Ontologies: from Engineering to Philosophy
My research goes from ontology-driven
information systems (how we use the semantic models called
computational ontologies to create information systems) to fundamental ontology
in
the
philosophical sense (the basic foundation of all the
sciences). I am especially interested in ontologies of the environment.
Based
on
the hermeneutics philosophy developed by Heidegger
and Gadamer, I go back and forth between Philosophy
and ontology engineering.
Using ontology as the main theme, my research spans
three areas:
- Information Science
- Information Systems
- Geographic Information Science
Use Google
Scholar to see some of my papers.
Biographical Information
Frederico Fonseca is an Associate
Professor at IST and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, the College of
Information Sciences and Technology at The Pennsylvania State University. He
earned his Ph.D. (2001) from the Department
of
Spatial
Information Science and Engineering at the University of Maine. His thesis Ontology-Driven
Geographic
Information
Systems covered the area of GIS
interoperability. His research provides a theoretical basis for
semantic interoperability, which is a necessary foundation for a
working, interoperating environment. With his focus on system design,
Fonseca demonstrates how complicated processes can be integrated to the
benefit of users. His newly developed concept of ontology-based GIS is
highly interdisciplinary as it brings together various research methods
from artificial intelligence, software engineering, and GIS.
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Fred
Fonseca - Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies
Global Forest
Information System
Information
Technology
enabling
the participation of scientists, policy-makers and
common citizens in the effort for the monitoring and preservation of
the world’s rainforests
This project aims
at developing a Global Forest Information System and studying the
challenges for its creation. We are using the Brazilian case study to
discuss the possibility of replicating its success in other rain forest
nations interested in monitoring and preserving their rain forests.
The Global Forest
Information System is based on the Web and uses a cooperative approach
to make a significant contribution to the preservation of the world’s
rain forests. Our proposal for a Global Forest Information System
coincides with Alan Grainger’s proposal for a World Forest
Observatory. We both agree that it is necessary to monitor
changes in forest cover through analyses of historical data in order to
understand what happened to them through the last 40 years. However,
such top-down initiatives take time to build. Many countries need to be
involved, and national sensitivities must be properly addressed. In
this project we develop a new approach to the creation of a Global
Forest Information System.
Our concept for a Global Forest Information System goes along the lines
of an enhanced "Digital Earth" concept. We think that the Digital Earth
metaphor can become much more than what today’s virtual globes provide,
and work as a large-scale repository of data, services, and models that
can be discovered and used by the multiple actors involved in
rainforest monitoring. We envision a Web application that can augment
the capacity of rainforest nations to estimate and monitor
deforestation and monitor by making essential data and models easily
available. The key objective is to enable cooperation and participation
from the various actors involved, notably scientists, policy makers,
and common citizens. Content as distinct as satellite images, spatial
data infrastructures, geobrowsers, research data, laws and policies,
and citizen-provided information can be indexed, searched, discovered
and used by all interested parties.
 Events
• I Workshop
on Global Forest Information Systems - Spatial Data
Infrastructures for the Sustainability of the
Brazilian Amazon: Integrating People, Information, and Models on
December 8-10, 2008 in Rio de Janeiro.
Editorial Work
• 2009: Special
issue
of
Earth Science
Informatics on Spatial data infrastructures for the Amazon: a first
step towards a global forest information system - December
2009.
Publications
• C. A. Davis Jr., Fonseca, F. T. (2011). " National Data Spatial Infrastructure: The Case of Brazil." infoDev - The World Bank.
• Fonseca, F. T., C. A. Davis Jr., et al. (2009). " Spatial
Data
Infrastructures
for the Amazon: a First Step towards a Global
Forest Information System." Earth Science
Informatics 2(4).
• Davis Jr., C. A., F. T. Fonseca, et al. (2009). " Beyond
SDI:
Integrating
Science and Communities to Create Environmental
Policies for the Sustainability of the Amazon." International
Journal
of
Spatial Data Infrastructures Research 4: 156-174.
• Câmara, G., L. Vinhas, et al. (2009). Geographical
Information
Engineering
in the 21st Century. Research
trends
in
geographic information science. G. Navratil. Dordrecht;
New York, Springer: 203-218.
