Product Development Processes Ontology
DS 30: Proceedings of DESIGN 2002, the 7th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik
Year: 2002
Editor: Marjanovic D.
Author: Mabogunje, A.; Hansen, P. K.; Eris, Ö.; Leifer, L.
Section: Design research and technology
Page(s): 197-202
Abstract
Numerous empirical studies of various product development processes are initiated each year. Most of these rely on vocabularies that have merged partly within their local research community. Though there are some commonalties in the vocabularies applied the ‘incompatibilities’ between the studies are astonishing. In this paper we shall discuss the advantage of applying an ontological approach to overcome some of the difficulties, and also, present a tentative ontology. An ontology can be defined as the specification of a conceptualization. That is, an ontology is a description of the objects, concepts, entities, and relationships that can exist in some area of interest. The goal is to communicate consistently in a domain of discourse without necessarily operating on a globally shared theory.
Keywords: Research Cumulation, Research Classification, Indexing Research