ONTOLOG forum podcast

Avoiding Hobson's Choice In Choosing An Ontology - invited talk by Jack Park & Patrick Durusau

Jack Park & Patrick Durusau — 27 Apr 2006 12:30:00 -0800

* Agenda Mr. Jack Park (SRI) and Dr. Patrick Durusau (INCITS/V1) presents to the community their talk entitled: "Avoiding Hobson's Choice In Choosing An Ontology" * Date Thursday, April 27, 2006 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_04_27 * Abstract (by Jack Park and Patrick Durusau) Most users of ontologies have either participated in the development of the ontology they use and/or have used it for such a period of time that they have taken ownership of it. Like a hand that grows to fit a tool, users grow comfortable with "their" ontology and can use another only with difficulty and possibly high error rates. When agencies discuss sharing information, the tendency is to offer other participants a "Hobson's Choice" of ontologies. "Of course we will use ontology X." which just happens to be the ontology of the speaker. Others make similar offers. Much discussion follows. But not very often effective integration of information. In all fairness to the imagined participants in such a discussion, unfamiliar ontologies can lead to errors and/or misunderstandings that may actually impede the interchange, pardon, the accurate interchange information. Super-ontologies don't help much when they lack the granularity needed for real tasks and simply put off the day of reckoning when actual data has to move between agencies. The Topic Maps Reference Model is a paradigm for constructing a mapping of ontologies that enables users to use "their" ontologies while integrating information that may have originated in ontologies that are completely foreign or even unknown to the user. Such mappings can support full auditing of the process of integrating information to enable users to develop a high degree of confidence in the mapping. Topic maps rely upon the fact that every part of an ontology is in fact representing a subject. And the subject that is being represented is known from the properties of those representatives. Such representatives are called subject proxies in the Topic Maps Reference Model. Those properties are used as the basis for determining when two or more subject proxies represent the same subject. Information from two or more representatives of the same subject can be merged together, providing users with information about a subject that may not have been known in their ontology. Park and Durusau explore the philosophical, theoretical and practical steps needed to avoid a Hobson's Choice in ontology discussions and to use the Topic Maps Reference Model to effectively integrate information with a high degree of confidence in the results. All while enabling users to use the ontology that is most familiar and comfortable for them.

Dr. Denise Bedford (World Bank) leads a panel that included Ms. Lisa Colvin (Genentech), Mr. Patrick Heinig (EPA), Dr. E. Michael Maximilien (IBM), Dr. Bob Smith (California State U / Tall Tree Labs) and Mr. Peter Yim (Ontolog / CIM3), in the Ontolog Disussion on the subject: "Ontologizing the Ontolog Body of Knowledge - Discussion Session 1 - Framing the Issues, Requirements and Approach" on April 20, 2006

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 12:25:01 -0700

* Subject Ontologizing the Ontolog Body of Knowledge - Discussion Session 1 - Framing the Issues, Requirements and Approach - moderated by Dr. Denise Bedford (World Bank) on 04/20/2006. The session was opens with a panel that included Ms. Lisa Colvin (Genentech), Mr. Patrick Heinig (EPA), Dr. E. Michael Maximilien (IBM), Dr. Bob Smith (California State U / Tall Tree Labs) and Mr. Peter Yim (Ontolog / CIM3) * Date Thursday, April 20, 2006 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki link http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_04_20 * Abstract (by Denise Bedford) The Ontolog community is strategizing how to develop a baseline ontology to represent the entities, relationships and uses of content. The purpose of this ontology is to support the needs and uses of any members of the Ontolog Community. The intent is to provide a foundation upon which any member of the community could apply additional functionality or transform content into other ontology models. By content, we include the community of people, their work and expertise; all electronic archives and content created in and published via the wiki, and information that is referenced by the community members such as standards, reference models, meeting announcements and reports. We will discuss, in this session, how we should frame the issues, establish our requirements and to go about approaching this task of 'ontologizing' the Ontolog content.

Dr. Denise Bedford (World Bank) presents "Strategy for Developing an Ontology - First Steps" - 04/13/2006

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:00:00 -0700

* Subject Dr. Denise Bedford from the World Bank Group, presents her talk entitled: Strategy for Developing an Ontology - First Steps * Date Thursday, April 13, 2006 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki link http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_04_13 * Abstract (by Denise Bedford) Analyzing the users, use and content that will be the focus of an ontology is as important as the technologies that support its implementation. The initial analysis can determine whether your ontology is extensible and sustainable, whether you need one ontology or multiple ontologies, which technologies are best suited to implementing your ontology. This presentation will suggest a strategy for analyzing your ontological needs. The strategy derives from the approach taken to develop ontologies in the development community over the past ten years. We will take as a case in point the Ontolog content and user community.

Upper Ontology Summit - organized by Ontolog and NIST on 03/15/2006, Chaired by Dr. Steven Ray

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 17:00:00 -0500

* Subject Proceedings from the Upper Ontology Summit on March 15, 2006, co-organized by Ontolog Forum and NIST as part of the NIST Interoperability Week. This being the: "Upper Ontology Custodians' Presentations" at the Upper Ontology Summit meeting chaired by Dr. Steven Ray of NIST * Date Wednesday, March 15, 2006 * Upper Ontology Summit link http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?UpperOntologySummitMeeting_2006_03_15 * Abstract (by Steve Ray) Purpose of the Upper Ontology Summit was to develop the mechanism and resources to relate existing upper ontologies to each other in a manner that will increase reuse of knowledge among them, and thereby facilitate semantic interoperability among other ontologies that are linked to them. We want to make the world aware that the technology of upper ontologies has developed to a point suitable for commercial exploitation.

ebXML: Semantics in eHealth by Professor Dr. Asuman Dogac (Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey ) on 03/02/2006

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 22:07:49 -0800

* Subject Ontolog invited Speaker Presentation by Professor Dr. Asuman Dogac, from the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Turkey presents her talk entitled: "Exploiting ebXML Registry Semantics in the eHealth Domain" * Date Thursday, March 2, 2006 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki link http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_03_02 * Abstract (by Asuman Dogac) ebXML registry is capable of storing semantics about the registry objects. This semantics is restricted to classification hierarchies with properties. However it is possible to represent some Web Ontology Language (OWL) constructs in the registry and through stored procedures it is possible to make the registry OWL aware. I will first discuss how to make ebXML registries OWL aware and then through an application in eHealth, I will discuss how this semantics can be exploited.