• Davis Jr., C. A., F. T. Fonseca, et al. (2010). Environmental
Sustainability:
The
Role of Geographic Information Science and SDI in
the Integration of People and Nature. The
SAGE
Handbook
of GIS and Society. T. Nyerges, H. Couclelis and R.
McMaster. to appear December 2010.
• Fonseca, F., J. Martin, et al. (2010). Making
an IMPACT on the Environment: Sustainability Science and the I-School
Movement. 2010
iConference, Urbana-Champaign.
• Integracao
entre
Ciencia
e Comunidade, (in Portuguese) in II Seminário sobre Grandes
Desafios da Computação no Brasil
• IDE
e
Sustentabilidade, (in Portuguese) in WCAMA 2009
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Information
Science
- Martin, J. and F. Fonseca, (2010). Information
Flow
and Hermeneutic Play in Perception and Dialogue. Ecological
Psychology special issue on Distributed,
Dynamical,
and Dialogical: New Coordinations for Language 22(4):
254 - 268.
- Fonseca, F., J. Martin, et al. (2010). Making
an IMPACT on the Environment: Sustainability Science and the I-School
Movement. 2010
iConference, Urbana-Champaign.
- Fonseca,
F.and
Martin J., (2009). Beyond
Newspeak:
Three
Arguments for the Persistence of the Informal in the
Creation and Use of Computational Ontologies. Special Issue of Knowledge
Management
Research
&
Practice: Knowledge Management and e-Research Technologies:
to Codify or to Collaborate? 7, 196-205.
- Fonseca,
F.,
(2007). The
Double
Role
of Ontologies in Information Science. Journal
of
the
American Society for Information Science and Technology,
58(6), 786-793.
- Câmara,
G.,
& Fonseca, F. (2007). Information
Policies
and
Open Source Software in Developing Countries. Journal
of
the
American Society for Information Science and Technology,
Volume 58, Issue 1, Pages 121 - 132.
- Fonseca,
F.
and Martin, J. (2005). Toward
an
Alternative
Notion of Information Systems Ontologies: Information
Engineering as a Hermeneutic Enterprise. Journal
of
the
American Society for Information Science and Technology,
56(1), pp. 46-57.
- Hermeneus
is a project that applies philosophy to information seeking and
retrieval.
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Information
Systems
- Fonseca, F. and J. Martin. (2007).
Learning
the
Differences
Between Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas Through
Ontology-Driven Information Systems. JAIS - Journal of the
Association for Information Systems - Special Issue on
Ontologies, 8(2), 129-142.
- Câmara, G., Fonseca, F. T., Onsrud, H.
& Monteiro, A. M. (2006). Networks
of
Innovation
and the Establishment of a Spatial Data Infrastructure in
Brazil. Information
Technology
for
Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 255 -
272.
- Davis, C. & Fonseca, F. T. (2006).
Considerations
from
the
Development of a Local Spatial Data Infrastructure. Information
Technology
for
Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 273 -
290.
- Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005).
Play
as
the
Way out of the Newspeak-Tower of Babel Dilemma in Data Modeling.
in:
McLean,
E. and Monod, E., (Eds.), The
26th International Conference on Information Systems , Las Vegas,
pp. 11-20.
|
Geographic
Information Science
- Fonseca, F. and M. A. Rodriguez. (2007).
From
Geo-Pragmatics
to
Derivation Ontologies: New Directions for the
GeoSpatial Semantic Web. Transactions
in GIS 11(3), 313–316.
- Davis, C. , Fonseca, F., (2007).
Assessing
the
Certainty
of Locations Produced by an Address Geocoding System . GeoInformatica,
11(1),
103-129.
- Fonseca, F., Câmara, G., (2006).
A
Framework
for
Measuring the Interoperability of Geo-Ontologies. Spatial
Cognition
and
Computation, 6(4), 307-329, 2006.
- Li, B. and Fonseca, F. T. (2006).
TDD
-
a
Comprehensive Model for Qualitative Spatial Similarity Assessment.
Spatial
Cognition
and
Computation, 6(1), 31–62
- Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2004).
Space
and
Time
in Eco-Ontologies. AI
Communications
-
The European Journal on Artificial Intelligence 17(4):
pp. 259-269.
- Fonseca, F., Davis, C. and Camara, G. (2003).
Bridging
Ontologies
and
Conceptual Schemas in Geographic Applications Development.
Geoinformatica,
7(4):
pp.
