Best Practice Principles

Best Practice Principles

Based on the book Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology by Robert Arp, Barry Smith and Andrew D. Spear, MIT Press 2015, some best practice principles are derived for the OpenEnergyOntology OEO. The collection is a guideline for OEO developers and reviewers to achieve and maintain a high quality of the ontology.

The OEO is an ontology of the energy system modelling domaine.

Terminology

1. Use domain terminology.

The OEO is an ontology of the energy system modelling domaine. Regarding the selection of terms, stay as close as possible to the usage of actual domain experts. The goal is to achieve maximal consensus within the relevant discipline.

2. Equivocality of terminology

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3. Do not reinvent the wheel.

There are already plenty of terminologies and ontologies which might be useful for the OEO. Employ them.

Principles for Definitions

1. Provide all (nonroot) terms with definitions!

Provide all (nonroot) terms with definitions! ALL.

2. Use Aristotelian definitions.

An Aristotelian definition is built like that:

'S' is a 'G' that 'Ds',

where 'S' (species) ist the term to be defined and 'G' (genus) is the direct parent term of 'S' in the ontology. 'D' (differencia) is the specification, which makes a certain member of 'G' an 'S' (difference to other children of 'G').

For example a definition for wind turbine which may be an immediate child of generator: 'A wind turbine ('S') is a generator ('G') that converts the wind's kinetic energy into electrical energy ('D').'

3. Use simple terms.

Use simpler terms than the term you are defining, the improve the intelligibility of the definition.