ISO-15926: An Introduction to 4 Dimensionalism by Dr. Matthew West (Shell International Petroleum Company Limited, London) 02/23/2006

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:11:00 -0800

* Subject Ontolog Invited Speaker Presentation by Dr. Matthew West * Date Thu 2006-02-23 * Agenda Dr. Matthew West, Reference Data Architecture and Standards Manager of Shell International Petroleum Company Limited (London, UK), and 'custodian' of ISO 15926-2, will be presenting to the community on his talk entitled: "An Introduction to 4 Dimensionalism and ISO 15926". The ISO 15926-2 specification is an integration model that uses well defined metaphysics based on spatio-temporal extents, and is highly regarded as a fine ontological work * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_02_23 * Abstract: (by Dr. Matthew West) In philosophy there are two main strands of ontology, 3 Dimensionalism, where physical objects pass through time, and 4 Dimensionalism, where physical objects are extended in time. This talk will introduce the key concepts of a 4 Dimensional ontology and some of the key consequences that follow from that. The talk will give examples of how 4 Dimensionalism has been implemented in the ISO 15926 ontology.

DOLCE: Making basic ontological choices: the DOLCE experience invited talk by Dr. Nicola Guarino (Laboratory for Applied Ontology in Trento, Italy) on 02/02/2006

Thu, 02 Feb 2006 09:46:00 -0800

* Subject "Making basic ontological choices: the DOLCE experience" Ontolog Invited Speaker Presentation by Nicola Guarino * Agenda Dr. Nicola Guarino, from the CNR Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, Laboratory for Applied Ontology (LOA) in Trento, Italy will be presenting to the community. His talk is entitled: "Making basic ontological choices: the DOLCE experience" * Date Thursday, February 2, 2006 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki details page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_02_02 * Abstract (by Nicola Guarino) I would like to organize this talk in three parts: (JLQ) i) a short introduction on the role of axiomatic, foundational ontologies; ii) a discussion on the basic ontological choices available, and on the need to establish systematic links and comparisons among them; iii) a presentation of the basic DOLCE choices in the light of the above discussion.

Part 2 of 2: What is an ontology? - A Briefing on the Range of Semantic Models invited talk by Dr. Leo Obrst (MITRE) on 01/19/2006

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:21:43 -0800

* Invited Speaker Dr. Leo Obrst of MITRE, and a co-convener of the Ontolog Forum, will be presenting to the community. His talk is entitled: "What is an ontology? - A Briefing on the Range of Semantic Models" * Date Thursday, January 12, 2006 * Details on ONTOLOG Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2006_01_12 * Abstract By Dr. Leo Obrst The Ontology Spectrum describes a range of semantic models of increasing expressiveness and complexity: taxonomy, thesaurus, conceptual model, and logical theory. This presentation initially describes the Ontology Spectrum and important distinctions related to semantic models, e.g., the distinction among term, concept, and real world referent; the distinction among syntax, semantics, and pragmatics; the distinction between intension and extension; and de facto distinctions that the ISO 11179 standard makes (as do many others): data objects, classification objects, terminology objects, meaning objects, and the relationships among these. The individual semantic model types are then discussed: weak and strong taxonomies, thesauri, and weak and strong ontologies (conceptual model and logical theory, respectively). Each of these are defined, exemplified, and discussed with respect to when a more expressive model is needed. If time permits, semantic integration and interoperability are discussed with respect to the models. Finally, a pointer to an expansion of the logical theory portion of the Ontology Spectrum is given: the Logic Spectrum, which describes the range of less to more expressive logics used for ontology and knowledge representation.

Part 1 of 2: What is an ontology? - A Briefing on the Range of Semantic Models invited talk by Dr. Leo Obrst (MITRE) on 01/12/2006

Thu, 12 Jan 2006 10:48:00 -0800

Ontology applications and implementations discussion lead by Mr. Duane Nickull (Adobe Systems) and Mr. Kurt Conrad (The Sagebrush Group) on 12/15/2005

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 12:00:00 -0800

* Organized and Co-Moderated by: Duane Nickull (Adobe Systems) & Kurt Conrad (The Sagebrush Group). Topic first proposed by Duane Nickull & Kurt Conrad on 2005.10.06 * Date December 15th, 2006 * Panelists LeoObrst, MITRE ItzhakRoth, Unicorn Solutions AdrianWalker, Reengineering * Details on ONTOLOG Wiki page See http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_12_15 * Abstracts Semantic Technologies in Bioinformatics By ItzhakRoth, Unicorn Solutions, Inc. The initiative funded by a division of the NIH (National Institute of Health) aims to create an environment that provides advanced information technology support in the production, analysis, archiving, and exchange of scientific data for a diverse community of life science researchers. The target system integrates highly diverse bio-science data from numerous disparate sources, enabling access to a broad array of reference data (e.g., genes, proteins, genomics sequences, SNP, human haplotype etc.) combined with experimental data from about 20 different experimentation platforms. Semantic Interoperability via Business Rules in Open Vocabulary, Executable English By AdrianWalker, Reengineering New technologies are currently advancing the Semantic Web, based on the data semantics of XML and RDF. An advantage of RDF is that data from diverse sources can, in principle, be freely merged and repurposed. Yet we cannot expect meaningful results from simply merging previously unseen data under an existing application. We need to be able to easily state new meanings at the application level. The presentation will argue that current approaches to semantics for machine-machine interoperability need to be extended, in order to capture real world meanings for human-machine communication. We show how this can be done in a system that combines inference based on a model theory of stratified nonmontonic logic [1], with support for lightweight, open vocabulary English. One can think of this as realizing application level semantics.

