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Re: [ontolog-forum] Quote for the day

To: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Anders Tell <opensource@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 10:11:38 +0100
Message-id: <235A5B10-802E-466C-96FB-A0B41E05F0FB@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

On Jan 3, 2011, at 7:11 AM, Patrick Cassidy wrote:    (01)

> It is indeed well known that different models can be more useful for
> different purposes.  But I have not seen any analytical arguments to
> extrapolate from that and then say that there can never be a neutral
> ontology that can **describe** all the different models, and specify the
> similarities and differences,.      (02)

Drawing from my inter-industry standardization experiences then it seems 
unlikely that there will be a common ontology in the domain of international 
commerce.
One simple reason is that different legal systems require different conformance 
for enterprise within their jurisdiction.    (03)

On the other hand, most industries start out by saying that they have different 
requirements but after a while , the "shared" percentage starts growing 
significantly. And patterns of Variablity aspects start appearing. Some aspects 
are similar and some different. Commerce has established a set of agreed 
patterns over the year, some even agreed to by UNIDROIT, UN/CITRAL etc.    (04)

Managing Variablity is IMHO a useful modeling practice. As well as managing 
conflicts and disagreements.    (05)


>  The basis for general
> interoperability is to find and agree on that neutral ontology that does not
> **assume** any of the contradictory models, but can **describe** conflicting
> models.    (06)


Im not sure neutral is the quality to look for. Neutrality is often ascribed to 
the caretaker of an ontology, and interoperabilty includes a process of 
agreeing in order to reduce risk and costs for involved parties.    (07)


/Anders    (08)

/Anders W. Tell    (09)

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