# Ontology (information science)
## MicroSim spec
- **Recommended sim type:** graph-network
- **Microsimmability score:** 28/100
- **Layout:** drawing region (canvas) on top; control region (sliders/buttons) below.
### Parameters (tunable controls)
- `Nodes` (number of nodes)
- `Edge density` (fraction of possible links present)
- `Edge cost` (weight scale on links)
### What animates
A network of nodes and weighted edges lays out on the canvas; a path or flow is traced and re-routed as topology and costs change.
### Learning objective
Relate routing, critical paths, and delay to network topology and costs.
## Links (Wikipedia order)
<!-- injected from _registry/childlinks/Ontology_(information_science).json (2026-07-30T02:09:12Z) -->
`AI_winter` · `A_Greek–English_Lexicon` · `Abstraction_(computer_science)` · `Academic_discipline` · `Academic_freedom` · `Agile_software_development` · `Alphabet_of_human_thought` · `Ancient_Greek` · `Applied_ontology` · `Argument_map` · [[Artificial_intelligence]] · `Aspect-oriented_programming` · `Automated_reasoning` · `BIBFRAME` · `BabelNet` · `Backward_compatibility` · `Barry_Smith_(ontologist)` · `Basic_Formal_Ontology` · `Bibliographic_Ontology` · `Bibliometrics` · `Business_decision_mapping` · `CI/CD` · `CIDOC_Conceptual_Reference_Model` · `COinS` · `Capability_Maturity_Model_Integration` · `Capital_asset` · `Category_theory` · `Censorship` · `Characteristica_universalis` · `Cladistics` · `Classification_scheme_(information_science)` · `Cognitive_map` · `Coherentism` · [[Collective_intelligence]] · `Common_Algebraic_Specification_Language` · `Common_Logic` · `Compatibility_layer` · `Compatibility_mode` · `Component-based_software_engineering` · `Compound_(linguistics)` · `Computational_Linguistics_(journal)` · `Computational_model` · `Computer_Science_Ontology` · `Computer_compatibility` · `Computer_data_storage` · [[Computer_engineering]] · [[Computer_hardware]] · [[Computer_programming]] · [[Computer_science]] · `Concept_map` · `Conceptual_graph` · `Constructive_analysis` · `Constructive_set_theory` · `Controlled_vocabulary` · `Cultural_heritage` · `Cultural_studies` · `Cyc` · `CycL` · `DOAP` · `Dale_Jacquette` · `Data_and_information_visualization` · `Data_model` · `Data_modeling` · `Database` · `Decision_tree` · `Defining_vocabulary` · `Degree_of_truth` · `Dendrogram` · `Description_logic` · `Design_rationale` · `DevOps` · `Deviant_logic` · `Diagrammatic_reasoning` · `Dialetheism` · `Digital_humanities` · [[Digital_library]] · `Domain_knowledge` · `Domain_of_discourse` · `Dublin_Core` · `Dynamic_semantics` · `Eclipse_(software)` · `Empirical_software_engineering` · `Endurantism` · `Enterprise_architecture` · `Enterprise_unified_process` · `Entity–relationship_model` · `Epistemology` · `Essence` · `Essential_systems_analysis` · `Etymology` · `Executable_UML` · `Existence` · `Experimental_software_engineering` · `Extreme_programming` · `FOAF` · `Facebook_Platform` · [[First-order_logic]] · `Folksonomy` · `Food_and_Agriculture_Organization` · `Formal_concept_analysis` · `Formal_language` · `Formal_methods` · `Formal_ontology` · `Forward_compatibility` · `Foundational_Model_of_Anatomy` · `Foundationalism` · `Four-valued_logic` · `Freedom_of_information` · `Freedom_of_the_press` · [[Function_model]] · `Functional_specification` · `Functor` · `Fuzzy_finite_element` · `Fuzzy_logic` · `Fuzzy_rule` · `Fuzzy_set` · `Fuzzy_set_operations` · `GRDDL` · `Gene_Ontology` · `General_Concept_Lattice` · [[Genomics]] · `Geotagging` · `Geovisualization` · `Graph_drawing` · `Graphic_communication` · `H-feed` · `HAtom` · `HCalendar` · `HCard` · `HProduct` · `HRecipe` · `HReview` · `HTTP` · `Henry_Liddell` · `Heyting_arithmetic` · `Hyperbolic_tree` · `Hypertext` · `IDEAS_Group` · [[IDEF]] · `IDEF5` · `IEEE_1164` · `ISO/IEC_15504` · `Incremental_build_model` · `Inference_engine` · `Infographic` · `Informatics` · `Information_access` · `Information_architecture` · `Information_behavior` · `Information_design` · `Information_ethics` · `Information_extraction` · `Information_management` · [[Information_model]] · `Information_retrieval` · [[Information_science]] · `Information_security` · `Information_seeking` · `Information