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[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] RE: Issues with XML and Semantic Web ?
 I believe the notion behind the semantic web is many fairly small, intersecting ontologies. As described in TBL underground map: http://www.w3.org/2003/Talks/0922-rsoc-tbl/slide23-0.html. Each colored line in this diagram corresponds to an ontology. No single line visits all the stations; but several stations are visited by more than one line. Information is shared within one ontology to interoperate between, say, the address book and events. Another ontology interoperates between events and photos. The result is interoperation of addresses and photos. This is done without requiring all stakeholders to agree upon a single interlingua that covers all information silos at once. I can't really see how one ontology could be practical even in much smaller environment than Sem Web - such as a single company or a single department within a company. Often, even a single application will require multiple modular ontologies. In theory, the modularity of ontology models should provide the flexibility needed to accommodate different contexts. One could also only reference/use part of an ontology - parts one can "agree with" - without committing to the entire ontology. In practice, we are still figuring out how this will all work. Regards, Irene Polikoff Executive Partner, TopQuadrant www.topquadrant.com -----Original Message----- From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) [mailto:len.bullard@i...] Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 2:16 PM To: 'Jeff Rafter' Cc: xml-dev@l... Subject: RE: Issues with XML and Semantic Web ? The problem is it isn't contract, but contracts. RFP by RFP. It is great if they can all reference one ontology, but for that to work, that ontology has to be the sum of their requirements; whaddaygit? Another bloated specification. Just whining, here. It isn't that the ontology drifts: it is that meaning drifts. Will I accept a noise ratio of 5 to 1? Sure. Sobriety rules. One can't count on a large non-local community being sober all the time in all of the places where they make their decisions. So not just sober choice, but well-considered application. That is as good as it gets and why many said that frictionless computing was/is nonsense, so YMMV. Don't get me wrong. We're very happy to get standards for the codelists we use. Stuff them into an enumeration and let us [expletive deleted] them via an XMLReader right into the database, then to the dropdown. Very happy indeed. But the real trick is to in near real time detect that a user in a particular context chose the wrong value from that list. This is when the semantic stuff starts to have more value. len From: Jeff Rafter [mailto:lists@j...] > Do the best you can but no one > can make time or meaning stand still. YMMV. Sure they can, in the form of contracts. Essentially that is what OWL is for right-- a contract about the nature/meaning of a particular piece of information? Sure, those considerations will change over time but that is what versioning is for? Semantic drift is to be expected, and I'll grant that it is a problem but that doesn't mean it makes the whole process useless. I know that the fidelity of an MP3 recorded from a CD and an old cassette are two wildly different things. I know that converting the MP3 to another format and back will likely involve some loss-- but it doesn't mean that the information is useless, I just have to approach soberly. Code lists are great, shared code lists are more great-- but for each level you go out you have to keep in mind that there will be some lossiness. Fine. Still, sign me up-- if I have a program that can auto map 1800 out of 2000 fields reliably, I'll use it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The xml-dev list is sponsored by XML.org <http://www.xml.org>, an initiative of OASIS <http://www.oasis-open.org> The list archives are at http://lists.xml.org/archives/xml-dev/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from this list use the subscription manager: <http://www.oasis-open.org/mlmanage/index.php> 
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