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Re: [ontolog-forum] vague wish lists VS formal specifications

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Deborah MacPherson" <debmacp@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:31:22 -0500
Message-id: <48f213f30702231431q78a73a0cne71e451ed75d4401@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Every single one of these reasons below is driving my own vague wish
for a standardized contracting and design procedure.    (01)

What if the chief designer is out sick for a month?    (02)

It can be difficult and tedious to fill in blanks and answer questions
outside your area of expertise but its better for users to go through
some anxiety before the engineers start designing/specifying.    (03)

Just a guess and I could be wrong, but maybe everyone is starting out
with blank sheets and arguing about the same words again every time.
It needs to be more like a coloring book/dictionary - some lines,
nodes, and definitions already in place.    (04)

Debbie    (05)

On 2/23/07, Cory Casanave <cory-c@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I going to take position that may get me in real trouble on this list;
> The need to embrace vague wish lists.
>
> I have a vague wish: I wish users would state their requirements more
> precisely.  I could even state this as a policy or requirement.  Such
> vague requirements can cause contracts to be paid or not or could land
> you in jail.  Of course to the person stating the "wish", it is clear.
> It has an intent.  It may have authority.
>
> There are multiple things we can do with such wishes;  a) We can state
> them more precisely (Regardless of the language used to do so). B) We
> can create derivative statements (E.G. If you are going to state
> requirements better you need to be able to express yourself precisely in
> some language).  C) We can design tests to see if the wish is being
> fulfilled  and D) We can create designs proposing to fulfill the wish.
>
> In all cases the additional information is with respect to the Vague
> wish - it is still the speech act that, in the speakers mind, started
> all this derivative work.  This this "fact", as fuzzy as it may be, is a
> crucial part of the linage developed in various formalisms or designs.
> We can't loose this linage or the intent of the speaker in the context
> from which it is stated.  So vague wishes have to be integrated as part
> of the knowledge base and our formal models traceable to them.
> Hopefully our formal expressions can be interpreted in such a way that
> they speak to the originator such that they can say "Yes, that is
> exactly what I intended to say - thank you for restating it so well".
>
> If our formal expressions can't be interpreted by the casual user as a
> better re-statement of their intent we have no feedback loop -
> ontologies CAN NOT be buried in the depths of an application, they are
> front-and-center expressions of our knowledge about a domain and can
> only succeed where they can, at lease, be understood by the domain
> expert.  (I don't mean read in the raw form, any kind of presentation is
> just fine).  To be really useful the domain expert should be able to
> MAKE statements that are fully precise - because architecture and design
> is a participatory sport, the more who participate the better.  So our
> methods & tools have to help them here, to assist in the process of
> precise statement.
>
> This is not to say there is no room for the professional, there is
> always room for the great designer who can suck it all in and produce
> the great result.  There is also always room for the expert able to take
> a vague statement and make it precise (in any language, from law to
> FOL).  But these experts are there to aid in the process, not be the
> process - so our tools and methods have to embrace the casual user and
> vague statements and help capture these and then more fully develop and
> refine them to be more precise and to impact the designs that will
> realize them.
>
> So part of the point is that such core intent, no matter how poorly
> expressed, are the statements that we are refining, formalizing and
> creating designs to satisfy.  The vague wishes are part of the knowledge
> base.  To the person making the statement, all the logics, modeling
> languages and other formalisms are just tools to capture what they were
> saying all along.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Deborah
> MacPherson
> Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 3:41 PM
> To: [ontolog-forum]
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] vague wish lists VS formal specifications
>
> There are probably very few really good chief designers then.
>
> Debbie
>
> On 2/23/07, John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Debbie,
> >
> > Yes, but it's necessary to know why the user must participate:
> >
> >  > I ... want to emphasize the point is to have the end user  >
> > participate in the design process.
> >
> > The users' participation is essential to educate the chief designer,
> > who must fully understand the problem.
> >
> > The users can never discover all the details of what might be possible
>
> > unless they become technologists -- and in most cases, that is not
> > practical.  Therefore, the chief designer must learn from the user
> > (without prefiltering by managers, planners, and requirements
> > surveys).
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
>
> *************************************************
>
> Deborah MacPherson
> www.accuracyandaesthetics.com
> www.deborahmacpherson.com
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>    (06)


--     (07)

*************************************************    (08)

Deborah MacPherson
www.accuracyandaesthetics.com
www.deborahmacpherson.com    (09)

The content of this email may contain private
confidential information. Do not forward, copy,
share, or otherwise distribute without explicit
written permission from all correspondents.    (010)

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