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Re: [ontology-summit] Invitation to a brainstorming call for the 2011 On

To: "'Ontology Summit 2011 discussion'" <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Matthew West" <dr.matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:45:58 -0000
Message-id: <4d07f38e.82eed80a.711b.23fc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Dear Jack,    (01)

> Regarding Nicola's quite relevant concern (below) it may be useful to note
> that
> a) quality is binary, not a scalar (Crosby, Deming, Juran, etc.) Quality
> signifies conformance to requirements, Yes or No,  therefore 'high
quality' is
> meaningless.    (02)

MW: So presumably you would argue that if an ontology has 5 defects, and 4
of them are fixed, there is not improvement in quality as a result....    (03)

Regards    (04)

Matthew West                            
Information  Junction
Tel: +44 560 302 3685
Mobile: +44 750 3385279
matthew.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.informationjunction.co.uk/
http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/    (05)

This email originates from Information Junction Ltd. Registered in England
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> b) note carefully that from the usage viewpoint the requirements amount to
> 'fit for purpose' (Checkland) or 'satisficing' (Simon).
> c) both proof of correctness and exhaustive test are futile, therefore not
> included.
> d) the goal becomes warranty that the ontology of interest is devoid of
> internal faults and external incompatibilities wherein warranty means zero
> false positives and false negatives.
> e) an appropriate theme may be "Making the case for adequate, accurate and
> timely ontologies" which embraces both the result and the development
> activity.
> f) whether any ontology is viable or not depends on both the ontology and
the
> intended usage.
> g) this means that any cadre of ontology developers must include members
who
> are dedicated to independent and objective assessment of the viability of
any
> ontology or patch thereof or ordered set of patches.
> h) fortunately, technologies, tools and methods exist (or are imminent)
for
> viability assessment of algorithms of all classes and types with respect
to
> intended usage. This includes ontologies. Even the spaghetti code in most
OWL-
> based examples can be assessed, even simplified, and potentially made more
> "lean" without inducing 'brittle.'
> i) this is one reason why I suggested to Steve Ray that one corner of the
> Summit allow open-mind dialogue regarding new technologies.
> 
> Onward,
> Jack Ring
> 
> 
> On Dec 14, 2010, at 5:00 AM, Nicola Guarino wrote:
> 
> > Dear colleagues,
> >
> >     I also agree very much with John and Matthew concerning the
importance
> of high quality ontologies, and on their observation that the quest for
high
> quality data models in software engineering definitely reflects a
sensitivity
> to important ontological aspects much higher than what we find in people
just
> focusing on ontology languages.
> >
> >     In the light of this, I suggest to specify a bit more the overall
theme
> of our Summit, which in my opinion could be "Making the case for
ontological
> analysis" instead of "Making the case for ontology". An alternative could
be
> "Making the case for high-quality ontologies".
> >
> >     The reason for this proposal should be self-evident, I believe.
Deciding
> how much effort to put in developing a particular ontology is a crucial
> choice, and it is very important to distinguish the cases where a proper
> ontological analysis pays off, and is indeed a crucial aspect of success,
from
> those where a "lightweight" approach is sufficient.
> >
> >     Just brainstorming...
> >
> > Talk to you soon,
> >
> > Nicola
> >
> >
> >
> > On 9 Dec 2010, at 16:03, John F. Sowa wrote:
> >
> >> Dear Matthew and Peter,
> >>
> >> MW:
> >>> ... my forthcoming book "Developing High Quality Data Models".
Substitute
> >>> ontology for data model and the same argument applies. The benefits
come
> >>> from improving and automating decision making through fit-for-purpose
> >>> information to support those decisions.
> >>
> >> I very strongly agree.  Software engineers have been doing ontology
> >> (avant la lettre, as they say) for a very long time.  And much of that
> >> work has been very good -- sometimes much better than what people are
> >> doing with so-called ontology languages.
> >>
> >
> >
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