Either in a single mind or in collective intelligence. Understanding is basically going from complexity to simplicity. Simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve, since it needs letting down almost everything. For example Web users and designers at large have not yet understood the simplicity of hyperlinks. We see hypersophisticated technical tools needing plug-in and applets and so on performing basically no more than a simple bunch of well built links.
Ontology is too serious a thing to let the ontologists manage it.
Maybe they lack tools to do so. Maybe they lack time. Maybe they lack imagination. I don't believe most of them remain insular on purpose. I've just read all our posts again, and I want to make it clear that I agree with your philosophy here.