Services Sciences, Management, and Engineering (SSME) invited talk by Dr. Jim Spohrer (IBM Almaden Research Center) on 12/08/2005

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:33:00 -0800

* Invited Speaker Dr. James Spohrer, from IBM's Almaden Research Center, will be presenting to the community. His talk is entitled: "Services Sciences, Management, Engineering (SSME): A next frontier in education, innovation, and economic growth and the role of knowledge representation techniques in services innovation * Date Thursday, December 8, 2005 * Details on ONTOLOG Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_12_08 * Abstract Services sciences, Management and Engineering (SSME) hopes to bring together ongoing work in computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, business strategy, management sciences, social and cognitive sciences, and legal sciences to develop the skills required in a services-led economy. Services are the application of knowledge and skills for the co-production of value for the service recipient. As such, a fundamental aspect of service engagement is the representation of the knowledge that the parties involved in the service process use to communicate and collaborate. Ontology development is one approach to knowledge codification that allows it to be human and machine processable and therefore help and facilitate the service enactment. Paths to service innovations, especially for services deployed over the Web (i.e., Web services and software as a service) will increasingly require better knowledge representation techniques. For instance, to automatically (or semi-automatically) discover, engage, and enact Web services solutions on the intranet as well as the internet as a whole. SSME's primary objective is to discover means for all types of service innovation; therefore, placing ontology and other knowledge representation techniques at the center stage of the SSME agenda.

CYC: Lessons Learned in Large-Scale Ontological Engineering invited talk by Dr. Doug Lenat (Cycorp) on 11/17/2005

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:42:00 -0800

* Invited Speaker Dr. Douglas Lenat, from Cycorp (Austin, TX, USA), will be presenting to the community. His talk is entitled: "CYC: Lessons Learned in Large-Scale Ontological Engineering" * Date Thursday, November 17, 2005 * Details on ONTOLOG Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_11_17 * Abstract (by Doug Lenat): The pursuit of Artificial Intelligence -- from robotics to natural language processing to automated learning -- has been held back by the "brittleness bottleneck" caused by the need for common sense. For 21 years, we've been priming the pump, building up a formalized corpus of such knowledge, Cyc. Along the way, we've had to revise our preconceptions and theories, to expand our representation language and arsenal of inference methods, to find approximate yet adequate engineering solutions to problems that philosophers have grappled with for millennia such as ontologizing aspects of substances versus individual objects, time, space, causality, belief, social interactions, and so on. The process of ontological engineering had to grow and evolve throughout this enterprise, as well, such as how Cyc represents and reasons with contradictions and context. In this talk I will try to cover both the large scale picture of what we've built and why, and the detailed picture of how it's built, and the lessons learned along the way in how and how not to do large-scale OE. I will report on our recent efforts to make Cyc more accessible to the broader community through OpenCyc and ResearchCyc, which raises issues of how multiple individuals and groups can share and integrate their extensions (and settle their differences). Finally, I will discuss an exciting new effort we have just had funded, to gather automated reasoning researchers together for a series of workshops in 2006 on speeding up inference in large knowledge bases by orders of magnitude.

eGovernment-related Ontology Community Efforts -- Differentiation and Synergy moderated by Dr. Brand Niemann (US Environmental Protection Agency) on 11/10/2005

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 16:51:00 -0800

* Topic eGov-related Ontology Community Efforts: Differentiation & Synergy * Date Nov. 10th, 2005 * Details on ONTOLOG Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_11_10 * Moderator Dr. Brand Niemann * Organizing Team Brand Niemann and Peter Yim * Panelists Peter Brown (EU) Suzi Lewis (cBiO) Barry Smith (NCOR) Peter Yim (Ontolog) Pat Cassidy (ONTACWG/COSMO) Marc Wine (HITOP) Steve Ray (NIST) * Ideas and preparation Topic first proposed by Brand Niemann & Peter Yim * Abstract Ontologies and Ontology Engineering are emerging with a bright future in eGovernment for Enterprise Architecture, Data Architecture, Knowledge Computing, and Electronic Health Information, to mention a few. NCOR provides a critical link in the public-academic-private partnership needed to provide high quality ontologies and ontological engineering applications to eGovernment. Pertinent Issues we might explore during this session: The panel consists of public (PeterBrown, MarcWine, and SteveRay), academic (MarkMusen, BarrySmith, and DagobertSoergel), and private (PeterYim, PatCassidy, and MillsDavis) representatives all working with ontologies. So how can we better understand our differences and best organize ourselves to collaborate to achieve common goals and synergy? Session Format: this is be a virtual session conducted over an augmented conference call: 1. we'll go around with a self-introduction of participants (10~15 minutes) 2. Introduction of Moderator and Panelists 3. Opening by Moderator 4. 5-minute introductory presentation by each panelist on their community effort and focus 5. follow by a 5-minute Q&A on the specific community being introduced 6. then, a moderated open discussion by the panel and all participants 7. Summary / Conclusion / Follow-up (Moderator)

Healthcare Informatics Landscapes, Roadmaps, and Blueprints: Towards a Business Case Strategy for Large Scale Ontology Projects moderated by Dr. Bob Smith (California State University) on 11/03/2005

Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:03:00 -0800

* Topic "Healthcare Informatics Landscapes, Roadmaps, and Blueprints: Towards a Business Case Strategy for Large Scale Ontology Projects" - Discussion Session-II (GPX) * Date Nov. 3rd, 2005 * Details on ONTOLOG Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_11_03 * Moderator Dr. Bob Smith * Panelists BrandNiemann, EPA, chair of the federal Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice, CIO Council MarcWine, GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions, Health IT Coordination MarkMusen, Stanford University, Professor of Medicine and Computer Science, Director Stanford Medical Informatics, Director National Center for Ontological Research-Stanford ChristopherChute, Professor and Chairman, Biomedical Informatics, Mayo Foundation DavidWhitten, WorldVistA, Co-founder; Public Domain Knowledge Bank ConradBock, NIST * Objectives This series of Panel Discussions seeks to: 1) Identify the outlines and key landmarks of the current healthcare informatics landscape; 2) Clarify semantic interoperability issues between and amongst existing and planned standards, particularly between OMG-HL7 and OASIS initiatives; 3) Identify an appropriate Ontology Strategy and committment to business valuation; 4) Express key issues for Health Services(Sciences?) Domain Ontology organizational maturity and technology readiness levels; 5) Describe the Time dimension opportunities between remote organizational units. In addition to the previously iterated objectives of this series, Bob Smith and Rex Brooks have identified significant changes in the Healthcare Informatics Landscape which we believe should constitute a basis for specific discussions during the second half of this session: Since our first panel, the American Health Information Community (AHIC) 17-member commission has been empaneled and the first three of four contracts related to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have been granted by the Dept. of Health and Human Services http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2005pres/20051006a.html These contracts are aimed to Advance Nationwide Interoperable Health Information Technology and will report to the AHIC. Because this group of panelists includes the variety of viewpoints necessary we propose that: Dr. Christopher Chute, representing HL7, Rex Brooks and Brett Trusko, representing OASIS and the International Health Continuum TC in particular, suggest one to three topics related to International Healthcare Standards; David Whitten, Brand Niemann and Marc Wine, representing Governmental and Inter-Governmental Groups, ranging from local and state to federal jurisdictions, including VistA and Marc Wine's Health Information Technology Ontology Project (HITOP), as well as the Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice (SICoP) which Brand chairs, suggest one to three topics from this arena; Mark Musen and Bob Smith representing Academic Institutions, and Post Doctoral Research in particular contribute one to three suggested topics from this perspective.

Semantic Web Service Ontology Standard panel discussion moderated by Dr. Nicolas Rouquette (NASA JPL) on 10/20/2005

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 10:15:00 -0700

* Topic Semantic Web Service Ontology Standard * Moderator Nicolas Rouquette (NASA JPL) * Organizing Team Nicolas Rouquette (NASA JPL) John Domingue (Open University, UK) Michael Maximilien (IBM Almaden Research Center) * Panelists John Domingue (WSMO) from Open University, UK MichaelGruninger (SWSF / FLOWS) from University of Toronto Amit Sheth (WSDL-S) from University of Georgia David Martin (OWL-S) from SRI International * Date 10 October 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_10_20 * Abstract We intend to bring together a good cross-section of top researchers and practitioners in the Semantic Web Service Ontology space, both in the panel and among the participants for this session. We will invite our panelists to open the discussion by familiarizing everyone with the different (and possibly still divergent) perspectives and approaches being taken on the subject matter -- OWL-S, WSMO, WSDL-S and SWSF/FLOWS ... etc., and then make a collective attempt to make some sense of the current state of affairs, and possibly suggest where things should be heading. The key initiatives that we will be talking about, will include (as mentioned above, but not limited to): o OWL-S - Web Ontology Language for Services o WSMO - Web Service Modeling Ontology o WSDL-S - Web Services (Description Language) Semantics o SWSF/FLOWS - Semantic Web Services Framework / First-oder Logic Ontology for Web Services

Ontology of Documents invited talk by Professor Barry Smith (State University of New York at Buffalo) on 10/13/2005

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 10:24:00 -0700

* Subject Ontolog Invited Speaker Presentation by Professor Barry Smith * Agenda Professor Barry Smith, from the University at Buffalo, will be presenting to the community. His talk is entitled: "How to Do Things with Paper: The Ontology of Documents and the Technologies of Identification " * Date Thursday, October 13, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_10_13 * Abstract (by Barry Smith) Attempts to develop ontologies of documents have been largely confined thus far either to e-documents or to printed documents such as newspapers or works of literature. Here we shall focus on the vast family of what we might call time-sensitive documents, for example: o identity documents (a passport with exit and entry stamps) o clinical documents (an endocrinology progress note) o business documents (a bill of shipment with signatures of sender, shipper, and recipient) We can think of the ontology of paper documents of these and related sorts as a generalization of the ontology of speech acts (statements, requests, orders, questions ...). The advantages of paper over speech include: 1. paper documents are continuants, which means that they can acquire new properties over time; they can be filled in, approved, copied, stamped, signed, counter-signed, revised, annulled, entered in a registry, archived; 2. paper documents thereby create traceable liability, and thus accountability (they leave an audit trial); 3. paper documents can be attached together, creating new document-complexes whose internal structure mirrors underlying relations (for example of debtor to creditor) among the human beings represented by and involved in creating them. I shall sketch an ontology of time-sensitive documents, focusing especially on the ways in which paper documents are used for purposes of identification in commercial and security domains, and concluding with a consideration of the feature of redundancy in documentation, a feature which proves to be indispensable when documents are used in establishing and verifying identity.

Governance in the Development of an OASIS Standard for Business Documents invited talk by Mr. Jon Bosak (Sun Microsystems) on 09/23/2005

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 22:37:00 -0700

* Subject Joint Ontolog & eGov Collaborative Expedition Workshop Event - Invited Speaker Presentation by Jon Bosak * Agenda Mr. Jon Bosak from Sun Microsystems, Inc. will be presenting to the community, his talk is entitled: "Governance in the Development of an OASIS Standard for Business Documents" * Date Friday, September 23, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki details page http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_09_23 * Abstract This talk will outline the OASIS process for the development of technical specifications and share lessons learned in using the process to develop UBL (Universal Business Language), a suite of XML standards for electronic procurement.

