Abstract
This chapter introduces a fieldwork-based method for end-user engaged ontology development. Our approach complements existing methodologies that, despite their aims to consult end-users and domain experts, have not yet formally spelled out steps for end-user engagement in detail. The method we introduce is based on ethnographic-action research. This grassroots approach allows developers to create feasible ontologies that closely fit end-user needs. Being based on fieldwork, this method extends conventional desk-research and expert-panel methods for data acquisition, conceptualization and validation to more meaningfully derive objects and relations that closely match the work routines of practitioners that eventually use ontologies. This chapter reviews existing post-development methods for end-user involvement and shows how these methods can be complemented with a grounded approach such as ethnographic-action research. We demonstrate the method by developing a semi-formal domain ontology for the subsurface utility construction domain.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Ontology in the AEC Industry |
| Subtitle of host publication | A Decade of Research and Development in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction |
| Editors | R.R.A. Issa, I. Mutis |
| Publisher | American Society of Civil Engineers |
| Pages | 149 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780784413906 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 May 2015 |