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Re: [ontology-summit] [BigSystems]different stakeholders different needs

To: Ontology Summit 2012 discussion <ontology-summit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Paul Tyson <phtyson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:08:17 -0600
Message-id: <1329667697.5833.32.camel@tristan>
On Sat, 2012-02-18 at 21:20 -0800, joseph simpson wrote:
> Paul: 
> 
> A sixth group should be added:
> 
> --- System integrators (or large-scale integration)    (01)

Well I gave it a lot of thought, but in the end decided it would take
the discussion even farther afield. But since you brought it up....    (02)

If you mean by "system integrators" dedicated, thoughtful, experienced,
independent consultants who make it their business to represent the
interests of designers, analysts, builders, and users of big systems,
then they naturally would champion the best and most appropriate
theories and ontologies.    (03)

These good people are vastly outnumbered by the large force of
enterprise information systems consultants deployed by big-name
consulting houses to follow a playbook provided by the mother ship.
Their profit margin depends on doing things the same way over and over,
which means ignoring or eliminating local differences and dwelling as
little as possible on difficult problems such as discovering and
preserving the genius of an enterprise through ontological analysis.
This approach is actually marketed with great success as "best
practices", which are in fact notorious retardants of critical and
creative thinking. The theories and ontologies peddled by these
consultants--insofar as they can be bothered with such non-value-added
considerations--align remarkably closely to those embodied in the
vendor's software in support of which the consultant is deployed.    (04)

So yes, there is a vast powerful "vendor-consultant" complex entrenched
in the big systems society. The effects of this more properly should
have been discussed in last year's forum on ontology advocacy, but as
has been mentioned elsewhere in the 2012 discussions some aspects are
still relevant.    (05)

Regards,
--Paul    (06)

> 
> Take care and be good to your self,
> 
> Joe
> 
> On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 8:23 PM, Paul Tyson <phtyson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>         I added to the community input wiki page, but here are some
>         teasers to
>         start discussion. See the wiki page for full context.
>         
>         "We should distinguish at least 5 stakeholder groups with
>         different
>         interests in big systems: designers, analysts, builders,
>         users, and
>         theorists."
>         
>(http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2012_BigSystemsEngineering_CommunityInput#nid353O)
>         
>         "Theorists are usually the least relevant players in big
>         systems, and
>         the most likely to be wrong about them."
>         
>(http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2012_BigSystemsEngineering_CommunityInput#nid353P)
>         
>         "It seems clear that no single ontology can simultaneously
>         satisfy the
>         needs of designers, analysts, builders, and users of a big
>         system."
>         
>(http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2012_BigSystemsEngineering_CommunityInput#nid353R)
>         
>         Regards,
>         --Paul
>         
>         
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Joe Simpson
> 
> Sent From My DROID!!
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