The Model Driven Semantic Web – Emerging Technologies & Implementation Strategies invited talk by Ms. Elisa Kendall (Sandpiper Software, Inc.) on 09/08/2005

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 09:48:00 -0700

* Subject Ms. Elisa F. Kendall from Sandpiper Software, Inc. will be presenting to the community, her talk is entitled: "The Model Driven Semantic Web – Emerging Technologies & Implementation Strategies" * Date Thursday, September 8, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_09_08 * Abstract (by Elisa Kendall) The Object Management Group’s (OMG) Meta Object Facility (MOF™) defines the metadata architecture for Model Driven Architecture (MDA®) and provides a basis for automating metadata management. Metadata, in this context, includes database schema, UML™ (Unified Modeling Language) models, workflow models, business process models, business rules, API definitions, and so on. MOF defines standards for automating the physical management and integration of different kinds of metadata through metamodels and mappings among them. The Semantic Web is a logical extension of existing World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards, such as XML, XML Schema, and SOAP that enables explicit representation of business semantics. The goal is to make domain-specific context, nomenclature, and the language used to describe content and services on the web unambiguous from a computing perspective. Its underlying formalisms and technologies have evolved from more than two decades of research in knowledge representation, computational linguistics, and automated reasoning. MDA and the Semantic Web were conceived independently and evolved with little cross-pollination over the course of several years. However, participants from both communities have recognized business benefits to bridging the two technologies to form a coherent, enterprise information interoperability architecture. The main realization of this to date is the Ontology Definition Metamodel (ODM) standard, which is nearing completion in OMG with the participation of key members of the Semantic Web community. In this talk, we will: 1) Provide a high-level overview of the technology areas. 2) Introduce some of the standards and related work that has been done to date to bridge these communities. Discuss the relationships between these standards and others emerging from the ISO/IEC Metadata standards community (e.g., ISO 11179, ISO 19763, XMDR) 3) Discuss related efforts in the W3C and OMG and how they may relate to the ODM over the course of the next couple of years (e.g., W3C Semantic Web Services & Rules, OMG Semantics of Business Vocabularies and Rules (SBVR), Production Rules) 4) Explore ground-breaking research and its implications for next generation architectures and solutions that embrace the marriage of MDA and Semantic Web services technologies.

Healthcare Informatics Landscapes, Roadmaps, and Blueprints: Towards a Business Case Strategy for Large Scale Ontology Projects panel discussion moderated by Mr. Rex Brooks on 08/25/2005

Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:54:00 -0700

* Topic "Healthcare Informatics Landscapes, Roadmaps, and Blueprints: Towards a Business Case Strategy for Large Scale Ontology Projects" * Moderator Rex Brooks * Panelists Bob Smith, Professor Emeritus, California State University Brand Niemann, EPA, chair of the federal Semantic Interoperability Community of Practice, CIO Council David Whitten, WorldVistA, Co-founder; Public Domain Knowledge Bank Marc Wine, GSA Office of Intergovernmental Solutions, Health IT Coordination Mark Musen, Stanford University, Professor of Medicine and Computer Science, Director Stanford Medical Informatics Ram Sriram, NIST, Manager, "Manufacturing Metrology and Standards for the Health Care Enterprise" program * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_08_25 * Abstract 1. Objectives This Panel Discussion seeks to: + identify the outlines and key landmarks of the current healthcare informatics landscape; + clarify semantic interoperability issues between and amongst existing and planned standards, particularly between OMG-HL7 and OASIS initiatives; + identify an appropriate Ontology Strategy and committment to business valuation; + express key issues for Health Services(Sciences?) Domain Ontology organizational maturity and technology readiness levels; + describe the Time dimension opportunities between remote organizational units. 2. Background: Prior Ontolog Discussion Forums have focused upon topics such as Services Sciences and Ontologies and Tagging for an increasingly focused audience of interdisciplinary experts and cross-disciplinary practitioners, while recent Ontolog Speaker Forums have examined topics of: WorldVistA entitled: "The Importance of Dynamism in the OpenVistA Model" for an audience of communities seeking interoperability in Electronic Healthcare issues; (F2A) "Enhancing Business Processes Using Semantic Reasoning" for an audience of communities seeking interoperability in Business Processing; "The Maturity of Business Ontologies and Rate of Adoption - examples and challenges from the domain of eCommerce and electronic business collaborations" for an audience of communities interested in examining the issues of Semantic Web development in the business domain. We wish to engage thought leaders on healthcare informatic frontiers because there are many converging efforts heading in similar directions for standardizing the range of business functions that support healthcare delivery. In other words, the timing is ripe and right for the development of a new ontological viewpoint to guide this committment and inform a strategy to harmonize these converging efforts seamlessly and without a wasteful conflict of competing organizations trying to achieve the same goal.

Semantic Web Q & A invited guest Professor Jim Hendler (University of Maryland) on 08/11/2005

Thu, 11 Aug 2005 10:04:00 -0700

* Subject Invited Speaker Presentation - Jim Hendler - Thu 2005-08-11 * Agenda Professor Jim Hendler from the University of Maryland will be doing a "Semantic Web Q & A" with the community * Date Thursday, August 11, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_08_11 * Abstract (by Professor Hendler) The Ontolog community has heard many presentations touching on what the Semantic Web is, how it interacts with ontology development and/or web services, and what semantics might offer. By now, you must have questions you want answered about the hows and whys of RDF, OWL, and the emerging Semantic Web Rules and Services areas. Rather than an organized talk, I will put myself at your disposal to answer questions about what these technologies are, how they can be used, and where they'll go next. So come and ask, and I'll do my best to answer.

