dao of ontology summit 2007

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DAO of Ontology Summit 2007

-- Goals, Challenges & Opportunities-- Goals, Challenges & Opportunities

Presented at the Ontology Summit 2007 – “Framework” workshop session

“Ontology, Taxonomy, Folksonomy: Understanding the Distinctions”

by

Peter P. Yim <[email protected]>

CIM3, ceo / ONTOLOG, co-convener

Gaithersburg, MD, USA. Apr 23, 2006

( v 1.08)

2ppy / DAO-of-OntologySummit2007--PeterYim_20070423 / Apr-2007 (cc) 2007 =ppy, CIM3, Ontolog, some rights reserved 2 of 17

OutlineOutline

What is “Ontolog” What is “Ontolog” (a.k.a. “Ontolog Forum”)(a.k.a. “Ontolog Forum”)

Ontology Summit 2007Ontology Summit 2007• Purpose & Goals

• Challenges & Opportunities

ReflectionsReflections


ONTOLOG (aka. ONTOLOG (aka. Ontolog ForumOntolog Forum) est. ) est. Apr.2002Apr.2002

our "dialog in ontology"• MembershipMembership - 360; from 20 different countries (as at mid Apr-2007)

• UsersUsers - from 115 cities globally, generating ~3000 visits and ~13,000 hits on our site per day

• Hosted Hosted on the CIM3 collaborative work environment infrastructure

• CharterCharter - Ontolog is an open, international, virtual community of practice, whose membership will:: Discuss practical issues and strategies associated with the development and application of

both formal and informal ontologies. Identify ontological engineering approaches that might be applied to the UBL effort, as well as

to the broader domain of eBusiness standardization efforts. Strive to advance the field of ontological engineering and semantic technologies, and to help

move them into main stream applications.

• ActivitiesActivities:: Weekly conference calls of active members Monthly virtual Invited Speaker events Scheduled Technical Discussions Specific Projects: like [CCT-Rep], [Health-Ont], NHIN-RFI response, Upper Ontology Summit,

Event podcast, Ontologizing the Ontolog Content, Ontology-driven Applications Inventory, Database & Ontology, Ontology Measurement & Evaluation, [ONION] ... OntologySummit2007

Resides on a virtual collaborative work environment which serves as a dynamic knowledge repository to the community's collective intelligence

• We welcome your participationWe welcome your participation – see: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/ – see: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/

• Questions? talk to any of our 3 co-conveners Questions? talk to any of our 3 co-conveners - PeterYim; LeoObrst & KurtConrad


Ontolog – an open CoPOntolog – an open CoP

Caption: John McCarthy having a dialog with Doug Engelbart

at a tavern … with ‘the fishnet’ on the wall


An Organizational Form that the CWE aims at Supporting – leading us toward Open Virtual Enterprises

Source: Institute for the Future: Johansen, R., Swigart, R. Upsizing the Individual in the Downsized Organization

introducing: The Fishnet Organizationintroducing: The Fishnet Organization

these are temporary (or semi-permanent) hierarchies, that emerge out of the CoP's, which capitalize on distributed capabilities to achieve specific purposes; when those purposes are achieved (or when the

opportunities no longer exist), they disband, and the resources (people, knowledge, skill sets) are returned to the CoP's where they

come from.


Ontolog Usage StatOntolog Usage Stat


Ontolog (Visitors) UsersOntolog (Visitors) Users


Ontolog’s key Ontolog’s key DifferentiationDifferentiation

Activities are community driven; we are neutral, Activities are community driven; we are neutral, open, and we are not answerable to any open, and we are not answerable to any authority or institutional structure, except for authority or institutional structure, except for (explicitly) our charter & IPR policy, and (explicitly) our charter & IPR policy, and (implicitly) our professional integrity. (implicitly) our professional integrity.

