Conceptual Graphs and Metamodeling

Abstract

Abstract.Metamodeling is often identified as a key layer in the development of an information system because it formally defines the modeling primitives that will be used in subsequent modeling activities. We use the Conceptual Graph (CG) theory for illustration purposes. The simplicity of the CG notation and its flexibility to represent metalevel knowledge through the use of contexts makes it a serious contender for the representation of a metamodeling theory. Therefore, this paper presents a CG based metamodeling framework for the modeling of information systems.

Ontology, Metadata, and Semiotics

“…As an example, the Unified Modeling Language has four levels: the metametalanguage defines the syntax and semantics of the UML notations; the metalanguage defines the general-purpose UML types; a systems analyst defines application types as instances of the UML types; finally, the working data of an application program consists of instances of the application types. To provide a unified view of all these levels, Olivier Gerbé and his colleagues at the DMR Consulting Group implemented design tools that use conceptual graphs as the representation language at every level (Gerbé et al 1995(Gerbé et al , 1996(Gerbé et al , 1997(Gerbé et al , 2000. For his PhD dissertation, Gerbé developed an ontology for using CGs as the metametalanguage for defining CGs themselves.…”