355-378.
- Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Agouris, P., and
Câmara, G. (2002). Using
Ontologies
for
Integrated Geographic Information Systems. Transactions
in
GIS, 6(3): pp. 231-257.
- Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and
Câmara, G. (2002). Semantic
Granularity
in
Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. AMAI
Annals
of
Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - Special Issue on
Spatial and Temporal Granularity, 36(1-2): pp. 121-151.
- Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and
Borges, K. (2000). Ontologies
and
Knowledge
Sharing in Urban GIS. Computer,
Environment
and
Urban Systemsx, 24(3): pp. 232-251.
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2006 NCSA Summer Fellowship
I am the recipient of the 2006
NCSA
summer
fellowship at The
National Center
for Supercomputing Applications NCSA , University of Illinois with the
project An
Ontology-Driven
Model
for the Efficient Use of Provenance Information.
|
2006 UCGIS Research Award
I was deeply honored in receiving the 2006
University
Consortium
for Geographic Information Science Research Award
for my work on ontologies in GIS.
|
Teaching and Learning Award
I was honored in 2005 with the George
McMurtry
Excellence
in Teaching and Learning Award
|
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Research Statement
Three words define my research:ontologies,
environment, and integration.
My
basic
work is on ontology engineering, which is the construction of
ontologies, of how people understand and represent their knowledge
about a subject. I also use philosophy to drive my research on
ontologies. I use Hermeneutics as developed by Heidegger
and Gadamer.
My preferred subject for ontologies is the environment,
.i.e, ontologies that describe our scientific understanding of how the
environment works. Once we have different representations of the
understanding of different people I am interested in how to integrate
these different views. The integration of different ontologies will
lead to a better understanding among different communities. The result
of the integration can be used in different enterprises such as
creating better public policies and enhance knowledge sharing among
different nations of the planet.
The main objectives of my current research are:
- Performing an empirical study of how different
communities conceptualize and categorize scientific information about
the environment;
- Creating multiple ontologies about the environment;
- Designing computational models to specify, represent,
visualize, access, compare and share multiple ontologies of scientific
information.
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Publications
Ph.D. Thesis
Refereed Journals
- Fonseca, F. and M. A. Rodriguez (2007).
From
Geo-Pragmatics
to
Derivation Ontologies: New Directions for the
GeoSpatial Semantic Web. Transactions in
GIS. 11(3), 313–316.
- Fonseca, F. and J. Martin (2007). Learning
the
Differences
Between Ontologies and Conceptual Schemas Through
Ontology-Driven Information Systems. JAIS - Journal of the
Association for Information Systems - Special Issue on Ontologies
in the Context of IS 8(2): 129-142.
- Fonseca, F., (2007). The
Double
Role
of Ontologies in Information Science. Journal
of
the
American Society for Information Science and Technology,
58(6), 786-793.
- Câmara, G., & Fonseca, F. (2007).
Information
Policies
and
Open Source Software in Developing Countries. Journal
of
the
American Society for Information Science and Technology,
Volume 58, Issue 1, Pages 121 - 132.
- Davis, C. , Fonseca, F., (2007). Assessing
the
Certainty
of Locations Produced by an Address Geocoding System. GeoInformatica,
11(1),
103-129.
- Fonseca, F., Câmara, G., (2006).
A
Framework
for
Measuring the Interoperability of Geo-Ontologies. Spatial
Cognition and Computation, 6(4), 307-329, 2006.
- Câmara, G., Fonseca, F. T., Onsrud, H. &
Monteiro, A. M. (2006). Networks
of
Innovation
and the Establishment of a Spatial Data Infrastructure in
Brazil. Information
Technology
for
Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 255 - 272.
- Davis, C. & Fonseca, F. T. (2006).
Considerations
from
the
Development of a Local Spatial Data Infrastructure. Information
Technology
for
Development, Volume 12, Issue 4, Pages 273 - 290.
- Li, B. and Fonseca, F. T. (2006). TDD
-
a
Comprehensive Model for Qualitative Spatial Similarity Assessment.
Spatial
Cognition and Computation: 6(1), 31–62.
- Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005). Toward
an
Alternative
Notion of Information Systems Ontologies: Information
Engineering as a Hermeneutic Enterprise . Journal of the American
Society for Information Science and Technology 56(1): pp. 46-57.
- Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2004). Space
and
Time
in Eco-Ontologies. AI Communications - The European
Journal on Artificial Intelligence 17(4): pp. 259-269.
- Fonseca, F., Davis, C. and Camara, G. (2003).
Bridging
Ontologies
and
Conceptual Schemas in Geographic Applications Development.
Geoinformatica: 7(4): pp. 355-378.
- Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Agouris, P., and
Câmara, G. (2002). Using
Ontologies
for
Integrated Geographic Information Systems.
Transactions in GIS – (6) 3: 231-57.
- Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and
Câmara, G. (2001). Ontologies
and
Knowledge
Sharing in Urban GIS. CEUS- Computer, Environment and
Urban Systems 24(3): 232-251.
- F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (1999).
Sistemas de
Informação Geográficos Baseados em Ontologias
in Informática Pública 1 (2): 47-65.
Refereed Conferences
- Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2005). Play
as
the
Way out of the Newspeak-Tower of Babel Dilemma in Data Modeling.
in:
McLean, E. and Monod, E., (Eds.), The 26th International Conference
on Information Systems, Las Vegas, pp. 11-20.
- Fonseca, F. and Martin, J. (2003). Space
and
Time
in Eco-Ontologies, 2003 AAAI Spring Symposium
Series:Foundations and Applications of Spatio-Temporal Reasoning
(FASTR), Stanford, CA.
- Fonseca, Frederico, James Martin, and Andrea
Rodriguez. (2002). From
Geo
to
Eco-Ontologies. Geographic Information Science-Second
International Conference Giscience 2002. Eds. Max Egenhofer and David
Mark. Vol. 2478. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Berlin: Springer
Verlag, 2002. 93-107.
- Fonseca, F., Egenhofer, M., Davis, C., and
Câmara, G. (2002). Semantic
Granularity
in
Ontology-Driven Geographic Information Systems. AMAI
Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence - Special Issue on
Spatial and Temporal Granularity 36(1-2): pp. 121-151.
- Câmara, G., Egenhofer, M., Fonseca, F., and
Monteiro, A. M. V. (2001). What's
in an Image. in: Montello, D. R., (Ed.),Spatial Information
Theory—A Theoretical Basis for GIS, InternationalConference COSIT '01,
Santa Barbara, CA.
- F. Fonseca, (2001). Role-Based
Geographic
Information
Integration. in: C. Medeiros (Ed.), GeoInfo
2001 III Workshop Brasileiro de GeoInformática, Rio, Brazil.
- F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (2000).
Ontology-Driven
Information
Integration
. in: A. Montanari and C. Bettini (Eds.),
AAAI-2000 Workshop on Spatial and Temporal Granularity, Austin,TX.
- F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (2000).
Ontologias
e
Interoperabilidade
Semantica entre SIGs . in: L. Figueiredo
(Ed.), GeoInfo 2000 II Workshop Brasileiro de GeoInformática,
Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (1999).
Ontology-Driven
Geographic
Information
Systems. in: C. B. Medeiros (Ed.), 7th ACM
Symposium on Advances in Geographic Information Systems, Kansas City,
MO, pp. 14-19.
- F. Fonseca and M. Egenhofer, (1999).
Knowledge
Sharing
in
Geographic Information Systems in: P. Scheuermann (Ed.),
The Third IEEE International Knowledge and Data Engineering Exchange
Workshop, Chicago IL.
Book Chapters
Non-Refereed Conferences
- Fonseca, F., Sheth, A. (2002). The
GeoSpatial
Semantic
Web. UCGIS Research Priorities.
- F. Fonseca, (2000). GIS_Ontology.com
in GIScience 2000.
- F. Fonseca, (2000). Users,
Ontologies
and
Information Sharing in Urban GIS in ASPRS 2000.
- F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1998). Geoprocessamento
e
Internet in Anais do GIS BRASIL98, Curitiba, Paraná. (In
Portuguese)
- F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1997). Uma
Interface para Acesso a Dados Geográficos na Internet in Anais
GIS BRASIL97 ,Curitiba, Paraná. (In Portuguese)
- K. Borges and F.Fonseca, (1996).
Cartografia e Geoprocessamento in Anais do GIS BRASIL97, Curitiba,
Paraná. (In Portuguese)
- F. Fonseca and C. Davis, (1994).
