"Pre-Ontology" Considerations for Communication in Construction

Abstract

We address the question of how the use of ontologies can assist communication in construction. We consider the background to this question in contemporary and emerging practices, and contend that due to the particularity of building site contexts current approaches involving broad standardisation are not promising. We argue that ontologies should be thought of as higher-level conceptual tools for revealing areas of disagreement or differences in understanding. We propose that their use could usefully be integrated with a system for capturing negotiation aimed at resolving these differences.