Dear Chris, John and others, (01)
I too support the idea of a core ontology, and the W3C Product Modelling XG
has decided to make an ontology for quantities, units and scales an initial
objective. We would like to contribute to this. (02)
John says of core ontologies: "The kinds of things defined by them would
include units of measure and terminology about which there is little or no
debate. (03)
There is a lot of debate around the terminology associated with units of
measure. However probably academic work, work within ISO 15926 and work
within W3C has got close to an ontology for quantities, units and scales
which "ontology experts" would accept. However the key things in this
ontology are defined in the ISO 80000 series. It is necessary to ensure that
the "ontology experts" have correctly understood the intent of the
"quantities, units and scales experts". This will require communication
between the two communities of experts. (04)
Once this has happened, we need to have URIs assigned to things defined
within the ISO 80000 series, just as symbols are assigned. This is less than
an ontology but it is an important first step. It means that the URIs have
the authority of the organisation that "owns" the things. (05)
Some way down the line, we may see an ontology for quantities, units and
scales standardised within the ISO 80000 series. Before this happens, other
people may create ontologies containing the things defined within the ISO
80000 series that have less authority. (06)
Best regards,
David (07)
At 20:37 22/01/2009 -0500, you wrote:
>Chris,
>
>I strongly endorse the idea of "core" ontologies along the lines
>you describe. The kinds of things defined by them would include
>units of measure and terminology about which there is little or no
>debate. The only point I would quibble about is the term "core",
>but I'll defer to whatever the organizing committee decides.
>
>CW> In the W3C, I used the OWL-Time work http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-time
> > as an example of this, and its success has garnered some support for
> > the idea of Core Ontologies.
>
>Times, dates, and the common ways of expressing them are essential for
>a great majority of practical applications, and they are independent
>of the debates about 3D vs 4D ontologies.
>
>Every branch of science, engineering, and business has standards bodies
>that gather such data and develop a consensus on the names and basic
>relationships. All of them should be in the registry/repository.
>
>The periodic table of the elements, for example, should be one of the
>ontologies in the repository. It can be used by chemists, physicists,
>pharmacists, etc., independent of any theory about the fundamental
>nature of atomic particles.
>
>A registry/repository that contains a large collection of such
>modules/theories/ontologies (or whatever anyone might call them)
>would be immensely valuable. I strongly recommend that we *begin*
>with assembling and organizing such modules. This might not be
>as theoretically exciting as debating the upper level ontologies,
>but it would provide a valuable service with immediate benefits.
>
>I would put the debates about philosophy, primitives, and upper
>level architecture on the back burner, where they can simmer for
>another 222 years -- while the people who have "day jobs" can
>start using the extremely practical lower-level modules.
>
>John Sowa
>
>
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David Leal
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