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RE: ONT Re: Data Models, Ontologies, Logic




Dear Jon,

Let me give a partial answer to your question below.


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.r.west@is.shell.com
Internet: http://www.shell.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon Awbrey [mailto:jawbrey@oakland.edu]
> Sent: 28 May 2002 21:19
> To: Ontology
> Subject: ONT Re: Data Models, Ontologies, Logic
> 
> 
> 
> o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
> 
> MW = Matthew West
> 
> MW: Yes, schema is one of the posher ways of talking about 
> data models.
>     Data model is the common term though, amongst most practitioners
>     of the art, so it is probably worth getting used to it if you
>     wish to communicate with those folk.
> 
> Matthew,
> 
> I 'was' one of those folk -- we just used other words in my 
> millennium.
> My interest here is how to communicate with some folk beyond 
> 'we' folk.
> 
> This subject touches on issues dear to my heart,
> on which I have been working for quite a while.
> I'm a really slow learner, but I've put enough
> time in to figure out a couple of things here.
> 
> If we ever get really serious about using a "logical looking 
> language" (L^3)
> to describe or to "model" the real world, then we will start 
> looking at the
> ways of those who are currently doing the best job of it, 
> and, sad to say,
> that ain't many logicians of the current crop.  So I will yield to the
> ways of those who are doing almost all of the real work here, 
> if I can.
> That will take us beyond the Spheres of DBA's and La Cage Aux FOL's.
> 
> Anyway, I did make an earnest plea to relax the jargon for a while.
> If it's jargon you want ... don't blame me this time.
> 
> Let me repeat my "insight model" here, so at least one of us 
> doesn't forget it:
> 
> | It would also be a good idea if we stopped every now and 
> then to think about
> | why we gather data and why we make up theories in the first 
> place.  

MW: In business at least we gather data to help us in making decisions.
In particular to establish where we are, so we can set a direction for
the future. We develop theories mostly to help us see into the future.

> We might
> | just find that there are more ways to think about this than 
> we have been led
> | to believe, and we might just find better ways to talk 
> about the real issues.
> 
> Jon Awbrey
> 
> o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
>