_society` · `Information_technology` · `Information_wants_to_be_free` · `Inheritance_(object-oriented_programming)` · `Inquisitive_semantics` · `Intellectual_freedom` · `Intellectual_property` · `Intelligence_Advanced_Research_Projects_Activity` · `Intermediate_logic` · `Internationalized_Resource_Identifier` · `Internet` · `Internet_freedom` · `Internet_privacy` · `Interoperability` · `Intuitionism` · `Intuitionistic_logic` · `Intuitionistic_type_theory` · `Issue-based_information_system` · `Issue_tree` · `Iterative_and_incremental_development` · `JSON-LD` · `Jargon` · `John_F._Sowa` · `Knowledge-based_systems` · `Knowledge_Interchange_Format` · `Knowledge_engineering` · `Knowledge_extraction` · `Knowledge_graph` · `Knowledge_management` · `Knowledge_modeling` · `Knowledge_organization` · `Knowledge_representation_and_reasoning` · `Lattice_(order)` · `Layered_graph_drawing` · `Level_of_measurement` · `Library_2.0` · `Library_and_information_science` · `Library_classification` · `Linear_logic` · `Ling_Liu_(computer_scientist)` · `Linked_data` · `List_of_concept-_and_mind-mapping_software` · `Logic_synthesis` · `Longman_Dictionary_of_Contemporary_English` · `Machine_translation` · `Many-valued_logic` · `McGill–Queen's_University_Press` · `Memory` · `Mental_model` · `Meta-Object_Facility` · `Metadata` · `Metadata_Authority_Description_Schema` · `Metadata_Object_Description_Schema` · `Metalanguage` · [[Metamodeling]] · `Metaphysics` · `Michael_Ashburner` · `Microdata_(HTML)` · `Microformat` · `Mind_map` · `Model-driven_engineering` · `Modeling_language` · `Morphological_analysis_(problem-solving)` · `N-Triples` · `Name_reaction` · `Natural_language_processing` · `Nature_Biotechnology` · `Neo-Latin` · `Neuroscience_Information_Framework` · `Non-classical_logic` · `Non-monotonic_logic` · `Notation3` · `OBO_Foundry` · `Object-oriented_programming` · `Object_Management_Group` · `Object_model` · `Object–role_modeling` · `Olog` · [[Ontology]] · `Ontology_components` · [[Ontology_engineering]] · `Ontology_language` · `Ontology_learning` · `Open_access` · `Organizational_chart` · `Outline_of_economics` · `Outline_of_information_science` · `Oxford_English_Dictionary` · `Paraconsistent_logic` · `Participle` · `Particular` · `Pathfinder_network` · `Perdurantism` · `Philosophy` · `Philosophy_and_economics` · `Philosophy_of_information` · `Philosophy_of_language` · `Playing_card` · `Poker` · `Present_tense` · `Privacy` · `Probability_distribution` · `Problem_structuring_methods` · `Process` · `Programming_paradigm` · [[Project_management]] · `Proteomics` · `Protégé_(software)` · `Public_health` · `Punched_card` · `Quantum_information_science` · `RDF/XML` · `RDF_Schema` · `RDFa` · `Radial_tree` · `Rapid_application_development` · `Reference_(computer_science)` · `Relevance_logic` · [[Requirements_engineering]] · `Resource_Description_Framework` · `Richard_M._Durbin` · `Right_to_know` · `Right_to_privacy` · `Risk_management` · `Robert_Scott_(philologist)` · `Round-trip_engineering` · `Rule-based_system` · `Rule_Interchange_Format` · `S-expression` · `SAWSDL` · `SHACL` · `SNOMED_CT` · `SPARQL` · `Saul_Kripke` · `Schema.org` · `Schema_(psychology)` · `Science_and_technology_studies` · [[Search-based_software_engineering]] · `Semantic_HTML` · `Semantic_Web` · `Semantic_Web_Rule_Language` · `Semantic_analytics` · `Semantic_computing` · `Semantic_mapper` · `Semantic_matching` · `Semantic_network` · `Semantic_publishing` · `Semantic_reasoner` · `Semantic_search` · `Semantic_service-oriented_architecture` · `Semantic_triple` · `Semantic_wiki` · `Semantically_Interlinked_Online_Communities` · `Semantics` · `Semantics_(programming_languages)` · `Service-oriented_architecture` · `Simple_Knowledge_Organization_System` · [[Site_reliability_engineering]] · `Slovenia` · `Social_software_engineering` · `Sociogram` · `Software` · `Software_archaeology` · [[Software_architecture]] · `Software_configuration_management` · `Software_deployment` · `Software_design` · `Software_development_process` · [[Software_engineering]] · `Software_incompatibility` · `Software_maintenance` · `Software_prototyping` · [[Software_quality]] · [[Software_quality_assurance]] · `Software_system