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Re: [ontolog-forum] What the difference re., Data Dictionary, Ontology,

To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 11:22:10 -0500
Message-id: <530388B2.9070305@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On 2/14/14 3:00 PM, Kingsley Idehen wrote:
> On 2/14/14 10:09 AM, David Eddy wrote:
>> Totally aside from the fact that the central data dictionary simply 
>> doesn't exist anymore in any commercial sense, organizations are far 
>> too distributed today.  If there is a distributed data dictionary, 
>> please speak up.
>
> That's what you get when you incorporate Linked Data principles into 
> Ontology design.
>
> An Ontology is (IMHO) very much a kind of Data Dictionary. I wait to 
> be convinced otherwise. 
Quoting John Sowa:    (01)

"I admit that I'm making these criticisms with 20-20 hindsight.
In fact, I blame myself even more than I blame Guha or anybody else
-- because in the mid 1990s I was participating in ISO working
groups on standards for a conceptual schema (i.e., ontology).    (02)

At that time, I was proposing logic as the foundation.  If I had
proposed UML and points #1, #2, #3, #4 defined in FOL, an ISO standard
for ontology (AKA conceptual schema) might be mainstream IT today."    (03)

Which basically brings me to the conclusion that:    (04)

1. An Ontology is the same thing as a Data Dictionary
2. An Ontology is the same things as a Schema
3. An Ontology is conceptual in orientation, just like a Data Dictionary and 
Schema.    (05)

Expressed and represented in RDF Turtle as:    (06)

## Turtle Notation based Structured Data Representation Start ##    (07)

<#Ontology>
<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> 
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept>;
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#inScheme> <#this> ;
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Ontology";
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment> """A subcategory of Data 
Dictionary and Schema that's conceptual in orientation i.e., focused on the 
semantics of entity relationships -- represented by a series of assertions (in 
a variety of notations) that cover the nature of entity and relation types.""" ;
<http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#sameAs> 
<http://dbpedia.org/resource/Conceptual_schema>,
            <#DataDictionary> .    (08)

<#DataDictionary>
<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> 
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept> ;
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Data Dictionary";
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment> """A document that describes the 
semantics of entity and relationship types.""" ;
<http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#sameAs> 
<http://dbpedia.org/resource/Data_dictionary>,
                                        <#Ontology> .    (09)

<#DatabaseSchema>
<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> 
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept>;
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Database Schema";
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment> """A document that describes the 
organization of a database in
                                                   regards to the semantics of 
entity and relationship types.
                                                """ ;
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#broader> <#Schema>,
                                              <#DataDictionary>,
                                              <#Ontology> .    (010)

<#Schema>
<http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#type> 
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#Concept> ;
<http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/inScheme> <#this> ;
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#label> "Schema";
<http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#comment> """Framework for organized 
patterns of thought about entities and semantics of entity and relationship 
types.""" ;
<http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#sameAs> 
<http://dbpedia.org/resource/Schema_(psychology)>,    (011)

<http://dbpedia.org/resource/Data_dictionary>,    (012)

<http://dbpedia.org/resource/Conceptual_schema> ;
<http://purl.org/dc/terms/references> <#Semantics> .        (013)

## Turtle Notation based Structured Data Representation End ##    (014)

To conclude, even if there is disagreement about my descriptions, at the very 
least, note how I am able to express my world view (productively) using RDF's 
Turtle Notation. I could never pull this off (productively) using RDF's RDF/XML 
notation.    (015)

The beauty of RDF based Linked Data, once everyone cools down (a little) to see 
what's happening, is the fact that we can share ideas and in the absolute worst 
case scenario: agree to disagree with some clarity about why :)    (016)

Turtle is a very powerful *tool* for sharing one's point of view using RDF. It 
actually enables you work productively using a text editor of your choice, just 
remember to stay away from @prefixes as they are a premature optimization that 
can really invert all the productivity gains I've just espoused!    (017)


Links:    (018)

[1] http://bit.ly/1h1oXlA -- Ontology
[2] http://bit.ly/1oN2uOs -- Data Dictionary
[3] http://bit.ly/1bid8cs -- Database Schema
[4] http://bit.ly/1oN4eay -- Schema .    (019)

--     (020)

Regards,    (021)

Kingsley Idehen 
Founder & CEO
OpenLink Software
Company Web: http://www.openlinksw.com
Personal Weblog: http://www.openlinksw.com/blog/~kidehen
Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/kidehen
Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/+KingsleyIdehen/about
LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kidehen    (022)

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