ontolog-forum
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [ontolog-forum] The Open Group SOA Ontology

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:21:45 -0400
Message-id: <4880D129.2050207@xxxxxxxx>
Len Yabloko wrote:
> Do cities emerge or being constructed?    (01)

Both.  Towns emerged originally as clusters of agents who provided 
services to farmers.  The value of being in the same place as another 
agent was that it increased your probability of "walk-in" business.    (02)

Intelligent agents built developments (industrial, residential, 
commercial) to take advantage of existing services offered by a town. 
In the process, these new developments added agents to the social and 
economic fabric of the town.    (03)

Antoinette Arsic wrote:
> I would say that cities are physically constructed but they emerge culturally 
>and socially.    (04)

(and economically) This is the emergent property.  But it is enabled by 
the fact that the social fabric of the town (and its economy) are 
initially open, so that these new agents are free to participate in town 
functions that were not originally designed with them in mind.  They are 
not only consumers; they are also providers.  But they can be providers 
only because the town was in some way open to their provision.  In 
particular, they must provide either a new service that the town didn't 
know it wanted(!), or be better at providing a service for which the 
town already has a provider.    (05)

Unlike people, software will never contract for a service it isn't 
programmed to want.  And software, like company towns, will only allow 
competition for a service it needs if it is _designed_ to allow for 
competition for that service.  Some agent architectures require that 
requestors be designed to allow for competition for a service, or that 
suppliers be designed to allow for competition.  SOA does not make that 
requirement on either.  But the "discovery" process, when actually used, 
does enable requestors to be designed to support competition, simply by 
allowing competing suppliers to register and confronting the requestor 
with a catalogue.  So I take Len's point.  Some emergent behavior is 
possible _where_ the discovery process is widely used.    (06)

(IMO, the value of a "competitive" discovery process, as distinct from a 
directory service for preferred suppliers, has yet to be demonstrated. 
But we are not so experienced in building simple reliable SOA systems 
that we are anywhere near testing the value of competitive discovery.)    (07)

-Ed    (08)

-- 
Edward J. Barkmeyer                        Email: edbark@xxxxxxxx
National Institute of Standards & Technology
Manufacturing Systems Integration Division
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8263                Tel: +1 301-975-3528
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8263                FAX: +1 301-975-4694    (09)

"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST,
  and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."    (010)

_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/  
Subscribe/Config: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/  
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ 
To Post: mailto:ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    (011)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>