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Re: [ontology-summit] Progressing a Units Ontology - virtual session

To: Ontology Summit 2009 <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Gunther Schadow <gschadow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Forest Lin <linforests@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, Conrad Bock <conrad.bock@xxxxxxxx>
From: Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 14:07:29 -0500
Message-id: <C8C617AD-F5A1-4450-B23E-99D7D5D448D2@xxxxxxx>

On Jun 1, 2009, at 7:51 AM, Gunther Schadow wrote:    (01)

> Mike Bennett wrote:
>> Hi Peter,
>>
>> I would love to participate in this session.
>>
>> In particular I want to ensure that the concept of units is broad  
>> enough
>> to cover uses outside of the physical measurement domain. For example
>> currencies are also a unit of measure.
>
> Actually, I think currencies are not unit of measure because
> they lack one important property, and that it they do not have
> a fixed magnitude relative to other units of the same kind
> of quantity.    (02)

There may be an analogy with 'sea level' which is not a level, since  
it varies by both location and time, and has no precise value even at  
a given time and place. Yet it is of great value in all kinds of  
applications. As a result, 'standard' virtual sea levels have been  
defined, based on various models of a more perfect Earth. (I believe  
there are at least three: the US, the European,and the Australasian,  
which all differ subtly.)  We may be obliged to do something similar  
for monetary value, ie define an artificial 'absolute economic value'  
and punt on the task of relating actual values to it, leaving that  
necessary but ugly task to the appropriate engineers.    (03)

Pat    (04)

>
> Commensurability and magnitude are critical properties to take
> care of.
>
> regards,
> -Gunther
>
>
>
> -- 
> Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D.                  gschadow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Associate Professor           Indiana University School of Informatics
> Regenstrief Institute, Inc.      Indiana University School of Medicine
> tel:1(317)423-5521                       http://aurora.regenstrief.org
>
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