Ontological design

In this paper, we describe the concept of ontological design. We show how ontologies can be used as cognitive maps of complex, ill-structured, plastic problems. They can be used to concisely encapsulate the core logic of a problem. From it one can also derive a closed set of a very large number of natural language descriptions of a problem. The ontologies can be plastic but at the same time systematic, repeatable, and extensible. They can be used to map the gaps between the states-of-the-art, -practice, and - need. Knowing the gaps strategies can be designed to bridge them. Thus, ontological design is a method of logical analysis, synthesis of research and practical knowledge, its interpretation, and application to the design of solutions to complex, ill-structured, and plastic problems. We illustrate ontological design in the context of eHealth.