Ontology is a fancy word for thinking about the universe, sorting it into categories, and determining how those categories relate to each other.

It is especially important to people who are trying to develop “smart” search engines that can formulate answers instead of just presenting relevant web pages.  This is because different types of information should be handled and interpreted different ways (which is why Wolfram | Alpha will frequently ask you for clarification).

For an example, just try a Wolfram Search for “internet” (just remember to hit the back button in your web browser to return to us).

Wolfram | Alpha assumed that you were talking about an industry sector, but presented three other models that would have placed the search term “internet” elsewhere within the program’s ontological framework.

Ontology And You

It is also possible to use ontological principles within a smaller context.

As a thought exercise, imagine that your website is the only thing in the universe.

Good universe.  Let’s try to make sense of it.  What sorts of things exist within your universe?  Come up with categories that describe its contents.

Some groups that you might want to consider:
-    Words
-    Images
-    Addresses and/or Contact Information
-    Advice
-    Products
-    Personal Commentary

The specifics will, of course, vary from site to site.

Once you have your categories, come up with some short descriptions of how the various groups are related to each other.  For example, advice is a type of personal commentary.

Once these lists have been built they can serve two very important functions.

Page Design

Certain types of content will need to appear on several pages.  When the same sort of content appears on multiple pages, is it easy to identify?  For example, if you include customer reviews of your products, would a visitor be able to tell the difference between your description and a customer review?

By identifying the elements of your site you’ll can look to see if they are easy to distinguish from each other.

Site Layout

You can also take your list of relationships and compare it to your navigation.  The story of your company’s origin is definitely “information about us,” but it is not a part of your contact information.  Make sure it’s placement within the website reflects these two facts.

Next Steps

Take one more look at your lists of categories and how they relate to each other.  Some may not show up in your current website design, it’s not always possible to do everything, but you should at least consider them and decide which elements you consider important for future revisions, and which really can be set aside as unimportant.

For a more advanced exercise you can try to come up with come types of content that exist within the internet at large, and decide where your presence fits in.

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