>Barry, Pat, All --
>
>Barry wrote...
>
>From my experience working with biologists and medical researchers
>on ontologies, definitions (ideally both natural language definitions
>and equivalent formal definitions) play a very useful role when it
>comes to ensuring that ontologies are populated in consistent ways
>across disciplines and subsequently used correctly (or indeed at all)
>in practical applications. Most of those involved in such use will
>not have logical or computer science expertise. Where else should
>they turn to find out what a term means?
>
>It may actually be useful to expand Barry's
>observation, and also W3C-style "semantics" as
>follows:
>
> * Semantics1 Is (meta)data semantics, W3C-style (01)
? Not sure what style you are referring to. RDF
and OWL both have model-theoretic semantics. The
word "semantics" is used in the XML specs with a
rather different meaning. (02)
> * Semantics2 Specifies what an inferences
>should be made from any collection of rules and
>facts -- usually based on a model theory, e.g.
>as in [3]. (03)
Based on a model theory or actually is a model
theory? How does this differ from semantics1? (04)
> * Semantics3 Concerns the real world English
>meanings of logical predicates (05)
Real world, hmmm. The trouble with the real world
of English is that most words don't have exact
well-defined meanings. (06)
>
>As Barry and Pat may have heard me say before
>(:-), it seems important, in a practical
>setting, that the three kinds of Semantics
>should work seamlessly together. (07)
Yes I have heard that before. And its hard to
disagree with the aspiration, of course :-) (08)
>
>For example, if Semantics2 is absent, the
>inferences that are made depend on the whims of
>the programmers who implement the engine. (SQL
>is a case in point).
>
>If Semantics3 is absent, as Barry said,
>practitioners may not even use a system.
>
>It's also necessary to link Semantics2 and 3
>computationally in both directions, otherwise
>authors can't be sure that the system will do
>what they want. (09)
Thats the hard part. How can one tell that one
has captured in 2 *all* the meaning that someone
might read into 3? English speakers understand
irony, metaphor, ambiguity, nuances of meanings,
so much stuff that nobody has yet catalogued it
all, let alone formalized it. (010)
> Attempto Controlled English is one approach,
>and the Internet Business Logic system [1] uses
>another, uncontrolled approach. The
>computational linkage allows a system to support
>English explanations of its reasoning, at the
>scientific or business level.
>
>For folks who are uneasy about the lack of
>formal definitions at the English author-user
>interface, the uncontrolled approach in the
>Internet Business Logic system allows the
>English<-->formal linkage to be made explicit,
>see e.g. [2], which is based on an example from
>one of Barry's papers. (011)
Well, OK, but its important to realize that IBL isn't all of English. (012)
Pat (013)
> Cheers, -- Adrian
>
>[1] Internet Business Logic (R)
>A Wiki for Executable Open Vocabulary English
>Online at
><http://www.reengineeringllc.com>www.reengineeringllc.com
>Shared use is free
>
>[2]
><http://www.reengineeringllc.com/demo_agents/RelBioOntDefn3.agent>www.reengineeringllc.com/demo_agents/RelBioOntDefn3.agent
>
>[3] Backchain Iteration: Towards a Practical Inference Method that is Simple
> Enough to be Proved Terminating, Sound and
>Complete. Journal of Automated Reasoning, 11:1-22
>
>Adrian Walker
>Reengineering
>
>On 2/13/07, Smith, Barry
><<mailto:phismith@xxxxxxxxxxx>phismith@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>wrote:
>
>
>>
>>I would prefer that we don't say that names are "defined". Very few
>>ontology languages provide for actual definitions of names, and
>>several that once did (notably KIF) no longer do. Explicit
>>definitions are semantically troublesome, practically of no actual
>>use, create paradoxes, and generally have negative utility. The
>>entire SWeb apparatus has no definitions in it anywhere, nor is it
> >likely to in the future. It is very hard to even see what it would
>>mean to define a globally useable name. Let us just say that names
>>occur in ontologies, and ontologies constrain the meaning of names.
>>
>>Pat
>
>From my experience working with biologists and medical researchers
>on ontologies, definitions (ideally both natural language definitions
>and equivalent formal definitions) play a very useful role when it
>comes to ensuring that ontologies are populated in consistent ways
>across disciplines and subsequently used correctly (or indeed at all)
>in practical applications. Most of those involved in such use will
>not have logical or computer science expertise. Where else should
>they turn to find out what a term means?
>BS
>
>
>
>
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