We address the issue of ontology construction and reuse, and regard such
processes as collaborative negotiations among stakeholders. A semiotic framework is
proposed to model the communication environment. Accordingly, content and expression
of an ontology have been clearly distinguished, and formalized independently. A
twofold model is proposed: at an operational level, two stakeholders – such as designer
and user – negotiate by proposing and modifying ontology fragments. At a reflexive
level, the negotiation involves interpretations, until a set of shared meanings is reached;
the process can be described adopting a narrative approach.
