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Re: [ontology-summit] conceptual modeling

To: "Ontology Summit 2011 discussion" <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Harris, Marcelline R., Ph.D." <Harris.Marcelline@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 07:22:22 -0600
Message-id: <37FD144A2348824E9C0D1511B86A0393C7A70C@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Or is the distinction between designing and making explicit and
computable?     (01)

-----Original Message-----
From: ontology-summit-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontology-summit-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mike
Bennett
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 7:10 AM
To: Ontology Summit 2011 discussion
Subject: Re: [ontology-summit] conceptual modeling    (02)

I think the distinction is between designing and discovering.    (03)

I've caused raised eyebrows in the past by saying "The art of 
ontology is the art of not designing something", but perhaps I 
should qualify that to say that's the art of ontology as business 
conceptual model - one of the use cases for semantic technology 
but clearly not the only one.    (04)

I'm sure there is some good literature on model theory which 
would apply here, i.e. being able to formally state what is the 
relationship between the model and the thing modeled. In the case 
of the business conceptual model (I say "business" conceptual 
model because there are also some technical interpretations of 
this word "conceptual" which differ), what is modeled is the set 
of things and facts about those things in the business domain. 
These are things like bonds, buildings, fires, people, risk, 
counterparties and so on.    (05)

It's particularly important to make this model relationship 
explicit in areas where much of the "real" is also situated on 
computer systems, such as financial instruments, money, legal 
instruments and so on. There is a need to discover (and not 
"design") what is the reality of a financial instrument, grounded 
in legal and accounting concepts that already exist in the real 
world and require no design by any ontologist, they just need 
discovering and documenting. Semantic technology provides the 
best means yet of documenting those realities in formal ways 
which can then be used as the basis of design for computer 
systems, for instance for trading, risk analysis and so on.    (06)

Mike    (07)

On 04/03/2011 12:09, David Price wrote:
> I'm not quite sure why this group has such an aversion to adjectives.
> This entire discussion is because 'design' is too broad a term - same
> for the term 'model'. In Mfg, the term for creating a model of
something
> to build is typically called 'detailed design' where mechanical
> engineers, for example, would build '3D CAD models'. However, 'fashion
> design' is a completely different context where 'model' means a human
> clothes rack and walking around with clothes is called 'modeling'.
>
> So, in some industries/contexts 'designing' and 'modeling' are
synonyms
> but in others they are not - one might ask 'Why is that confusing?'
and
> the answer is obviously misunderstood context. So, unless you
understand
> the full context of the sentence 'conceptual modeling is a kind of
> designing' you cannot really disagree (or even agree) ... and yet here
> we are. If you simply look at a dictionary
> (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/design) you'll find that
both
> Jack's view and Azamat's view are acceptable uses of the term 'design'
-
> people are just talking past each other.
>
> Cheers,
> David
>
> On 3/4/2011 7:51 AM, Matthew West wrote:
>> Dear Jack,
>>
>> You said:
>>
>>> When you precis that, you get models. if models come from designing
then
>> how
>>> does modeling differ from design?
>> MW: Models can also be used for analysis, to try to understand how
things
>> are, rather than how you intend things to be. I would not call that
design.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Matthew West
>> Information  Junction
>> Tel: +44 560 302 3685
>> Mobile: +44 750 3385279
>> Skype: dr.matthew.west
>> matthew.west@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://www.informationjunction.co.uk/
>> http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/
>>
>> This email originates from Information Junction Ltd. Registered in
England
>> and Wales No. 6632177.
>> Registered office: 2 Brookside, Meadow Way, Letchworth Garden City,
>> Hertfordshire, SG6 3JE.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>    (08)


-- 
Mike Bennett
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Registered in England and Wales No. 2461068    (09)


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