We are adamant about collaboration, sharing and open knowledge … and are trying to spur organic or emergent behaviour

in the community and our project teams


Upper Ontology SummitUpper Ontology SummitOntolog / NIST - 15-Mar-2006


Ontology Summit 2007Ontology Summit 2007-- Key Purpose & Goals (as I see them)

Help ourselves and others to ‘Undertsand’ the distinctions between Ontology, Taxonomy, Folksonomy, Terminology, ontology artifacts, …etc. etc.• convene a broader community of ontology researchers and

practitioners

• provide the platform for dialog among these ‘conveners’

• utilize a community process to facilitate shared understanding and commitment (hopefully, ontological commitment)

• Be able to deliver something (a ‘framework’, some ‘ontological commitment’, a shared understanding expressed in a ‘communiqué ’, … etc.) that will have an impact to the state of affairs of the Ontology & Ontological Engineering practice

Ulteria Motive• advancing the science and art of ontological engineering and

semantic technologies;

• Help move them into the mainstream


““Nothing Replaces Anything”Nothing Replaces Anything”… Richard Dalton, IFTF


ChallengesChallenges

&&

OpportunitiesOpportunities Working with very smart peopleWorking with very smart people Time … and TimingTime … and Timing The rest of the world don’t know what we are The rest of the world don’t know what we are

talking about talking about (much less, care about what we are doing) (much less, care about what we are doing)

Be precise … and … be holistic!Be precise … and … be holistic!• ... culturally, we actually aren't very good at either!

… but, we all know, this is VERY important, and we are passionate enough about it, to want this to work out


(Ontology Enabled)(Ontology Enabled)

OpportunitiesOpportunities for the Scientistsfor the Scientists

• visions from the likes of Engelbart, McCarthy, Lenat, Berners-Lee, Hendler, etc. will finally come to fruition

• decades of research can be realized in real, non-trivial implementations

for the Engineersfor the Engineers• we'll actually be able to build next generation machines (systems,

networks, ...) that will off-load from humans, tasks (albeit simple ones) that requires some 'reasoning' and 'thinking'

• these application can actually affect (hopefully benefit) the lives of many millions

for the Marketeersfor the Marketeers• a multi- multi- billion dollar market is right around the corner ...

• please don't kill it by “Hyping it up!”

... this is NOT a “zero-sum game”!


Will we be able to make the Will we be able to make the best of these opportunities?best of these opportunities?

one last conjecture:

… … it might just depend on it might just depend on

‘ ‘ our attitude toward our attitude toward collaborating collaborating to bring ontology to bring ontology

into the mainstreaminto the mainstream’’


the DAO of it allthe DAO of it all

Live with the ‘Duality’ around us:Live with the ‘Duality’ around us:• the Cathedral vs. the Bazaar• the Form vs. Free-form• Discipline vs. Creativity• Transaction Process vs. Collaborative Process• Classic AI vs. Augmentation approaches• the small ‘o’ vs. the big ‘O’ in Ontology• Planned vs. Emergent behavior• The reductionist vs. the holistic approach

we are not bound to choose one OR the other Lao Zi had this figured out, circa 500 BC


Ancient WisdomAncient Wisdom

The Dao that can be articulated is not the eternal DaoThe Dao that can be articulated is not the eternal Dao

The Name that labels is not the eternal NameThe Name that labels is not the eternal Name

In the beginning there were no NameIn the beginning there were no Name

Through Names all things come into beingThrough Names all things come into being

from the “Tao Te Ching” - Lao Tzu (circa 500 B.C.) (translated/interpreted by Peter Yim / OntologySummit2007 / Apr.2007)

Remarks:• the Chinese source of this verse is shown in the background of this slide (first 3 lines from the right).• “Dao” (also translated as “Tao”) is interpreted sometimes as the “Way”, or the “supreme order”; but its more generally accepted that there is no direct English translation for it.


ReferenceReference

The Ontolog Website: The Ontolog Website: http://ontolog.cim3.net/wiki/

Ontology Summit 2007: Ontology Summit 2007: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2007

"Ontologizing the Ontolog Body of Knowledge" Series of Events: "Ontologizing the Ontolog Body of Knowledge" Series of Events: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologizingOntolog

Ontolog activities & projects Ontolog activities & projects http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nidF

Noteworthy Ontolog Past Events: Noteworthy Ontolog Past Events: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nidZ

The Ontolog Charter: The Ontolog Charter: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nidB

The Ontolog Membership Information: The Ontolog Membership Information: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?WikiHomePage#nid1J

dao of ontology summit 2007

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