The use of conceptual maps for two ontology developments: nutrigenomics, and a management system for genealogies

We briefly describe the methodology we have adopted in order to develop ontologies. Because our scenarios involved domain experts distributed geographically, the domain analysis and knowledge acquisition phases used different independent technologies that were not always integrated into the Protégé suite. Groupware capabilities were thus achieved. From these experiences we identify conceptual maps (CMs) as an important collaborative and knowledge acquisition tool for the development of ontologies. Direct manipulation and collaborative facilities that currently exist in Protégé can be improved with those lessons learnt from this and similar experiences. Here we describe our scenario, competency questions, results, and milestones for each methodological stage, use of CMs, vision for a collaborative environment for ontology development. This presentation is based on two different sets of experiences, one within nutrigenomics and the other one in plant genealogy management systems.