Re: SUO: SUO Comment #3
> H. Sofia Pinto [sofia@gia.ist.utl.pt] voted to ABSTAIN, with the following
> comment:
>
> "I'm not sure if the SUO should have as its explicit purpose that it must be
>
> suitable for compilation to more restricted forms such as XML or database
> schema. It is desirable that it is suitable for such compilation but is it
> "must
> have" requirement? "
>
I think this is actually an important requirement - one that will make
this ontology far more useful than it otherwise might. There are
already lots of 'lightweight' onotlogies out there getting used a lot.
The trouble is, they are ad hoc. I think that there should be a way to
project the SUO onto various more restricted forms, especially those
that are in the mainstream. Otherwise, the SUO may risk never having a
significant user population.
On the other hand, I'm not sure that this requirement actually affects
how we build the SUO. Intuitively, it seems that *any* SUO that we might
build could be projected onto more restricted forms. Although it may be
more or less difficult to do so, depending on the SUO formalism. I
submit for discussion the following question:
Is this requirement in fact vacuous, and will not affect how we build
the SUO?
-- If not, then how might we build it differently to meet this
requirement?
-- If so, then so, then it should not be stated as a requirement, but
instead as an intended purpose or role of the SUO
> This comment references the following item in the Purpose:
>
> * The ontology will be suitable for "compilation" to more restricted
> forms such as XML or database schema. This will enable database developers
> to define new data elements in terms of a common ontology, and thereby gain
> some degree of interoperability with other compliant systems.
>
> Chair's note: If this remains as is, the first sentence above, "The ontology
> will be suitable for "compilation" to more restricted forms such as XML or
> database schema," should be moved to the Scope, but the rest should remain
> in the Purpose.
I disagree. I do not see this as a scoping matter, it is a PURPOSE of
the SUO, to enable it to be used in other more mainstream representation
formalisms for inter-operability.
Mike