The rise of ontologies or the reinvention of classification
Dagobert Soergel · Journal of the American Society for Information Science · 1999
Classifications/ontologies, thesauri, and dictionaries serve many functions, which are summarized in this note. As a result of this multiplicity of functions, classifications—often called ontologies—are developed in many communities of research and practice. Unfortunately, there is little communication and mutual learning; thus, efforts are fragmented, resulting in considerable reinvention and less than optimal products.