ontology-summit
[Top] [All Lists]

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

To: "Ontology Summit 2009" <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Mason, Howard (UK)" <Howard.Mason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 14:40:01 +0100
Message-id: <4B5102D6FD665447821D45C621B5393C990C86@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
This is not about registration of data elements in the style of ISO
20022, since this group is using the Registration Authority mechanism
under ISO to achieve simpler governance than the formal approval of a
Maintenance Agency.  By the way, ISO now has an even simpler process for
managing such collections of elements using the so-called "standards as
databases" procedure (Annex ST of the ISO Directives).    (01)

The URI issue is about providing unambiguous electronic resolvable
references to individual definitions of data elements within standards -
and developing a viable business model for the resolution service.  The
traditional ISO Model for standards is based on sales of the printed
page, rather than a Web-based resolution service which would typically
be free-of-charge at the point of use.    (02)


Howard Mason
Corporate IT Office
Tel: +44 1252 383129
Mob: +44 780 171 3340
Eml: howard.mason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BAE Systems plc
Registered Office: 6 Carlton Gardens, London, SW1Y 5AD, UK
Registered in England & Wales No: 1470151     (03)

-----Original Message-----
From: ontology-summit-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontology-summit-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike
Bennett
Sent: 09 July 2009 13:10
To: Ontology Summit 2009
Subject: Re: [ontology-summit] [Fwd: Re: Progressing a Units
Ontology-virtual session]    (04)

                    *** WARNING ***    (05)

  This message has originated outside your organisation,
  either from an external partner or the Global Internet. 
      Keep this in mind if you answer this message.    (06)


There is an interesting parallel here with what happens in ISO 20022,
and people might want to look at that. ISO 20022 defines messages for
financial services. Because new requirements for these come up all the
time, the standardised content of the messages and message models is
outside the standard itself. Instead, the standard defines the
management structure and process by which the content is managed. The
content, which can then be added to and updated on a regular basis
(typically a new message set will go through in 3 to 6 months I think),
is managed by an ISO-appointed Registration Authority. In the case of
ISO 20022 this is SWIFT.    (07)

Mike    (08)

David Leal wrote:
> Dear John,
>
> I don't think that you have posed the problem entirely correctly.
>
> At present, ISO assigns identifiers to documents and can supply an 
> identified document. ISO has procedures in place to ensure that when a    (09)

> request is made for the document with identifier "ISO 6892-1:2008" 
> (say), then the document that was agreed by the experts and approved 
> by national standards bodies is supplied. The use of "ISO 6892-1:2008"    (010)

> as a keyword in a business/engineering transaction (to perform a 
> material test) is valid because there is confidence in ISO procedures.
>
> In the future ISO may assign identifiers to things rather than
documents.
> These identifiers may be URIs, and ISO may provide a Web service so 
> that dereferencing a URI for a thing redirects to a document that 
> defines the thing. The procedures necessary to do this reliably are 
> not so different to those already in place within ISO for documents. 
> The definition and implementation of these procedures would be 
> entirely under the control of ISO and nothing to do with W3C.
>
> If:
> - ISO assigns URIs to things;
> - the business/engineering community is confident that ISO has 
> procedures in place to ensure that the correct documents are obtained 
> when URIs are dereferenced, then the business/engineering community
will use them.
>
> Reasons why this has not happened yet are:
> 1) ISO is funded by selling documents, and so a change of business 
> model is needed;
> 2) the use of URIs to identify things has not yet been seen as 
> something of sufficient importance.
>
> The work of this community can change (2).
>
> Best regards,
> David
>
> At 18:09 08/07/2009 -0400, you wrote:
>   
>> Martin,
>>
>> We can all agree on two fundamental principles:
>>
>>  1. The idea of unique identifiers is important.
>>
>>  2. Providing an automatic method for automatically linking
>>     those identifiers to official definitions is also important.
>>
>> But of these two principles, the first is primary, and the second is 
>> a convenience, which could be satisfied in many different ways.  The 
>> ISO method, for example, is based on printed documents:  The unique 
>> identifier of the document together with the unique name within the 
>> document is the method of resolution.  For convenience, the 
>> resolution of identifiers to definitions could be automated, but the 
>> printed documents are the official standards.
>>
>> Kevin's pointer to Tim B-L's note is significant:
>>
>>    http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkedData.html
>>
>> That note is dated 2006-07-27, last change: $Date: 2009/06/18 
>> 18:24:33 $ That implies that the note is recent, and it changes
often.
>>
>> In that note, Tim says
>>
>>     
>>> I'll refer to the steps above as rules, but they are expectations of    (011)

