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Re: [ontology-summit] Defining "ontology"

To: tom beckman <tombeckman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ontology Summit 2007 Forum <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Patrick Durusau <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:54:55 -0500
Message-id: <45B105EF.2070104@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Tom,    (01)

tom beckman wrote:    (02)

> Dear Patrick,
>  
> From my AI world view, ontologies (as opposed to taxonomies) are fully 
> described concepts with a primitive <concept attribute value> 
> structure that can be further elaborated to describe:
>
>     * relations between concepts/attributes,
>     * the importance of an attribute, and
>     * the certainty of a value 
>
> with a structure something like <relation concept attribute value 
> importance certainty>.  Facets can also be added to further describe 
> differing <value> types.
>  
> I hope this helps.  Could you describe the characteristic structure 
> and features of a "folksonomy" for me?  I'm not familiar with the term.
>      (03)

Folksonomy is usually applied to the collaborative creation of labels 
for categorizing content on the WWW. See: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy    (04)

The usage of "tags" by folksonomies are matters of social practice and I 
don't think that explicit structured relationships between "tags" are a 
characteristic of web folksonomies. (but cf. below)    (05)

I would expand that to take in the pre-WWW creation of labels by social 
groups that are used to organize their view of the world. And so, not 
strictly in the sense of use for information retrieval (as per the Wiki 
article).    (06)

I don't think there will be much disagreement that within any system of 
labels created by a social group that we can discover:    (07)

    * relations between concepts/attributes,
    * the importance of an attribute, and
    * the certainty of a value     (08)

That is to say that even ordinary folk are never sans an ontology, 
albeit that you may wish to argue for a formal expression of an ontology 
as having value in some particular domain.    (09)

Hope you are having a great day!    (010)

Patrick    (011)


> Best, Tom    301-920-0715
>  
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Patrick Durusau" <patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx>>
> To: "Ontology Summit 2007 Forum" <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> <mailto:ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
> Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 8:53 AM
> Subject: [ontology-summit] Defining "ontology"
>
> > Greetings,
> >
> > I am concerned with the suggestions that it is possible to create a
> > continuum along which to organize what are known as "ontologies" in one
> > or more circles.
> >
> > At least unless we are willing to concede that the creation of such a
> > continuum is itself an imposition of assumptions from an undisclosed
> > ontology.
> >
> > I am sure there are those who would say that folksonomies are "missing"
> > features that are present in "formal" ontologies. Perhaps, but
> > folksonomies predate "formal" ontologies by several millenia and have
> > proven robust enough for many purposes. If the goal is to represent the
> > opinions of the many rather than the few, perhaps it is "formal"
> > ontologies that "missing" features.
> >
> > I am not taking a position one way or the other. But, I do think it is
> > important to realize that any attempt to construct a continuum is with
> > an unstated choice of a winner before the the continuum is populated.
> >
> > Hope everyone is looking forward to a great weekend!
> >
> > Patrick
> >
> > --
> > Patrick Durusau
> > Patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface
> > Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model
> > Member, Text Encoding Initiative Board of Directors, 2003-2005
> >
> > Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work!
> >
> >
> > 
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> >    (012)


-- 
Patrick Durusau
Patrick@xxxxxxxxxxx
Chair, V1 - Text Processing: Office and Publishing Systems Interface
Co-Editor, ISO 13250, Topic Maps -- Reference Model
Member, Text Encoding Initiative Board of Directors, 2003-2005    (013)

Topic Maps: Human, not artificial, intelligence at work!     (014)



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