> Alex
>
> 2010/11/10 doug foxvog <
doug@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
>> On Tue, November 9, 2010 10:23, John F. Sowa said:
>> > On 11/9/2010 1:24 AM, Alex Shkotin wrote:
>> >> What do we need for our information systems to communicate properly?
>> >> Integration? Alignment? Unification? Information system education?
>> >
>> > The first point I'd emphasize is that IT systems have been
>> successfully
>> > communicating for over a century. ...
>> > When Arpanet was started in 1969, there had been a long history
>> > of experience in data communication. And the latest conventions
>> > for the WWW are still based on extensions to those protocols.
>>
>> I think the question was intended to ask what is needed for information
>> systems to communicate semantics properly. Since the bit passing has
>> been
>> perfected, that is obviously not the question.
>>
>> Even given bit passing methods, the communication was more than just
>> passing ones and zeros back and forth because the program on the
>> receiving
>> end expected a certain semantics for the bits it received.
>>
>> > But you never, ever want those formats to have the slightest
>> > influence on the semantics.
>>
>> Agreed.
>>
>> My answer to what is needed for semantic communication between parties
>> which have not previously been aware of each other is
>> * A wrapper for the communication that identifies
>> + the ontologies being used
>> + the format of the communication
>> + possibly a reference to mappings between the specified ontologies
>> (if they are not "standard") and a standard ontologies.
>> * A system for the sending system to generate such a wrapper.
>> * A system for the receiving system
>> + to interpret such a wrapper
>> + to convert the format into a standard format used locally
>> + to use the information about the used ontologies to
>> - obtain the mappings of the input ontologies to standard ontologies
>> : either from the wrapper
>> : or from a source which can be found given the ontology IDs
>> - either convert the incoming data to a local ontology
>> - or obtain the ontologies and use them locally with the incoming
>> info
>> - convert the incoming communication format to a locally used one
>>
>> > The decision to force OWL into the
>> > same straitjacket as RDF was hopelessly misguided. In fact, even
>> > the decision to force decidability down the throats of every
>> > ontologist was another profoundly misguided technology-driven
>> > decision. ...
>>
>> Agreed.
>>
>> >> What kind of language and dictionary we need to write question?
>> SPARQL?
>> >> What kind of language and dictionary we need to write answer? XML,
>> CSV?
>>
>> > Use whatever notation is appropriate for your application. But you
>> > must design the overall system in such a way that the choice for one
>> > application is *invisible* to anybody who is designing or using some
>> > other application.
>>
>> Sure, but the overall system must either have one (or several) notations
>> that it uses for communication (either translating input from other
>> notations into an approved notation or requiring communicating systems
>> to use its notation) or each transmitting system must translate its
>> communication into the format desired by the recipient, or each
>> receiving
>> system must be designed to accept any query language (which would not be
>> possible).
>>
>> The simplest method seems to specify communication protocols, just as
>> the WWW, SWIFT, and EDI systems have done, and let applications
>> programmers
>> design the interfaces which convert a local systems ontologies,
>> questions,
>> and knowledge bases into the standard protocol.
>>
>> As John says below, the ontologist should not have to be concerned with
>> such low-level detail. However, those designing the SW need to design
>> an
>> interface and wrapper with such capabilities. (imho)
>>
>> > Of course, there may be some cases where real-time constraints make it
>> > necessary to avoid a conversion routine between two systems. But that
>> > is a very low-level optimization that should never affect the
>> semantics.
>> > For example, when was the last time that you thought about the packet
>> > transmissions for your applications? Some system programmers worry
>> > about those things a lot. But they're invisible at the semantic
>> level.
>> >
>> >> Where is your SPARQL end point at least?
>> >
>> > When you are thinking about semantics, any thought about the
>> > difference between SPARQL, SQL, or some bit-level access to data
>> > is totally irrelevant. Please remember that commercial DB systems
>> > provide all those ways of accessing the data if some programmer
>> > who works down at the bit level needs them. But anybody who is
>> > working on semantics should never think about them (except in
>> > those very rare cases when they go down to the subbasement to
>> > talk with system programmers about real-time constraints.)
>> >
>> >> JS: "but every application will have... different vocabularies, and
>> >> different
>> >> dialects." Inside. But with a stranger we usually change language to
>> >> common.
>>
>> > Not necessarily. Sometimes you learn their language, they learn
>> > your language, or you bring a translator with you.
>>
>> This emphasizes that such translators are necessary. With N overlapping
>> ontologies, this could require up to order N^2 translators. However
>> with
>> one or several standard inter-lingua ontologies, only order N
>> translators
>> would be necessary.
>>
>> -- doug f
>>
>> > But it's essential to distinguish three kinds of languages:
>> > natural languages, computer languages, and logic.
>> >
>> > ...
>>
>> > Bottom line: The distinction between logic and ontology is so
>> > important that you should never confuse people with extraneous
>> > issues about bit strings, angle brackets, or even decidability.
>>
>> > John
>>
>>
>> ============================================================> doug
>> foxvog
doug@xxxxxxxxxx http://ProgressiveAustin.org
>>
>> "I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great
>> initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours."
>> - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
>> ============================================================>
>>
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>
=============================================================
doug foxvog
doug@xxxxxxxxxx http://ProgressiveAustin.org
"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great
initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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