John, (01)
There is a use case for decidable stuff, it's just much smaller
than the use case for integration of legacy systems. A lot of our
potential users ask how the Semantics Repository can be used, and
we put "OWLy stuff" way down the list because we are aware of the
problems they already have that we built this to solve. However,
I think it's a balance between solving old problems and carving
out new opportunities (things which are not known to be a problem
and so don't have a use case). Both are significant in the long
run. We saw some good ones in the case studies. (02)
That's why I think it was so important that this Summit
recognized the difference between different kinds of ontologies
built for different use cases and using different architectures -
many people assume that the ontology they see is what an ontology
"is". I think this Summit was possibly the first venue where I
have seen this distiction formally made. Even so, I noticed that
under "Integration", someone almost narrowed the scope to "Run
time" integration only - i.e. identifying the new opportunity but
ignoring the existing problem use case. (03)
I would imagine that anyone who has worked in formal engineering
(as distinct from either academia, new-new tech, or firms that
consume IT), will have started by asking themselves "where is the
business conceptual model?" for any technology they are working
on, and in the case of data would narrow this down to "Where is
the ontology?". So the existing use case should have been obvious
all along. Yet to many it wasn't. Perhaps it took the existence
of the new new thing before any IT folks wanted it anywhere near
their resumes? (04)
Mike (05)
On 26/04/2011 05:43, John F. Sowa wrote:
> Deborah,
>
> That is a very important question:
>
>> I am seeking a brief explanation for how ontologies can help bridge the
>> gap from legacy software to web services. For example - the role of
>> ontologies versus APIs, middleware, and relational databases - a process
>> model or short narrative of all the parts that would need to work together.
> There's a simple reason why nobody answers it: 92% of all ontologists
> are academics. They are totally clueless about any kind of practical
> application. For example, they think that there is a use case for
> decidability. But they ignore the multi-trillions of dollars of
> legacy software because it's written in languages they don't like,
> such as COBOL and SQL.
>
>> However to pitch this better, a concise explanation is needed for
>> exactly where an ontology should live in relation to projects at
>> firms behind firewalls versus accessible across an enterprise/industry.
>> And what the effect is on legacy software and databases i.e. not
>> losing or recreating data, instead bringing them up to speed for
>> more precise information sharing and requirements tracking.
> The absence of any such explanation -- or even any mention of such
> issues -- is the reason why mainstream IT ignores the Semantic Web.
>
> I can be as academic as they come, but I worked at IBM for 30 years,
> where I had to do something with some semblance of usefulness for
> IBM's bottom line. And from time to time, I actually talked with
> living, breathing customers.
>
> John
>
>
>
>
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> (06)
--
Mike Bennett
Director
Hypercube Ltd.
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