Ontology Usability Scale: Context-aware Metrics for the Effectiveness, Efficiency and Satisfaction of Ontology Uses

Authors

Xiaogang Ma Department of Computer Science, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 1010, Moscow, ID 83844-1010 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9110-7369
Linyun Fu Twitter, Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103
Patrick West Tetherless World Constellation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180
Peter Fox Tetherless World Constellation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2018-010

Keywords:

Ontology, Ontology Usability, Semiotics, Human-centered Evaluation, Semantic Web, Linked Open Data

Abstract

Both ontology builders and users need a way to evaluate ontologies in terms of usability, but existing ontology evaluation approaches do not fit this purpose. We propose the Ontology Usability Scale (OUS), a ten-item Likert scale derived from statements prepared according to a semiotic framework and an online poll in the Semantic Web community to provide a practical way of ontology usability evaluation. Case studies were conducted to bookkeep current usability evaluation results for ontologies expecting revisions in the future, and discussions of the poll results are presented to help proper use and customization of the OUS.

Author Biography

Xiaogang Ma, Department of Computer Science, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 1010, Moscow, ID 83844-1010

Xiaogang (Marshall) Ma is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Idaho. He received his Ph.D. degree of Earth Systems Science and GIScience from University of Twente, Netherlands in 2011. Before joining UIdaho he was an associate research scientist of Data Science and Semantic eScience at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His research focuses on deploying data science in the Semantic Web to support cross-disciplinary collaboration and scientific discovery, with broad interests in participatory knowledge engineering, data interoperability and provenance, and visualized exploratory analysis of Big and Small Data. Ma is active in several international societies of data science and geoinformatics, and is experienced in research management and community service. He received the IAMG Vistelius Research Award in 2015 and the inaugural ICSU-WDS Data Stewardship Award in 2014. He won the ESIP Funding Friday Competition Award twice in 2013 and 2012. He can be reached on twitter at @MarshallXMa.

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Published

2018-05-10

Issue

Vol. 17 (2018)

Section

Research Papers

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