Geoprocessamento em Belo Horizonte : Aplicações in Anais
do GIS BRASIL94 ,Curitiba, Paraná. (In Portuguese)
- F. Fonseca and C. Zuppo, (1994). School
Pre-registration
and
Student Allocation in Proceedings of the URISA
'94Conference, Milwaukee,WI, Vol.1 pp.30-40.
- F. Fonseca, (1993). GIS
for
a
Two-Million People City in Three Years in Proceedings of the
URISA '93
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Curriculum Vitae
Education
- 2001
Ph.D. in Spatial Information Science and Engineering at the University
of Maine.
- 1997
Master's of Public Administration and Computer Science from the
Government School of the Joao Pinheiro Foundation, Minas Gerais,
Brazil.
- 1978
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Catholic University of Minas
Gerais, Brazil.
- 1977
Advanced Degree in Data Processing Technology from the Federal
University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Professional Experience
- 2010 - present
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies – College of Information
Sciences and
Technology –
Penn State University
- 2007 - present
Associate Professor – College of Information Sciences and Technology –
Penn State University
- 2001 - 2006
Assistant Professor – College of Information Sciences and Technology –
Penn State University
- 2001
Joint Researcher at National Center for Geographic Information and
Analysis, University of Maine. Funded by a NASA/EPSCoRGrant.
- 1998 - 2001
Graduate research assistant at National Center for Geographic
Information and Analysis, University of Maine.
- 1988 - 1998
Senior system analyst/ GIS analyst at Prodabel, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
- 1989
Assistant Professor - Programming Systems –Computer Science - Catholic
University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
- 1980 - 1988
Consultant in Information Systems.
- 1977 - 1979
System analyst at Federal University of Minas Gerais Data Processing
Center, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
- 1977
Teacher - Algol programming language – Summer Course- Federal
University of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Honors & Awards
- 2006
2006 UCGIS Research Award
- 2005
The George McMurtry Excellence in Teaching and Learning Award
- 2000
NASA/EPSCoRGrant
- 2000
University of Maine College of Engineering Graduate Research Assistant
of the Year
- 1999
ESRI/IGIF Student Scholarship Award
- 1975
IBM scholarship for the best student of the semester
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Students / Visitors
Ph.D. Students
Visiting Scholars
If you are interested in my research projects please
send me an email.
Admissions information can be obtained on Prospective
Graduate Students.
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Courses
FALL
- IST240 - Introduction to Computer Languages
This course provides an introduction to computer languages including
the fundamental concepts underlying their specification; their history,
evolution, and taxonomy; and how different languages from different
paradigms serve different purposes in the development of information
systems (IS). The term computer language is used in a general sense to
include modeling and design languages for information systems
specification, programming languages, scripting languages, markup
languages, and others.
- IST503 - Introduction to IST Research
This course is a study of major methodological, normative, and
theoretical issues in the philosophy of science related to research in
information science and technology. A significant part of this course
will involve coordinating issues and problems customarily associated
with the philosophy of science in general with current research in
information science and technology (IST) in particular. In order to
achieve this coordination, the study of classical texts in the
philosophy of science will be interspersed at appropriate places with
lectures and topics that exhibit relevant faculty research in various
IST related disciplines.
- IST311 - Object Oriented Design and Software
Applications
This course provides an introduction to computer languages including
the fundamental concepts underlying their specification; their history,
evolution, and taxonomy; and how different languages from different
paradigms serve different purposes in the development of information
systems (IS). The term computer language is used in a general sense to
include modeling and design languages for information systems
specification, programming languages, scripting languages, markup
languages, and others.
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Projects
with Mark Gahegan
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Amount: $299,994
Summary: An information architecture to
support investigation of linked Health-Environment Interaction using ConceptVISTA,
an
ontology
creation and visualization tool developed by researchers at
the GeoVISTA Center,
that
allows
users to define and link concepts and resources pertaining
to a conceptual domain. Users can add and view additional information
related to concepts and resources. ConceptVISTA stores ontologies in
the Web Ontology Language (OWL)
format and can import outside ontologies. ConceptVISTA provides users
with a useful set of ontology management functions.
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Editorial
Guest Editor
- Transactions in GIS (2007)
- Earth Science Informatics (2009)
Chair
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Affiliations
I am associated with the following centers:
I work with the following professors:
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