care, helping save lifes. At the end of the development process of HEMONTO, it concludes that the new methodology is useful for information scientists, and even for other professional of the area of Knowledge Organization, for the creating formal ontological representations. As future works, it is suggested the elaboration of detailed handbook about the OntoForInfoScience Methodology and also the development of the software that supports the building process of ontologies from methodology developed. These suggestions are important to spread the OntoForInfoScience Methodology and to allow that more developers can used it in the development of ontologies of different knowledge domains.