The state of the art in ontology building, and modeling in general, widely disregards the fact that the behavior of rational actors in the modeling process will be driven by individual economic incentives. Creating an ontology requires resources (e.g. labor) from the contributing individuals. If there is a remote possibility the overall benefit of an ontology might exceed the costs for creating the ontology over its lifetime, it may not be created if it's not economically feasible for each individual required to contribute.

Ontology Economics, an edited volume authored by distinguished leaders in this field, provides a one-stop reference on the economic dimension of building, committing to, and using ontologies which are grounded by economic research. Linked to experience and data from real-world ontology projects, this volume is concise and self-contained.

A reference book for advanced-level students and researchers in computer science and engineering; also useful for industry practitioners.

First book to exclusively cover the latest developments on Ontology Economics
Includes case studies based on real-world examples

Preface.- An Overview of Ontology Economics.- Agents and Inventive Structures - Is it Rational to Build Ontologies?- Network Effects and Diffusion - Can the Semantic Web Learn from Standards Research?- Cost Models for Ontology Construction.- Total Cost of Ontologies - The Macroeconomic Perspective.- Ontology Usage Under Uncertainty: Ontology Projects Risk Prediction.- Methods for Assessing the Added Value of Ontologies.- Quantitative Evidence: Data and Experiences.- Conclusion and Outlook.- Index.