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Re: [ontolog-forum] Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway?

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Adrian Walker <adriandwalker@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:21:05 -0400
Message-id: <1e89d6a40910240521l2b82d642rd5c45108d3ab593d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Hi Again All,

Apparently, W3C is aware of some of the problems people are having adopting its "semantics" recommendations. 

Attached below is information about a workshop they will be holding shortly.

                         Cheers, -- Adrian

Internet Business Logic
A Wiki and SOA Endpoint for Executable Open Vocabulary English over SQL and RDF
Online at www.reengineeringllc.com    Shared use is free

Adrian Walker
Reengineering


------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------
            Semantics for the Rest of Us -- Variants of
          Semantic Web Languages in the Real World

                      Held in conjunction with
  8th International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC 2009)
        Monday, 26 October 2009, Washington, DC
------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------

The Semantic Web is a broad vision of the future of personal
computing, emphasizing the use of sophisticated knowledge
representation as the basis for end-user applications' data modeling
and management needs. Key to the pervasive adoption of Semantic Web
technologies is a good set of fundamental "building blocks" - the most
important of these are representation languages themselves. W3C's
standard languages for the Semantic Web, RDF and OWL, have been around
for several years; instead of strict standards compliance, we see
"variants" of these languages emerge in applications, often tailored
to a particular application's needs. These variants are often either
subsets of OWL or supersets of RDF, typically with fragments OWL
added. Extensions based on rules, such as SWRL and N3 logic, have been
developed as well as enhancements to the SPARQL query language and
protocol.

In this workshop we will explore the landscape of RDF, OWL and SPARQL
variants, specifically from the standpoint of "real-world
semantics". Are there commonalities in these variants that might
suggest new standards or new versions of the existing standards? We
hope to identify common requirements of applications consuming
Semantic Web data and understand the pros and cons of a strictly
formal approach to modeling data versus a "scruffier" approach where
semantics are based on application requirements and implementation
restrictions.

The workshop will encourage active audience participation and
discussion and includes a keynote by Sandro Hawke (W3C) as well as a
panel to be moderated by Jim Hendler (RPI).


ORGANIZERS

Lalana Kagal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ora Lassila, Nokia
Tim Finin, University of Maryland, Baltimore County


PROGRAM

08:30-08:45 Welcome, introductions, etc. [15]
08:45-09:45 Sandro's invited talk + discussion [60]
9:45 - 10:35 2 research paper [50]
RDF syntax normalization using XML validation - Denny Vrandecic, Frank
Dengler, Sebastian Rudolph and Michael Erdmann (research paper) [25]
LexRDF Model: An RDF-based Unified Model for Heterologous Biomedical
Ontologies - Cui Tao, Jyotishman Pathak, Harold Solbrig, Wei-Qi Wei
and Christopher Chute (research paper) [25]
10:35-10:50 Break [15]
10:50 - 11:55 1 position paper, 2 research papers [65]
Streaming OWL, Mike Dean (position paper) [10]
Accessing Site-Specific APIs Through Write-Wrappers From The Web of
Data - Oana Ureche, Aftab Iqbal, Richard Cyganiak and Michael
Hausenblas (research paper) [25]
LTML - A Language for Representing Semantic Web Service Workflow
Procedures - Mark Burstein, Robert Goldman, Drew McDermott, David
McDonald, Jacob Beal and John Maraist [25]
11:55 - 12:40 Panel + discussion [45]
12:40-12:45 Closing comments and Wrap-up
12:45-2:00 Lunch


PANEL

Title: "Little vs Large Semantics: What's next for the Semantic Web
languages?"

Moderator: Jim Hendler, RPI

Panelists:
Kendall Clark, Clark & Parsia, LLC
Leigh Dodds, Talis
Ivan Herman, W3C
Ora Lassila, Nokia


On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 8:24 PM, Pavithra <pavithra_kenjige@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Adrian,
 
That is a good description of  current day Ontology!
 
Consider the case where one does not have any formal analysis background.. from your previous life ..
 
With RDF triplets ( subject, object, predicate) and OWL and OWL2,   how effective one can be?
 
There is description of RDF  and terminology documented..  but where does it say what is a " class, a subclass or superclass.. "   or  "set of relationships" .. and how that can be used in your analysis ??
 
Some  documentation that is available on w3c or standford Protege  website ..
 
But without formal training on analysis,  or previous life expereince in other analysis techniques can one model using RDF / OWL/OWL2?
 
It is kind of primitive...    
 
Pavithra
 


--- On Thu, 10/22/09, Adrian Walker <adriandwalker@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: Adrian Walker <adriandwalker@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway?

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 7:00 PM


Hi All,

For modern usage, I'd rate Ed Barkmeyer's definition of 'ontology' as the most satisfactory so far.

