[ontolog] RE: Revised Ontolog Invitation Letter

["Chan, Sally M" <sally.m.chan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I am interested in participating as an observer, especially I am interested to find out how this work relates to semantic web.

 

Regards,

Sally Chan
Associate Technical Fellow
The Boeing Company
Boeing Commercial Airplanes
IS - Architecture & eBusiness
206-544-7488  <--- New

-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Conrad [mailto:conrad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 12:35 AM
To: ontolog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ubl-comment@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Peter P. Yim; Leo Obrst
Subject: Revised Ontolog Invitation Letter

Friends and associates,

This message is an invitation to join the reconstituted Ontolog discussion group.  For those of you who were once subscribed to the [ubl-ontolog] forum, you will need to respond to subscribe to this new forum.  This is the only general call for participation that we currently expect to distribute.


Charter

Ontolog is an open forum to:

• Discuss practical issues and strategies associated with the development of both formal and informal ontologies used in business.

• Identify ontological engineering approaches that might be applied to the UBL effort.

Background

In March and April of 2002, members of the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) Committee with backgrounds and interests in ontologies attempted to kick off and charter a discussion dealing with ontological issues under auspices of UBL Library Content Subcommittee (http://oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/lcsc/).

Two factors made this approach problematic: 1) Early feedback indicated more interest in learning about ontologies than applying experience with ontological development 2) Tight timetables, deadlines, and priorities within the UBL effort made it an inappropriate forum.

After conversations with the chair of the UBL committee, Jon Bosak, the conveners of this forum decided to reconstitute the Ontolog forum outside of the UBL effort around the statements of mission listed in the above charter.


Objectives

In addition to the primary statements of purpose:

• We want to be pragmatic and not take a purely philosophical or academic approach to the topic.

• We expect to contribute to the development of future standards.  The ongoing relationship with the UBL effort is one example of this.

• We encourage forum members to propose and decide upon their own objectives.

• Some day, we hope to host a repository of business ontologies.

How It Will Work

• The Ontolog discussion will use infrastructure provided by CIM Engineering, Inc.  This is normally provided on a subscription basis.  If you have any ideas about potential sponsorship, please inform the conveners.

• Messages can be posted by members to ontolog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

• Archives can be accessed by anybody at http://ontolog.cim3.org/forums/ontolog/

• A shared, web-accessible work space is available at http://ontolog.cim3.org/files/

• Activities will follow the OASIS process as closely as possible.

• Where the discussion raises specific issues or leads to specific proposals or recommendations for the UBL effort, they will be separately documented and forwarded to the UBL Chair for consideration. Input will be limited to actionable recommendations, not just general issues that would require further study.

What We Expect Each of You To Do

• Reply to this message, indicating whether you would like to be added to the in the Ontolog discussion group.

• If you choose to participate, indicate whether you expect to be an active member (with voting rights) or merely an observer (no voting rights).  Observers will be encouraged to participate in the discussion but will not be expected to take responsibility for critical path activities.

What We Hope Each of You Will Do

• Add discussion threads of personal interest.

• Identify other individuals that might want to participate in the list. Simply ask them to contact one of the three convenors, who will coordinate their addition to the list.

We would like to see Ontolog become the forum of choice for discussing the development and application of business ontologies.  With your participation, we expect this to quite feasible.

/s/ The conveners of the Ontolog forum,

   Kurt 
Conrad         
<conrad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
   Leo 
Obrst           
<lobrst@xxxxxxxxx>
   Peter 
Yim           
<yimpp@xxxxxxxxxxx>