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Re: [ontolog-forum] Confusion about 'model'

To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Gary Berg-Cross" <gary.berg-cross@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 10:39:09 -0400
Message-id: <330E3C69AFABAE45BD91B28F80BE32C9019074FD@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Barry asked:    (01)

>But when one is building an ontology for, e.g., cell biology, is one
>trying to build a model of the cell, or rather to create a formally
>coherent controlled vocabulary for talking about cells and their parts?    (02)



I would say that we have 3 subjects here.      (03)



There is the cell in reality.  There are what are called biological  models of 
a cell that have been developed as part of that science and there is now an 
attempt an ontological "model" of the cell.     (04)



Of course, to be any good we should leverage the biological model to guide us 
in what the  "coherent, controlled vocabulary" (and constraints) of the 
ontological model will express. So we are not trying to build a cell model from 
scrathc  but we are using a model and adapting it to ontological purposes.  In 
the process we may simplify the biological model to reflect expressivity 
constraints etc.  So in the end we may indeed have a model, but at this stage 
of ontological engineering probably not as good as the biological one.  Of 
course in the process of formalizing things we may discover some inaccuracies 
in the way the biological model expressed some things.    (05)



Gary Berg-Cross, Ph.D.
Spatial Ontology Community of Practice (SOCoP)
 http://www.visualknowledge.com/wiki/socop 
<http://www.visualknowledge.com/wiki/socop>     (06)

<https://mail.em-i.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://mail.em-i.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://mail.em-i.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.visualknowledge.com/wiki/socop    (07)

 Executive Secretariat
 Semantic Technology , EM&I    (08)

Herndon VA  20170  703-742-0585    (09)



________________________________    (010)

From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Smith, Barry
Sent: Sun 7/15/2007 9:55 AM
To: [ontolog-forum] 
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Confusion about 'model'    (011)



At 02:52 PM 7/15/2007, you wrote:
>Barry said:
>
> >When I say
> >'the cat is on the mat' I, for one, am not intending to create a
> >model of reality. Rather, I am attempting to say something about
> >reality itself (this very cat).
>
>It depends on the intention of the speaker.
>
>When I say this as part of an ontology analyis it means to convey
>part of a formal model and is
>different than when I am, for example, answering the question,
>"Where's the cat?",
>which I can do with the informal model I use to act knowledgably in the world.    (012)


But when one is building an ontology for, e.g., cell biology, is one
trying to build a model of the cell, or rather to create a formally
coherent controlled vocabulary for talking about cells and their parts?
BS
>
>
>
>Gary Berg-Cross, Ph.D.
>
>Spatial Ontology Community of Practice (SOCoP)
>
>http://www.visualknowledge.com/wiki/socop
><https://mail.em-i.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://mail.em-i.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://mail.em-i.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.visualknowledge.com/wiki/socop>
>
>
>Executive Secretariat
>
>Semantic Technology , EM&I
>
>Suite 350  455 Spring park Place
>
>Herndon VA  20170
>
>703-742-0585
>
>
>
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Smith, Barry
>Sent: Sun 7/15/2007 7:51 AM
>To: [ontolog-forum] ; [ontolog-forum]
>Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Confusion about 'model'
>
>
>
>Waclaw says
>
>
>You can use any language, of any expressivity, and still do silly
> >things.  Constrained expressivity does not mean that what you say about
> >the world is necessarily confused -- it is just a model which is much
> >more simple than the modeled reality.
>
>What, I wonder, does he mean by 'it'? Does he mean the language (is
>OWL or any other language intended to be a model of reality)? Or some
>statement or collection of statements in some language? When I say
>'the cat is on the mat' I, for one, am not intending to create a
>model of reality. Rather, I am attempting to say something about
>reality itself (this very cat).
>BS
>
>
>
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