Here it is:

What makes written knowledge an "ontology" is that the language has a grammar and
an interpretation of the grammatical constructs that is suitable for
automated reasoning.  If most of the desired reasoning depends on your
interpretations of constructs you introduced, that can't happen unless
you build the engine.  Without that engine, you have an ox, not a bull.


                              Cheers,  -- Adrian

Internet Business Logic
A Wiki and SOA Endpoint for Executable Open Vocabulary English over SQL and RDF
Online at www.reengineeringllc.com    Shared use is free

Adrian Walker
Reengineering

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 5:13 PM, Pavithra <pavithra_kenjige@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
 
Dr Sowa  & Paula
What is Ontology?  Good question!
 
For people who grow up in Information technology age, it is way of conceptually defining a body of knowledge, of abstract objects with  properties, behavior, relationships, and interaction ..   within in the scope of a given enterprise that one is dealing with..    
 
In Enterprise architecture we do use the terminology "conceptual schema" to include Ontologies.
 
Some of us were taught to use some analysis technique to do so structured analysis,  object oriented analysis..   ( in early part of systems engineering and enteprise architecture..)
For computer science people, there are tools and techniques and types of diagrams to represent the information..
 
For philosophers like Wittgenstein, it is "existance".... well....  "A dog is a dog"..   or "It is a very pleasant pinapple"..   
 
So Dr. Sowa can explain that better..
 
 
Definitions of ontology on the Web:
Pavithra

--- On Thu, 10/22/09, John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

From: John F. Sowa <sowa@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ontolog-forum] Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway?
To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 3:07 PM


I received an offline note that pointed to an article with that title.
In my response, I suggested that any subject that generates articles
with titles like that is probably misnamed.

John Sowa

-------- Original Message --------

> Perhaps of interest.
>
> Just What Is an Ontology, Anyway?
> By Thomas C. Jepsen

http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2009/1009/rW_IT_JustWhatIsanOntology.pdf

That's a reasonable summary of current applications.
But I'd like to answer the question that Jepsen raises
in his concluding paragraph:

TCJ> Ontologies, as I pointed out earlier, have become an important tool
> in the knowledge manager’s toolkit.  Their ability to find needles
> of pertinent relationships in haystacks of data is particularly
> critical in an age when we're all being inundated with a firehose
> of information on a daily basis.  You have to wonder what the
> medieval philosophers would say if they could see what their
> ruminations on existence have evolved into.

The first point is that the medieval Scholastics weren't treating
ontology as an abstract philosophical exercise.  They considered
philosophy the "handmaiden of theology" -- in other words, a tool
to be used in applications.  That view is consistent with Aristotle,
whose first book, _Categories_, is part of the _Organon_ or
instrument for doing science.  In short, they would have considered
an application of their methodology to analyzing any subject as
an obvious extension of their work.

The second point is that they didn't call it *ontology*.  That
term is based on Greek roots, but it was first used by German
philosophers in the 17th century.

Modern philosophers use ontology in conjunction with logic and
a methodology they call 'conceptual analysis'.  That approach
is very similar to the applications in artificial intelligence.
In my book, _Conceptual Structures_ (copyright 1984 and appearing
in print in August 1983), I was one of the "early adopters" in AI,
but I only used the term a half dozen times in the whole book.

I put more emphasis on conceptual analysis, which is the title
of Section 6.3 of that book.  Following is an excerpt from the
beginning of that section:

JFS> Conceptual analysis is the work of philosophers, lawyers,
> lexicographers systems analysts, and database administrators.
> Philosophers have been doing conceptual analysis ever since
> Socrates taught Plato how to analyze Justice.  Lawyers do it
> whenever they draw fine distinctions in arguing a point of law.
> Lexicographers do it in bulk quantities when they compile
> dictionaries.  And systems analysts and database administrators
> do it when they translate English specifications into a system
> design.  Conceptual analysis is essential for giving content
> to the empty boxes and circles of conceptual graphs.
>
> Every discipline that uses conceptual analysis gives it
> a different name.  In the computer field, the most common
> names are _systems analysis_, _enterprise analysis_, and
> _knowledge engineering_.  Whatever the name, the ultimate
> goal is a precise, formalizable catalog of concepts,
> relations, facts, and principles.

I'm actually sorry that the word 'ontology' has become so
widely used.  My preferred term is 'conceptual analysis'
for the methodology, and I used the term 'conceptual
catalog' for the sample ontology at the end of that book.

My major objections to using the word 'ontology' are that
(1) it's pretentious, (2) it's hard to explain to people
who never heard the word, (3) it's confusing for those who
have learned it in philosophy, and (4) the term 'conceptual
analysis', which is widely used in philosophy, is a more
accurate term for the kind of work that people are actually
doing when they create their axioms and definitions.

John




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