ConferenceCall 2009 03 12

= OntologySummit2009 Panel Session - "Ontology Community Perspectives Toward Ontology-based Standards" - Thu 12-Mar-2009  =

Subject: The Ontological Perspective -- What do ontologies have to offer?

 * Session Chair: Professor MichaelGruninger (ISO 18629 PSL; University of Toronto) -- "What Can Ontologies Offer?" - [ slides ]


 * Panelists:
 * Professor BarrySmith (State University of New York at Buffalo) -- "How To Organize the World of Ontologies" -  [ slides ]
 * Mr. EdwardBarkmeyer (National Institute of Standards and Technology) -- "Use of Ontologies in Standards" - [ slides ]
 * Professor BillMcCarthy (Michigan State University)-- "Ontology-driven Standards: The Natural Tension" - [ slides ]
 * Mr. ConradBock (National Institute of Standards and Technology)-- "Ontologies in Standards: Content and Languages" - [ slides ]

Archives

 * Our panel's prepared slides can be accessed by clicking on each of the title links below:
 * Slides: . [ 0-Gruninger ] . [ 1-Smith ] . [ 2-Bargmeyer ] . [ 3-McCarthy ] . [ 4-Bock ]
 * [ Audio Recording of the session ] (mp3)
 * [ Transcript of the online chat session ] during the panel discussion


 * additional resources:
 * OntologySummit2009
 * OntologySummit2009_OntologyCommunityPerspectives

Conference Call Details

 * Date: Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009
 * Start Time: 10:30am PDT / 1:30pm EDT / 6:30pm CET / 17:30 UTC
 * see world clock for other time zones
 * Expected Call Duration: ~2.0 hours
 * Dial-in Number:
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 * people behind corporate firewalls may have difficulty accessing this. If that is the case, please download the slides above and running them locally. The speaker(s) will prompt you to advance the slides during the talk.


 * Discussions and Q & A:
 * we generally hold all Q&A and discussion until after all the prepared presentations are done
 * (Unless the conference host has already muted everyone) Please mute your phone, by pressing "*2" on your phone keypad, when a presentation is in progress. To un-mute, press "*3"
 * You can type in your questions or comments through the browser based  chat session by:
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 * or point your browser to: http://webconf.soaphub.org/conf/room/ontolog_20090312
 * instructions: once you got access to the page, click on the "settings" button, and identify yourself (by modifying the Name field). You can indicate that you want to ask a question verbally by clicking on the "hand" button, and wait for the moderator to call on you; or, type and send your question into the chat window at the bottom of the screen.
 * (when everyone is muted) If you want to speak or have questions or remarks to make, 'please "raise your hand (virtually)" by click on the "hand button" (lower right) on the chat session page. You may speak when acknowledged by the speaker or the session moderator (again, press "*3" on your phone to unmute). Test your voice and introduce yourself first before proceeding with your remarks, please.'' (Please remember to click on the "hand button" again (to lower your hand) and press "*2" on your phone to mute yourself after you are done speaking.)
 * thanks to the soaphub.org folks, one can now use a jabber/xmpp client (e.g. gtalk) to join this chatroom. Just add the room as a buddy - (in our case here) ontolog_20090312@soaphub.org ... Handy for mobile devices!


 * For those who cannot join us, or who have further questions or remarks on the topic, please post them to the [ ontolog-summit ] listserv so that everyone in the community can benefit from the discourse.


 * Please review our Virtual Session Tips and Ground Rules - see: VirtualSpeakerSessionTips


 * RSVP to [mailto:peter.yim@cim3.com peter.yim@cim3.com] appreciated.


 * This session, like all other Ontolog events, is open to the public. Information relating to this session is shared on this wiki page: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2009_03_12


 * Please note that this session will be recorded, and the audio archive is expected to be made available as open content to our community membership and the public at-large under our prevailing open IPR policy.

