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Re: [ontology-summit] Official Communique Feedback Thread

To: Nicola Guarino <nicolguar@xxxxxxxxx>, Michael F Uschold <uschold@xxxxxxxxx>, Ontology Summit 2011 discussion <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Peter Yim <peter.yim@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2011 14:38:44 -0700
Message-id: <BANLkTimUgU1mszjz8KZxL72W4a1k9U8WFg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Thank you, Nicola ...    (01)

> [NG]  Perhaps the following sound bite can help understanding the role of
> ontologies to clarify meaning (I think Peter put it on the wiki somewhere):
>
> An ontology is like a contract's fine print, one of those things which require
> a very precise technical jargon, which you might ignore in many cases, but
> which can save your business in critical situations...    (02)

[ppy]  Yes ... 
http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2011_MakingTheCase_CommunityInput#nid2P0F    (03)


> [NG]  2. Ontology as a way of clarifying meaning -
> “The secret to making a good movie is getting everyone to make the same
> movie." So it is with enterprises and that's what ontologies do.'  Jack Ring
>
> Again, this risks to be interpreted in a dangerous way, ...    (04)

[ppy]  We are citing this sound bite in the Track-4 presentation too
... I tend to agree with you, Nicola. Maybe on our team, we'll have
Matthew explain ourselves more clearly as to how we interpret what
Francis Ford Copploa (or what we thought Jack Ring thought he) was
trying to say.  [by the way, attn: Michael Uschold - you might have
left out the beginning part of Jack Ring's sound bite (which starts
with  ' Francis Ford Copploa said, "... " ... ' ]    (05)


Attn: MichaelUschold and the Lead Co-Editors    (06)

SUGGEST WE LEAVE OFF NAMES on the Communique -- (ref. an earlier phone
conversation I had with MichaelUschold) it was actually debated in a
previous Summit session (2007, to be exact), that having people's
names in the communique (the Albert Einsteins or even Francis Ford
Coppola aside, as they are not direct contributors) may be a
distraction (and that year, it was decided we leave them out all
together.) Therefore, I would be in favor of doing the same this year.
Obviously, we did not quote sound bites then. Therefore, we can bulk
attribute those quoted sound bites and elevator pitches (where
applicable) by pointing people to the source page, at:
http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2011_MakingTheCase_CommunityInput#nid2NFS
where each contribution is fully attributed, source referenced,
traceable, version controlled and all.)    (07)


Regards.  =ppy
--    (08)


On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 7:54 AM, Nicola Guarino <nicolguar@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> Folks,
>
>        please find some more comments attached, produced during my flight... 
>(I hope the annotated pdf file is readable - produced with Preview on a Mac)
>
> Besides minor things, my most relevant comments concern some of the "sound 
>bites":
>
> 1. Ontology as a new paradigm -
> "Ontology does for machines what the World Wide Web did for people." Steve Ray
>
> This is interesting, but I suspect it is very ambiguous...
> I see there is a sense according to which this statement might be true (I 
>don't know if this is what you have in mind, Steve):
>
> - the Web allows people to access to (almost) all the data they need, which 
>however need still to be interpreted by people to become useful information.
> - Ontologies help machines, so to speak, to get the data they need, 
>extracting them from the Web...
>
> But I am not conviced, altogether. In my opinion, the message should be that, 
>first of all, ontologies are for people (and indeed we do convey such message 
>in the rest of the communiqué). From the machines point of view, ontologies 
>ultimately rely on primitives which make no sense as such (unless machines are 
>able to ground them on perception, but this is a research issue). To me, 
>ontologies are there to help people (who are using machines) to understand 
>each other, by making explicit (to people) the hidden assumptions made by the 
>programmers of such machines .
>
> Maybe the viceversa holds: ontology does for people what the world wide does 
>for machines:
>
> - through shared Web services, machines are able to use each other's data;
> - through shared ontologies, people are able to use each other's data 
>(possibly with the mediation of machines)...
>
> 2. Ontology as a way of clarifying meaning -
> “The secret to making a good movie is getting everyone to make the same 
>movie." So it is with enterprises and that's what ontologies do.'  Jack Ring
>
> Again, this risks to be interpreted in a dangerous way, as people may come to 
>the conclusion that ontologists want to force "everyone to make the same 
>movie". Sure, adopting the same ontology is like playing in the same movie, 
>but ontologies can do more, namely letting people understand whether or not 
>they are playing the same movie, and if not, why not... Moreover, they can 
>help establish comparisons and mapping across multiple movies...
>
> Perhaps the following sound bite can help understanding the role of 
>ontologies to clarify meaning (I think Peter put it on the wiki somewhere):
>
> An ontology is like a contract's fine print, one of those things which 
>require a very precise technical jargon, which you might ignore in many cases, 
>but which can save your business in critical situations...
>
> 3. Ontology as a way to improve agility and flexibility -
> “There are three main things that ontologies are good for: flexibility, 
>flexibility and flexibility” Michael Uschold
>
> I think this flexibility point should be expanded, as clearly flexibility 
> might be intended in many different ways. In which sense does ontology 
>increase flexibility? To me, the answers are: 1) it detaches signs from their 
>meanings; 2) it helps recognizing each aspect of the domain as a "first class 
>citizen", to which you can attach information independently of the rest....
>
> Best,
>
> Nicola    (09)


> On 15 Apr 2011, at 16:25, Michael F Uschold wrote:
>
>> Everyone,
>>
>> Please use this email thread for all feedback on the communique.  Anything 
>submitted elsewhere risks not being addressed.  If you have already submitted 
>feedback, I will greatly appreciate if you can take a moment and re-send it on 
>this thread using the subject.
>>
>> Many thanks.
>>
>> DETAILS:
>>
>> There is now a snapshot of the draft Communique on the wiki for public 
>review and comment.
>>
>> See: 
>http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2011_Communique/Draft
>>
>> The evolving draft Communique is 
>at:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1oyuFxRfhJrzaEcORPT5hWfQqP36uzz7mn8GG-sxDM/edit?hl=en&authkey=CO-n3oEN
>>
>> Please refer to the process described in:
>> http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/ontology-summit/2011-04/msg00092.html to 
>progress this document to its final release.
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> --
>> Michael Uschold, PhD
>>  Senior Ontology Consultant, Semantic Arts
>>  LinkedIn: http://tr.im/limfu
>>  Skype, Twitter: UscholdM    (010)

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