Scaffoldonto

Scaffoldonto is a term used primarily in information science and software engineering to describe a methodological approach that combines scaffolding techniques with ontology-based modeling. The expression is not widely standardized, and its precise meaning can vary by discipline.

In practice, scaffoldonto can refer to building a provisional framework or skeleton that can be anchored to an ontology or knowledge representation. This scaffold supports rapid prototyping, data modeling, and code generation, with the intent of later refactoring the scaffold into a full, stable ontology or schema.

Typical contexts include: scaffolding domain concepts to match an existing ontology; generating boilerplate software components that reflect ontological structures; and prototyping data models by mapping scaffold elements to ontology terms.

Workflow commonly associated with scaffoldonto includes: choose a target ontology or upper-level concepts; create scaffolds—templates for classes, properties, and relations; map scaffold elements to ontology terms; expand and refine the scaffold into concrete ontological definitions; perform validation and maintenance through consistency checks and version control.

Benefits of scaffoldonto include faster initial development, clearer semantic alignment, and easier team onboarding. Limitations include the risk of over-reliance on the scaffold, potential misalignment with the final ontology, and the need for careful refactoring.

An illustrative example is scaffolding a library information system onto the BIBFRAME ontology to bootstrap class and property structures before full domain-specific refinements are added.

See also: scaffolding, ontology, ontology engineering, model-driven engineering.