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Re: [ontolog-forum] I ontologise, you ontologise, we all mess up... (was

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Ed Barkmeyer <edbark@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:56:31 -0500
Message-id: <4D2CD20F.3000807@xxxxxxxx>
+1    (01)

I was about to write almost exactly what Chris wrote below.  An ontology 
is an artifact that performs a function.  Engineers design artifacts 
that perform functions.  Thus the term.    (02)

Peter is right that 'ontology engineers' and 'knowledge engineers' and 
'computer systems analysts' may tend to inject their ideas and 
misunderstandings into their artifacts.  But part of that is that 
encoding knowledge involves a certain amount of understanding of that 
knowledge by the knowledge engineer.  There is a fine line between 
rephrasing what you think was said for the purpose of clarifying what 
the expert said, and injecting your own understanding into the model.  
The related problem is the erroneous belief that your technology is 
powerful enough to represent exactly the knowledge that is needed, which 
causes you to dismiss what you don't know how to represent, as opposed 
to wondering whether your product will be able to perform the intended 
function.    (03)

I repeat what I said earlier about the hubris of engineers -- many 
engineers think they can quickly master any related subject sufficiently 
for their work, and knowledge engineers are no exception.  Like any 
trade, there is a spectrum of competence, and the high end practitioners 
are experienced enough to know when they are out of their depth.  (As a 
journeyman software engineer working with a physicist to debug a 
program, I pushed deeper and deeper into the mathematics.  At some 
point, the physicist said to me, "I don't know how much nuclear magnetic 
resonance I can teach you in an hour!"  Point taken!)    (04)

-Ed    (05)

"The greatest enemy of Knowledge is not Ignorance, 
it is the Illusion of Knowledge."
  -- Stephen Hawking    (06)




Christopher Menzel wrote:
> On Jan 11, 2011, at 1:49 PM, Peter Brown wrote:
>   
>> ... 
>> I remain baffled by the terms (and the presumed concepts behind them – which 
>are *not* clear at all) of ‘ontology engineer’ and ‘ontology engineering’. I 
>do not think that one can ‘engineer’ an ontology any more than one can 
>engineer a meeting: one can bring skills, methods and tools to the meeting (as 
>Chair of a meeting for example) and can make sometimes significant progress 
>even in ignorance of the subject of the meeting – if the purpose of the role 
>of Chair is to help the meeting to come to some conclusion. However, once a 
>Chair starts to pronounce on matters and get involved in the substance of a 
>meeting, those skills and methods become overshadowed by their ignorance or 
>partisanship.
>>     
>
> Hello Peter,
>
> I don't understand your analogy.  An ontology is a concrete artifact (unlike 
>a meeting).  And, like the production of any quality artifact, the production 
>of a good ontology requires training and  expertise.  On the face of it, 
>anyway, "ontology engineer" seems a reasonable title for those with the 
>appropriate training and expertise.  (Opinions vary, of course, regarding the 
>nature and extent of such training and expertise.)
>
> I have to say that I don't see how an ontology is in any way enough like a 
>meeting to support your argument that, because it makes no sense to engineer a 
>meeting, it makes no sense to engineer an ontology.
>
> -chris
>
>  
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-- 
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                Cel: +1 240-672-5800    (08)

"The opinions expressed above do not reflect consensus of NIST, 
 and have not been reviewed by any Government authority."    (09)


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