Differences between Thesauri and Ontologies

Abstract

Thesauri and ontologies are models of knowledge representation based on the terminological control of specific domains. This article describes part of a Masters in Information Science research project developed by the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina [Santa Catarina Federal University] and focusses on the current differences between these two models of representation. The Content Analysis Method was used for the methodology, and the theory was supported by the Teoria Comunicativa da Terminologia [Communicative Terminology Theory] (TCT). The discovery that both models present differences in terms, concepts and objectives allows a deeper understanding of these tools that are considered so vital to technical and scientific communication.