` · `Software_testing` · `Software_verification_and_validation` · `Solid_(web_decentralization_project)` · `SourceForge` · `Spiral_model` · `Stanford_University` · `Structural_rule` · `Structured_analysis` · `Substructural_logic` · `Suggested_Upper_Merged_Ontology` · `Systems_analysis` · `Systems_development_life_cycle` · [[Systems_engineering]] · `Systems_modeling` · `Systems_modeling_language` · `Taxonomy` · `Terminology_extraction` · `Text_mining` · `Three-state_logic` · `Three-valued_logic` · `Timeline` · `Tom_Gruber` · `Topic_map` · `Tree_structure` · `Treemapping` · `TriG_(syntax)` · `TriX_(serialization_format)` · `Turtle_(syntax)` · `Unified_Modeling_Language` · `Unified_process` · `Uniform_Resource_Identifier` · `Universal_(metaphysics)` · `Universal_Systems_Language` · `V-model_(software_development)` · `VHDL` · `Verb` · `Verilog` · `View_model` · `Visual_analytics` · `Visual_language` · `Waterfall_model` · [[Wayback_Machine]] · `Web_2.0` · `Web_Ontology_Language` · `Web_Science_Trust` · `Web_engineering` · `Web_resource` · `Wicked_problem` · `Willard_Van_Orman_Quine` · `WordNet` · `World_Wide_Web` · `XML` · `Yves_Pigneur` · `ZigZag_(software)` · `Łukasiewicz_logic`
## From the Real GENERATIVE library
*Ontology (information science) — placed from the Real G.E.N.E.R.A.T.I.V.E. course library (Engineering room). Source: Wikimedia Commons (via Wikipedia article media). [Details & license](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_of_Tree_of_Knowledge_after_Diderot_%26_d%27Alembert%27s_Encyclop%C3%A9die%2C_by_Chr%C3%A9tien_Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Guillaume_Roth.jpg).*
> In information science, an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definitions of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, or entities that pertain to one, many, or all domains of discourse. More simply, an ontology is a way of showing the properties of a subject area and how they are related, by defining a set ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_%28information_science%29))
<!-- REAL-GENERATIVE-MEDIA:END -->
> p5.js MicroSim stub · part of Systems Engineering · [Wikipedia source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_%28information_science%29)
> Relation: subfield of systems engineering.
## Concept summary
In [[Information_science|information science]], an ontology encompasses a representation, formal naming, and definitions of the categories, properties, and relations between the concepts, data, or entities that pertain to one, many, or all domains of discourse. More simply, an ontology is a way of showing the properties...
## Build checklist
- [ ] Claim it: set `status: in-progress` + `lease` + `leased_at`
- [ ] Write the child page explaining the concept (tie it back to systems engineering)
- [ ] Finalize parameter ranges and defaults
- [ ] Implement the p5.js sketch (drawing + control regions)
- [ ] Add caption + the learning objective on the page
- [ ] Set `status: done`
## p5.js sketch
```javascript
// MicroSim: Ontology (information science)
let controls = {};
function setup() {
// createCanvas(...); create sliders for the parameters above.
}
function draw() {
// background(...); read controls; render graph-network; respond live.
}
```
---
Back to Systems Engineering
---
<!-- SEMIOTIC-PROFILE:START -->
## Semiotic profile
> *The semiotic universals this article invokes, machine-derived from the crossref — **unverified** (born so). Populated 2026-07-06 for the Systems room.*
**Universals (8):** 🟢 network (8) · 🟡 system (5) · 🟡 information (3) · 🟡 science (3) · 🟢 topology (2) · 🟢 flow (1) · 🟡 density (1) · 🟢 network topology icons (1)
**Enter by sign:** Systems Semiotic Gateway · Alphabetum · Icon Registry · ← Systems Portal
<!-- SEMIOTIC-PROFILE:END -->
<!-- REAL-GENERATIVE-MEDIA:START -->
## Wikipedia : Wikitube
**Strict pair:** [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_%28information_science%29) : [Wikitube](https://en.wikitube.io/wiki/Ontology_%28information_science%29)
## Previous hub tags
Tree parents: [[Reliability_engineering]] · [[Systems_engineering]].
Legacy hubs: none.
---
*Sources: 1 legacy note. Minted wave 1, 2026-07-30 (v1.6 order).*