E-Business Vocabularies as a Moving Target: Quantifying the Conceptual Dynamics in Domains

Most practically relevant domains include some degree of conceptual dynamics, i.e. new conceptual elements arise, and some old ones become irrelevant. This type of change imposes a substantial challenge on building up-todate domain vocabularies, and models in general. In this paper, we (1) provide a generic simulation model, based on a simple colored Petri-net, for investigating the interplay between conceptual dynamics and model coverage and (2) quantify the dynamics in three selected areas, i.e., for computer components, pharmaceuticals, and for methods, recipes, and procedures in the inorganic chemical technology sector. We can show that all three areas undergo a substantial conceptual dynamics and that this may lead to weak domain coverage in respective vocabularies. Based on these findings, we (3) discuss approaches of how the engineering lag of building domain vocabularies can be reduced.