Resumen
Recently, there has been increasing recognition that ontological principles can be effectively applied to the broader field of Information Systems (IS). This has led to the notion of "ontology-driven information systems" covering both the structural (the content including the database, user interface and application program components) and the temporal (the development and operation processes) dimensions of IS. This article presents a Helix-Spindle model for engineering special-purpose ontologies that has evolved from the authors' experience in developing MibML--a special-purpose ontology for the discourse universe of Multiagent-based Integrative Business Information Systems (MIBIS). The Helix-Spindle model provides a new way of thinking about ontological engineering and incorporates several unique features not found in current ontological engineering approaches. This model provides a forward-lockstep build-test process that combines the theoretic and the pragmatic approaches resulting in a highly effective ontological engineering model.