>>> behavior.  Breaking them does not destroy anything, but misses an 
>>> opportunity to make  data interconnected.  This in turn limits the 
>>> ways it can later be reused in unexpected ways.  It is the 
>>> unexpected re-use of information which is the value added by the 
>>> web.
>>>       
>> That paragraph that considers those rules as "expectations of 
>> behavior" raises all kinds of red flags.  Whose expectations?
>> And whose behavior?  Well meaning, but careless programmers?
>> Mischievous hackers?  Organized terrorists?
>>
>> Two centuries ago, the standards for units of measurement were 
>> considered so precious that they were based on platinum exemplars 
>> kept in sealed vaults in Paris.  They were only taken out on rare 
>> occasions to compare them with other exemplars.  For portability, the    (012)

>> meter was later redefined in terms of a wavelength of light.
>>
>> But to replace such official standards with documents that could be 
>> modified by a careless mistake or a mischievous hacker is the height 
>> of folly.
>>
>> Unless and until URIs are replaced by or implemented by some provably    (013)

>> secure mechanisms, I recommend that official standards for 
>> identifying ontologies and their contents be based methods similar to    (014)

>> the tried and tested ISO procedures -- not on a mechanism as insecure    (015)

>> as the W3C URIs.
>>
>> John Sowa
>>
>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Msg Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontology-summit/
>> Subscribe/Config: 
>> http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontology-summit/
>> Unsubscribe: mailto:ontology-summit-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Community Files: 
>> http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/OntologySummit2009/
>> Community Wiki: 
>> http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009
>> Community Portal: http://ontolog.cim3.net/
>>
>>
>>     
>
> ============================================================
> David Leal
> CAESAR Systems Limited
> registered office: 29 Somertrees Avenue, Lee, London SE12 0BS 
> registered in England no. 2422371
> tel:      +44 (0)20 8857 1095
> mob:      +44 (0)77 0702 6926
> e-mail:   david.leal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> web site: http://www.caesarsystems.co.uk 
> ============================================================
>
>
>  
> _________________________________________________________________
> Msg Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontology-summit/
> Subscribe/Config: 
> http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontology-summit/
> Unsubscribe: mailto:ontology-summit-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Community Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/OntologySummit2009/
> Community Wiki: 
> http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009
> Community Portal: http://ontolog.cim3.net/
>
>
>       (016)


--
Mike Bennett
Director
Hypercube Ltd. 
89 Worship Street
London EC2A 2BF
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7917 9522
Mob: +44 (0) 7721 420 730
www.hypercube.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales No. 2461068    (017)


_________________________________________________________________
Msg Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontology-summit/
Subscribe/Config:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontology-summit/
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontology-summit-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Community Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/OntologySummit2009/
Community Wiki:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009
Community Portal: http://ontolog.cim3.net/    (018)


********************************************************************
This email and any attachments are confidential to the intended
recipient and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient please delete it from your system and notify the sender.
You should not copy it or use it for any purpose nor disclose or
distribute its contents to any other person.
********************************************************************    (019)


_________________________________________________________________
Msg Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontology-summit/ 
Subscribe/Config: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/ontology-summit/  
Unsubscribe: mailto:ontology-summit-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Community Files: http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/OntologySummit2009/
Community Wiki: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009 
Community Portal: http://ontolog.cim3.net/    (020)
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>