Try again. My mail settings have gone south. (01)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: SUO: RE: What the marketplace needs from us.
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 10:06:59 +0100
From: "West, Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE" <matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: "West, Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE" <matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Eric Peterson" <epeterson@xxxxxxxxxx>,
<standard-upper-ontology@xxxxxxxx> (02)
Dear Eric,Perhaps you should take a look at the EPISTLE Core Model. This
is an entity-relationship model (so precisely structural in your terms)
of some 200 entity types as an upper ontology - starting with thing,
supported by a Reference Data Library of some 10,000 concepts, aimed at,
but not limited to the Process Industries. This data model is already
being standardised by ISO in ISO TC184/SC4 - Industrial Data, as
ISO15926 (the data model is part 2). It is currently going through
pre-publication checks of the Final Draft International Standard.Some of
the draft material is available
at:http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/ISO15926-2/Index.html Matthew West
Principal Consultant
Shell Information Technology International Limited
Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom (03)
Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Other Tel: +44 7796 336538
Email: matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx
Internet: http://www.shell.com (04)
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Peterson [mailto:epeterson@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 28 April 2003 18:48
To: standard-upper-ontology@xxxxxxxx
Subject: SUO: What the marketplace needs from us. (05)
My current role is in advising a particular portion of the US
government in where to focus a few of its technological
expenditures. In that capacity, I have been getting to know a
vast sea of data sets, tools, and legacy systems. And I have
formed the view that the most crying technological needs
happen to be ones with which we ontologists can help: (06)
My customer needs to tie together large numbers of structured
data sets into one seamless analytical environment. (07)
They need to share that seamless picture with other groups. (08)
They need a robust object model to support such a seamless
environment. (09)
To that end, I’m not looking for, Horn clauses or free form
axioms. I’m looking for what I call structural axioms.
Structural axioms specify the object-oriented subset of a
logical theory – namely entities, type inheritance, other
relations, relation argument typing (argxIsa), etc. (010)
They need an upper ontology from which to derive our object
model. To me, an upper ontology means chiefly the structural
axioms starting with “Thing” and descending the inheritance
lattice a relatively small number of levels. The focus of
that ontology is the actual domain entities such as people,
events, places, but includes other entities and relations
needed to properly specify and utilize the these domain
definitions. (011)
Please give us the simple structural definitions with which we
can model our domains. Horn clauses are wonderful, but they
haven’t yet made much of an impact on the market place since I
first encountered them as an undergraduate a couple of decades
ago. And if the marketplace isn’t ready for Horn clauses, it
certainly isn’t ready for more sophisticated free-form axioms. (012)
In the commercial world, I’ve found the need to be the same.
When Deborah McGuiness helped VerticalNet to set up their
ontology group, she advised the same structural subset of
logic. Pat Cassidy and I worked in that ontology group
(for Leo Obrst) where we oversaw and helped with the knitting
together of multiple product catalogues into one seamless
product picture. (013)
So I’m suggesting that if we are not focusing on structural
axioms we are not giving the marketplace what it really needs
or will soon fund seriously. (014)
Eric Peterson (015)
Chief Technologist (016)
Harris Corp. (017)
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