ontolog-forum
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [ontolog-forum] What is Data? What is a Datum?

To: "[ontolog-forum]" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "doug foxvog" <doug@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 14:23:48 -0500
Message-id: <01db36d2dcc92b9d5edb7c9abe7b107e.squirrel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
A datum is a role played by a proposition, as John Sowa said.  A single
value is not a datum unless it represents a proposition.    (01)

Propositions (or data objects) are not restricted to triples (subject /
predicate / object,  subject / verb / object, entity  / attribute / value,
entity / key / value, ...).  Some propositions naturally require higher
arity, e.g., X is 3 meters from Y.  Propositions represented by subject -
predicate - direct object - indirect object in English (Juan gave Xue
the book) can be modeled by reifying the action and conjoining multiple
ternary propositions, but a single higher-arity proposition can be useful
for many purposes.    (02)

-- doug    (03)

On Tue, January 8, 2013 08:13, John F Sowa wrote:
> ...  The word 'proposition', for example,
> is more fundamental than the words 'assertion', 'statement', 'judgment',
> 'assumption', 'belief', 'hypothesis', 'axiom', or 'theorem'.  Therefore,
> it is reasonable to say that Proposition is the natural type, and the
> other words describe roles that a proposition can play.    (04)

> The words 'datum' and 'data' most definitely describe roles.    (05)

On Mon, January 7, 2013 19:29, Melvin Carvalho wrote:
> On 7 January 2013 23:25, Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>  On 1/7/13 5:04 PM, Gary Berg-Cross wrote:
>>...
>> "data object" is much clearer [1] i.e., a resource comprised of
>> structured
>> data. Typical representation, for a given perception medium (e.g., the
>> World Wide Web or paper) is a subject->predicate->object,
>> subject->verb->object, entity->attribute->value style of graph pictorial
>> :-)    (06)

> I used to talk to people about "predicate / object" and mainly would get
> blank stares.    (07)

> I tried "attribute / value" which seemed to have *slightly* more
> understanding.    (08)

> I'm adding to my terminology to term "key / value pairs" which I think may
> be effective to some audiences    (09)


>> Links:
>>
>> 1. http://bit.ly/PnTJdV -- understanding data objects .
>>
>> Kingsley
>>
>>
>> Gary Berg-Cross, Ph.D.
>> gbergcross@xxxxxxxxx
>> http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?GaryBergCross
>> Potomac, MD
>> 240-426-0770    (010)


_________________________________________________________________
Message Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontolog-forum/  
Config Subscr: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontolog-forum/  
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontolog-forum-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Shared Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ 
To join: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J    (011)

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>