Business Ontologies invited talk by Mr. Anders W. Tell (Business Collaboration Toolsmiths AB, Sweden) on 07/14/2005

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:08:00 -0700

* Subject Invited Speaker Presentation - AndersTell - Thu 2005-07-14 * Agenda Mr. Anders W. Tell from Business Collaboration Toolsmiths AB (Sweden) will be presenting to the community. His talk is entitled: "The maturity of business ontologies and rate of adoption - examples and challenges from the domain of eCommerce and electronic business collaborations" * Date Thursday, July 14, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_07_14 * Abstract (by Anders Tell) During the last few years a relatively large number of technologies for eCommerce and business integration has been suggested, developed and to a degree standardised. However most commercial trade transaction are still today executed with little to no electronic means, i.e. paper based. A key question must be raised how much "business" such technologies really include? Concerns are also being raised with regards to proposed solutions being overly complex, technological and costly, such as PKI, and that simpler pragmatic means may actually be a faster road to an efficient end. The session focus on an elaboration on selected key business and legal aspects that may differentiate "business technologies" from "technologies that support business". This from the viewpoint and assumption that business mean changes in social, business, economical and legal relations.

Ontological Implications of SOA panel discussion moderated by Professor Bill McCarthy (Michigan State University) on 06/30/2005

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 10:16:00 -0700

* Topic "Interoperability Concerns in the Growth of Service Sciences -- Ontological Implications of Service Oriented Architecture" * Moderator Professor Bill McCarthy of Michigan State University * Panelists Duane Nickull (Adobe / UN/CEFACT) - Service Oriented Architecture (or someone representing the UN/CEFACT work on the SOA) George Brown (Intel / Arizona State U / IMS) - POSE (Pattern Ontology for the extended Service Enterprise) Michael Gruninger (NIST) - PSL, Ontological Engineering * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_06_30 * Abstract (by BillMcCarthy) Interoperability Concerns in the Growth of Service Sciences -- Ontological Implications of SOA Traditionally, trading partners -- both within and between firms – trafficked in bundled tangible products like consumer goods or partially assembled finished goods. Many early e-commerce standards assumed implicitly product-based exchanges. Increasingly however, the growth in exchange and bundling of Services in the US and in other economies has supplanted tangible goods as the raison d’etre of international and domestic commerce. Estimates of the percentage of the gross domestic product of the US due to services (as opposed to goods) range as high as 80%. This trend has led to increased interest in services and the establishment of new research centers like the proposed "Center for Services Sciences" at U.C. Berkeley. A good of overview of such trends is the brief article by Henry Chesbrough: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/9b743b2a-0e0b-11d9-97d3-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=6f0b3526-07e3-11d9-9673-00000e2511c8.html In e-commerce, this growth in service provision has been mirrored by the advent of Service-Oriented Architectures which support integration and creation of composite solutions (bundles of services) from loosely-coupled components assembled both within an enterprise (outputs from legacy applications) and outside of the enterprise (typically XML-based Web services). Whether or not the integrated services originate from incompatible operations inside the firm or from incompatible vendor interfaces from outside the firms, semantic inconsistencies, redundancies, and discrepancies make the vision of integrated services an ontological problem. The purpose of this panel is to explore the ontological implications of Service Sciences in general and of Service-Oriented Architectures in particular. We will start our Ontolog session with some general comments from notable practitioners in the SOA and ontology areas. We will then open up the discussion to more general comments and critiques.

The Importance of Dynamism in the OpenVistA Model invited talk by Mr. David Whitten and Mr. Chris Richardson (WorldVistA) on 06/16/2005

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 10:22:00 -0700

* Subject [ontolog] Invited Speaker Presentation - David Whitten and Chris Richardson - Thu 2005-06-16 * Agenda David Whitten and Chris Richardson from WorldVistA will be giving a talk entitled: "The Importance of Dynamism in the OpenVistA Model" * Date Thursday, June 16, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_06_16 * Abstract The VistA Model has been adapted to the changes in medical health over the last 25 years. Change and adaptation is important to the longevity and success of the VistA model. The advantages discovered and lessons learned at one site are adapted to the framework of the existing VistA model. This ability to allow the whole framework to adapt to the changes of the onslaught of the technology is the power of this Open Source model. The capabilities to do AI in this environment has not been fully explored. Some of the potential opportunities will be described in this presentation.

Enhancing Business Processes Using Semantic Reasoning invited talk by Ms. Monica Martin (Sun Microsystems) on 05/26/2005

Thu, 26 May 2005 10:28:00 -0700

* Subject [ontolog] Invited Speaker Presentation - MonicaMartin - Thu 2005-05-26 * Agenda Ms. Monica Martin from Sun Microsystems will be giving a talk entitled: "Enhancing Business Processes Using Semantic Reasoning" * Date Thursday, May 26, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_05_26 * Abstract Business is looking for ways to squeeze dollars and increase operational efficiency through business process automation and integration. Business integration and business process management are gaining momentum, with evolving standards in tow. Foundational and composed services are being developed and advanced capabilities in the Business Process Management (BPM) space are gaining momentum, following on the tails of large corporate technology investment (and marketing dollars). Process automation and integration are being approached in many ways: o Through computable languages o Through messaging o Through logical entities and abstractions With new and advanced capabilities, abstractions and constraints (context, policy, quality of service, etc), the complexity brings many challenges. Emerging technologies are embracing mathematical and semantic building blocks to enable future BPM solutions (such as semantic variables, conformance typing systems, process matching, etc). Taking a pragmatic iterative approach, new conceptual building blocks are being developed to lay the groundwork for use of semantic reasoning as part of the ongoing progress and success of BPM. This brief will harvest a few examples evident in emerging technologies.

