A Multi-Axial Mindset for Ontology Design Lessons from Wikidata's Polyhierarchical Structure
This addresses ontology design challenges for collaborative and evolving knowledge graphs, but it is incremental as it builds on existing Wikidata practices.
The paper tackles the problem of rigid, single-hierarchy ontology design by analyzing Wikidata's polyhierarchical and multi-axial structure, finding that it enables scalable and modular ontology construction for collaborative knowledge graphs.
Traditional ontology design emphasizes disjoint and exhaustive top-level distinctions such as continuant vs. occurrent, abstract vs. concrete, or type vs. instance. These distinctions are used to structure unified hierarchies where every entity is classified under a single upper-level category. Wikidata, by contrast, does not enforce a singular foundational taxonomy. Instead, it accommodates multiple classification axes simultaneously under the shared root class entity. This paper analyzes the structural implications of Wikidata's polyhierarchical and multi-axial design. The Wikidata architecture enables a scalable and modular approach to ontology construction, especially suited to collaborative and evolving knowledge graphs.