SUO: Re: Call for Volunteers for Methodology Project
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Matthew,
This was just a worry that occurred to me very late in the process.
I am sure that you understand that this worry is wholly independent
of your particular case, which I personally consider to be the best
of all possible cases -- indeed, I withdrew my own volunteership for
the methodology task when when you announced yours, with the thought
being "Who better?".
But here and now we are talking about the institution of a general rule,
at the very least, the setting of a precedent, that will serve to guide
us and to determine our proceedings throughout what we may hope to be a
happy and indefinite future of cases whose particulars remain unforeseen,
and there our general, if slightly unpleasant duty is to consider also
the worst case scenarios, and not just the best.
So here we are, already talking about a particular question of methodology,
before we can even get down to deciding our next step in the more general
course of settling on methodology.
The question, then, expressed in generic terms, would be:
| Shall a person who is the leader of a particular project,
| also be permitted to serve as the leader of the project
| for deciding the general methodology of our proceeding?
That is just my first off-the-cuff draft of a formulation,
and I will call on others to help me capture the essence
of the question.
As I said, it was only rather tardily that a number of
worst case scenarios began to tug at my attention, but
I can hardly bring myself to doubt that, if you call on
your own imagination, in the generic case independently
of your own immediate situation, you will see what I am
worried about. Namely, the possibility of a distortion
arising that would be deleterious to the optimal conduct
of our proceedings, on account of general and particular
interests becoming confounded in and also by a particular
individual.
That is my present concern.
In sum, the question is not about the possible lack of motivation,
for we already enjoy a maximal case scenario in that respect, with
a verifiable abundance of highly motivated individuals. The issue
is more to the point of having many different directions of motive,
a panoply of "vectors" of individual motivations, if you will, and
that brings us finally to the really big question: How can all of
these diverse thrusts be brought to sum up to a positive resultant
along the lines of commonly espoused aims, and not borne off track
by the overweighting of private benefits and special interests?
That is the question.
Jon Awbrey
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West, Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE wrote:
>
> Dear Jon,
>
> I've not quite disappeared yet.
>
> I would argue the opposite. It should be a comfort that the
> Project Leader for one of the projects leads the procedures
> project, because it makes it more likely that they will
> support the development of projects. Having someone
> motivated for the product of a project in charge of
> it has always been seen as a good thing where
> I come from.
>
> I would hope that the other project leaders would be active in
> the development of this project too, as well as those who feel
> that the projects have got out of control and are unresponsive.
>
> In any case the checks and balances are in place. The SUO Group is the
> final authority, and the project leader -- to be effective -- must serve
> the Group. Developing stuff that gets rejected is just a waste of time.
>
> Matthew West
> Principal Consultant
> Shell Information Technology International Limited
> Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom
>
> Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Other Tel: +44 7796 336538
> Email: matthew.west@shell.com
> Internet: http://www.shell.com
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jon Awbrey [mailto:jawbrey@att.net]
> > Sent: 23 October 2003 04:27
> > To: jim.s3@juno.com
> > Cc: standard-upper-ontology@ieee.org; West, Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE
> > Subject: Re: Call for Volunteers for Methodology Project and
> > 4D Ontology
> > Project
> >
> >
> > o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
> >
> > Jim,
> >
> > I'm not sure that I would want to pose it as an objection,
> > and I wouldn't
> > want to start a discussion of the question unless Matthew can
> > be present
> > for it, but I would like there to be some consideration of a possible
> > conflict of interest between the same person being champion of one
> > particular project and also overseeing the development of general
> > procedures for evaluating all projects, including his/her own.
> >
> > Jon Awbrey
> >
> > o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
> >
> > jim.s3@juno.com wrote:
> > >
> > > SUO WG,
> > >
> > > Are there any objections to Matthew West serving as Project Leader
> > > of the Methodology Project and the 4D Ontology Project? There were
> > > no other volunteers.
> > >
> > > Jim Schoening
> > > Chair, SUO WG
> > >
> > > --------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > From: "West, Matthew R SITI-ITPSIE" <matthew.west@shell.com>
> > > To: <jim.s3@juno.com>
> > > Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:59:40 +0100
> > > Subject: RE: Call for Volunteers for Methodology Project
> > and 4D Ontology
> > > Project
> > >
> > > I volunteer to serve as Project Leader for both projects.
> > >
> > > Matthew West
> > > Principal Consultant
> > > Shell Information Technology International Limited
> > > Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom
> > >
> > > Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Other Tel: +44 7796 336538
> > > Email: matthew.west@shell.com
> > > Internet: http://www.shell.com
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: jim.s3@juno.com [mailto:jim.s3@juno.com]
> > > > Sent: 14 October 2003 03:44
> > > > To: standard-upper-ontology@ieee.org
> > > > Subject: SUO: Call for Volunteers for Methodology Project and 4D
> > > > Ontology Project
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > All,
> > > >
> > > > Following on from the recent ballot, this is a call for
> > > > volunteers to server as Project Leader for one or both of the
> > > > Methodology
> > > > Project and 4D Ontology Project.
> > > >
> > > > Jim Schoening
> >
> > o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
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