The Future of Semantic Web Technology at DARPA invited talk by Dr. Mark Greaves (US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)) on 05/12/2005

Thu, 12 May 2005 10:32:00 -0700

* Subject [ontolog] Invited Speaker Presentation - MarkGreaves - Thu 2005-05-12 * Agenda Dr. Mark Greaves from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ("DARPA") will be giving a talk entitled: "Future of Semantic Web Technology at DARPA" * Date Thursday, May 12, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_05_12 * Abstract MarkGreaves: In this talk I will review the status of the DARPA's DAML program -- the flagship semantic web R&D program in the United States. DAML-funded researchers were key players in the development of OWL, OWL/S (OWL for Services), and SWRL (Semantic Web Rules Language), and they have created a large library of high-quality open source tools accessible at . The DAML program ends this year having exceeded its original goals. I will conclude with a discussion of the requirements for a new semantic web program at DARPA, and an invitation to the Ontolog community.

Ontologies and Tagging discussion moderated by Dr. Nicolas Rouquette (NASA/JPL) on 04/28/2005

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 10:36:00 -0700

* Discussion topic Ontologies & Tagging (aka: elaborating a hybrid ontology with bits & pieces from here & there) * Moderator Dr. Nicolas Rouquette - NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology * Attendees Peter Yim Kurt Conrad Bob Smith James Douma Adam Pease Jayne Dutra (NASA/JPL) Nicolas Rouquette Pat Cassidy * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_04_28 * Postground AdamPease pointed out to several incorrect statements made about SUMO, particularly with respect to the modularity of SUMO itself. The notes below should be read with the understanding that they may represent incorrect views about SUMO or about other ontologies. (NicolasRouquette) * Background The popularity of the "semantic web" and furious pace of "ontology" development in particular have created a very exciting bubble of research and development activity. From a pragmatic perspective, bleeding edge research has the potential to simplify and improve application-specific ontology development. Bleeding-edge technology has a strong risk stigma associated to it. However, ontology-based development is perhaps a unique kind of bleeding-edge technology where the risk of using it has turned into a fuzzy, bleeding-edge concept of its own. * Goals Assemble a panel of practitioners and experts with a pulse the bleeding edge to review new developments and advances in the field that pertain to the adoption of recommended practices, particularly, modular ontology development and the role of annotation tags in this process.

Semantic Filtering invited talk by Dr. Michael Uschols (Boeing) on 04/21/2005

Thu, 21 Apr 2005 10:56:00 -0700

* Subject [ontolog] Invited Speaker Presentation - Michael Uschold - Thu 2005-04-21 * Agenda Dr. Michael Uschold from Boeing will be giving a talk entitled: "Semantic Filtering" * Date Thursday, Apr. 21, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_04_21 * Abstract We describe a prototype implementation of a semantic filtering capability added to an existing XML-based publish and subscribe infrastructure. An ontology is used to provide vocabulary for expressing both 1) the semantic annotations that characterize the published documents and 2) the subscriptions specifying the class of documents to be routed to a given client. A description logic (DL) classifier is used to determine which subscribers an incoming document is routed to. We outline the key elements of the ontology for an enterprise activity reporting domain and give some sample annotations and subscriptions. This is the basis for describing a number of scenarios showing how this filtering capability could be used in practice. We critically analyze the suitability of a DL language and reasoner in general, and the particular implementation choices (OWL, FaCT and OilEd) for performing this task. A key result of the work is to demonstrate the importance of testing semantics-based technologies on practical problems. We discovered a number of new and interesting areas for future work, which in turn can direct the focus of the research community.

Converting Ontologies discussion moderated by Mr. Kurt Conrad (Sagebrush Group) on 03/31/2005

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 10:59:00 -0800

* Topic Technical Topic of: "Issues Associated with Converting Ontologies Between Representations (especially via Protégé imports and exports)" * Date March 31, 2005 * Moderator Mr. Kurt Conrad, the Sagebrush Group * Attendees Mark Musen Ray Fergerson Olivier Dameron James Douma Peter Yim Adam Pease Monica Martin Chris Menzel Kurt Conrad Pat Cassidy Peter Denno David Whitten * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_03_31

Integration of an Accounting Domain Ontology (REA) with an Upper Ontology (SUMO) invited talk by Professor Bill McCarthy (Michigan State University) on 03/17/2005

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 11:14:00 -0800

* Subject/Agenda Professor William E. McCarthy will be giving a talk entitled: "The Integration of an Accounting Domain Ontology (REA) with an Upper Ontology (SUMO)" * Date Thursday, Mar. 17, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_03_17 * Abstract The REA (Resource-Event-Agent) enterprise ontology is a well-accepted model of the concepts and relationships that exist in a normal economic exchange between companies or conversions within companies. REA is based upon a foundation grounded in both accounting and economic theories of the firm, and it is used in the accounting domain extensively for both research and teaching in accounting systems. The seminal REA paper was published in The Accounting Review in 1982, and its basic framework has been extended multiple times in recent years in work by Geerts and McCarthy. The REA ontology has been used in standards work within the UN/CEFACT, ISO, and other standards bodies. All domain ontologies need to reconciled eventually to an upper ontology if they expect to be used extensively across domains, and the interrelated domain concepts and associations need to be mapped to those of the upper ontology where those correspondences exist. The upper ontology to be used in this mapping exercise with REA is SUMO, the Suggested Upper Merged Ontology, one of the IEEE Standard Upper Ontology working group starter documents. SUMO is extensively used and researched in the computer science community, and its conceptual structures are better defined and integrated than those of more informal ontological frameworks like Bunge and Sowa. Sowa’s conceptual framework fits REA well, but Bunge’s is a clear conceptual mismatch. Mapping to more general ideas and axioms can be both a quality control and a concept expansion exercise. There are bound to be many gaps and overlaps, just as one would find in mapping individual external schemas to a more general conceptual schema in the database design process of view modeling and view integration. The integration exercise to be described in this presentation is most certainly preliminary, and it is being accomplished by an REA expert who is also an acknowledged SUMO novice. The domain concepts of REA work extremely well in the process modeling of inter-firm business collaborations and in the re-orientation of basic accounting ideas away from the artifactual grip of general ledgers and traditional accounting reporting. Their integration with SUMO will be another step on the path to assessing their suitability for use as a more general enterprise ontology.

