SIP-027 — Ontology, Vocabulary, and Taxonomy Exclusion

Go to Annex C: Requirements

The proposed Reference Architecture SHALL NOT standardize a specific Ontology, Vocabulary, or Domain Taxonomy.

Ontologies, Vocabularies, and Domain Taxonomies express concepts and meanings established for particular communities, Domains, authorities, or purposes. Selecting one such Artifact as the required semantic content of SIP-RA would limit applicability and could displace existing authoritative semantic resources.

SIP-RA must define how semantic Artifacts are identified, governed, versioned, related, mapped, and applied. The responsible Domain or Community of Interest retains Authority over the semantic content itself.

The Submission satisfies this requirement when the proposed Reference Architecture:

1. Avoids defining normative concepts or terms for a particular Domain
2. Avoids requiring a specific Ontology, Vocabulary, or Domain Taxonomy
3. Represents semantic Artifacts as governed inputs or external resources
4. Supports multiple independently governed semantic Artifacts
5. Supports mappings among semantic Artifacts without replacing their authoritative definitions
6. Distinguishes nonnormative semantic examples from the normative architecture
7. Avoids making conformance dependent on a particular Domain Ontology, Vocabulary, or Taxonomy

This exclusion does not prevent the Reference Architecture from defining abstract semantic constructs, semantic relationships, mapping capabilities, lifecycle Governance, or interfaces for using semantic Artifacts.

A Submission may use an existing Ontology, Vocabulary, or Taxonomy as a nonnormative example without making that Artifact part of the SIP-RA normative content.