ONTOLOGICAL STRATIFICATION IN AN ECOLOGY OF INFOHABITANTS

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports progress from the EEII research project where ontological stratification is applied within the study of openness. We explain a stratification approach to reduce the overall complexity of conceptual models, and to enhance their modularity. A distinction is made between ontological and epistemological stratification. The application of the stratification approach to agent system design is explained and illustrated. A preliminary characterization of the relevant strata is given. The wider relevance of this result for information infrastructure design is addressed: we conjecture that ontological stratification will be key to the model management and semantic interoperability in a ubiquitous and model driven information infrastructure [1].