Ontologies and Meta-Ontologies discussion moderated by Dr. Nicolas Rouquette (NASA/JPL) on 02/24/2005

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 11:26:00 -0800

* Discussion topic Ontologies & Meta-Ontologies: practical considerations * Moderator Dr. Nicolas Rouquette - NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologDiscussion/MetaOntologies_And_Ontologies * Background Using the analogy associating an ontology as an analog to the concept of a reusable software library with its API, then we can look towards modern approaches of reusable software development practices as an inspiration for modular ontology development. The naive approach for modular, object-oriented software development relies heavily on subclassing as the mechanism to decouple a reusable module (i.e., the superclass) with a specific usage of that module in a given application context (i.e., the subclass that derives from the module's superclass). There is a growing body of evidence that this approach is inherently brittle in software engineering. (for more on this topic, see see Clemens Szyperski's Component Software book, chapters 5 & 6 -- http://research.microsoft.com/~cszypers/Books/component-software.htm) The analogy holds for formal ontologies as well. Here, "formal ontology" refers to an ontology that has rigorous formalization of some kind suitable for a reasoning process to make inferences based on the ontology's axioms, properties and rules. Well-known examples of formal ontologies include: SUMO, PSL, DOLCE. The OntoClean methodology is an excellent case explaining the pitfalls and limitations of subsumption for organizing extensible or modular ontologies. This has led to the notion of "meta-ontology", initially used as an ontology where the (meta) ontology provides a taxonomy of concepts and properties used for capturing the meaning of things in the application-specific ontology using annotations expressed in terms of the meta-ontology. This idea has been documented in the semantic web best practices group http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/BestPractices/, e.g., with the "classes-as-values" pattern http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-classes-as-values/ commonly used for annotation purposes.

Sky Captain and the Service Oriented Architecture Reference Model of Tomorrow talk by Mr. Duane Nickull (Adobe Systems) on 01/27/2005

Thu, 17 Feb 2005 11:32:00 -0800

* Agenda Mr. Duane Nickull will be giving a talk entitled: "Sky Captain and the Service Oriented Architecture Reference Model of Tomorrow" * Date Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_02_17 * Abstract This presentation is divided into two distinct parts, the latter building of the first. Session one is designed to promote a discussion around what Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) really is. Many people are talking about SOA and most define it by relating it to a concrete implementation such as web services. The session justifies a new approach chartered by the OASIS SOA Reference Model Technical Committee to define SOA abstract of any specific implementation. If SOA is architecture, as the name implies, it must be definable as architecture and distinct from other architectural models. A look at some of the basic concepts and common elements of all SOA's and a preliminary attempt to distill out those elements into a SOA reference model will likely be a stimulating topic. Ontologist's point of view will be appreciated. The second topic addresses the world of tomorrow. There is a lot of talk about what SOA can enable and what ontological work may enable. The second session invokes thoughts of a world where both concepts are ubiquitous and looks at what is possible by adding in other concepts such as Event - Causality programming, the Blackboard AI pattern over a distributed SOA infrastructure and how mechanical intelligence could be bestowed upon applications that someday may acquire true cognitive capabilities.

PSL and Flow Models invited talk by Mr. Conrad Bock (US National Institute of Standards and Technology) on 01/27/2005

Thu, 27 Jan 2005 11:36:00 -0800

* Agenda Mr. Conrad Bock will be giving a talk entitled: "PSL and Flow Models" * Date Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2005_01_27 * Abstract This presentation compares the way processes are described in the Process Specification Language (PSL) versus PurpleWiki::InlineNode=HASH(0x89e2480)->content, which are the most common technique in industry. It focuses on the fundamental differences in approach, and gives a short introduction to the way PSL works, with the advantages and disadvantages of each technique. It describes an application of PSL that is not possible in flow models: behavior classification. It illustrates that PSL makes some process descriptions simpler by allowing the designer to represent as little as necessary to reflect their intent. It also highlights the way ambiguity is easily mistaken for abstraction.

Building ontologies from the ground up invited talk by Professor Mark Musen (Stanford Medical Informatics) on 12/09/2004

Thu, 09 Dec 2004 11:38:00 -0800

* Agenda Professor Mark A. Musen will be giving a talk entitled: "Building ontologies from the ground up" * Date Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 * ONTOLOG forum Wiki page details http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2004_12_09 * Abstract Building electronic ontologies no longer is exclusively the province of philosophers or even that of computer scientists. Professionals of all kinds increasingly recognize the importance of creating explicit, formal models of the activities and objects with which they deal in their work and of the data that drive their decision making. In business, science, and government, there are burgeoning grassroots efforts to codify human knowledge fur purposes of document retrieval, data analysis, and decision support. These pragmatic efforts are enormously important to the professional communities from which they derive. They do not always adhere to standard conventions for domain modeling or knowledge representation, however. In this talk, I will discuss certain grass-roots efforts to build ontologies and the effects that these efforts have had on their professional communities. There are obvious growing pains as workers most concerned about content knowledge learn to formalize that knowledge in a way that can facilitate automated information management and decision making. Professional societies, government agencies, and educational institutions can be enormously beneficial in providing resources to bolster these activities and to ensure that resulting ontologies are sound and maximally reusable. The advent of "the information society" requires the codification and dissemination of human knowledge in electronic form. The people who work closest to that knowledge are already taking major strides to build the necessary ontologies and knowledge resources.