On May 31, 2012, at 3:07 AM, Matthew West wrote:
You are absolutely right that the attention span of those making decisions is 3 years (if you are lucky) whereas ontologies take decades to develop and mature. Each of the phases below is around 3 years.
Something has to be doable in a VERY short period of time (I'm thinking a month is too long) by one, maybe two people. This is just to buy more runway for Phase II, III, IV, etc.
As you point out, spending years tweaking an ontology(s) just won't cut it.
And I would offer that whatever it is of value you can produce must be put into the hands of end-users who have essentially no interest at all in ontology. What you've produced—whatever it is—must make their job easier... & hopefully enrich your Phase I & buy runway for follow on phases.
As John Sowa points out... the iPad effect has raised the bar several notches.