TOWARDS A MORE RELATIONSHIP-FRIENDLY ONTOLOGY FOUNDATION FOR CONCEPTUAL MODELLING

Researchers have for some years been looking to the field of Ontology to provide a foundation structure of meaning which would provide a yardstick against which different modelling systems and methodologies can be evaluated. The Bunge-Wand-Weber ontology (BWW) has led the field in this endeavour, but since 2000 has undergone some criticism. A notable feature of BWW is that it does not treat relationships as first-class objects. Several recent proposals have proposed ontologies that do emphasize relationships, although to a somewhat limited extent. Based on previous work on a relationship-oriented ontology, this paper suggests directions in which a Mark 2 BWW could be evolved.