Attendees

 * Attended:
 * MichaelGruninger
 * BarrySmith
 * EdBarkmeyer
 * BillMcCarthy
 * ConradBock
 * PeterYim
 * RobertHoehndorf
 * BaharehHeravi
 * Jerry Smith (DoD)
 * CameronRoss
 * DavidEddy
 * JoelBender
 * SteveRay
 * LinePouchard
 * LinZhang
 * John Thompson (Boeing)
 * GeraldRadack
 * DeborahMacPherson
 * HowardMason
 * EvanWallace
 * TrishWhetzel
 * NancyWiegand
 * MatthewHettinger


 * Expecting:
 * KatherineGoodier
 * RexBrooks
 * DavidPrice
 * ... if you are coming to the session, please add your name above (plus your affiliation, if you aren't already a member of the community) above; or e-mail  so that we can reserve enough resources to support everyone's participation. ...
 * ... if you are coming to the session, please add your name above (plus your affiliation, if you aren't already a member of the community) above; or e-mail  so that we can reserve enough resources to support everyone's participation. ...


 * Regrets:
 * DougHolmes
 * Kuan-Tsae Huang (NLM & Taskco)
 * DuaneNickull
 * NicolaGuarino

Agenda
1. Opening by session Chair (MichaelGruninger)

2. Briefings from Panelists -- BarrySmith, EdBarkmeyer, BillMcCarthy, NicolaGuarino, ConradBock,

3. Q & A and Open Discussion - see above

4. Action Items in preparation for the Ontology Summit

Proceedings

 * please refer to the archives above

Q & A and Open Discussion:

 * please refer to process above

IM Chat Transcript captured during the session:

 * (slightly edited for clarity)!

PeterYim: Welcome to the OntologySummit2009 Panel Session - "Ontology Community Perspectives Toward Ontology-based Standards" - Thu 12-Mar-2009

Subject: The Ontological Perspective -- What do ontologies have to offer?


 * Session Chair: Professor MichaelGruninger (ISO 18629 PSL; University of Toronto) -- "What Can Ontologies Offer?"

o Professor BarrySmith (State University of New York at Buffalo) -- "How To Organize the World of Ontologies" o Mr. EdBarkmeyer (National Institute of Standards and Technology) -- "Use of Ontologies in Standards" o Professor BillMcCarthy (Michigan State University)-- "Ontology-driven Standards: The Natural Tension" o Mr. ConradBock (National Institute of Standards and Technology)-- "Ontologies in Standards: Content and Languages" . Please refer to details on the session page at: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2009_03_12 .
 * Panelists:   (1U74)

anonymous morphed into SteveRay

anonymous morphed into JoelBender

anonymous2 morphed into MichaelGruninger

anonymous1 morphed into EdBarkmeyer

anonymous morphed into LinZhang

anonymous morphed into BaharehHeravi

anonymous2 morphed into DavidEddy

DeborahMacPherson: Fantastic talk Ed. Hit the nail on the head.

EdBarkmeyer: Bill is absolutely right. Standards is more than half politics.

HowardMason: HowardMason is online.

SteveRay: I think we need some clarification on what M0 means. As I understand it, it is not "the actual things" but rather a representation of the actual things. Right?

HowardMason: BillMcCarthy noted the tension between the practical approach of standardisers and the theoretical approach of standardisers. It should be noted that real industry views standardisers in the same way that he claims standardisers view ontologists

HowardMason: Standards bodies should not be considered as the arbiters here - they are small groups of administrators driven by their member organisations - the members determine the votes.

BaharehHeravi: Bill, thank you for your interesting presentation. I guess I need to consult you later regarding my PhD research if it is OK with you.

SteveRay: I'd like to let everyone know that registration for the face-to-face meeting is now open. You can access it at http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009#nid1V7X. Please note that if you are planning on remotely attending, please don't register on the NIST site - we will provide a separate means of recording your plans to attend remotely.

PeterYim: The April 6~7 F2F workshop at NIST (Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA) is now open for registration - see: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009#nid1V7X ... or http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?OntologySummit2009/WorkshopRegistration

anonymous morphed into EvanWallace

JoelBender: http://www.w3.org/TR/owl2-manchester-syntax/

EvanWallace: Manchester Syntax will be part part of OWL2, but not part of the Recommendation

JoelBender: http://gellish.wiki.sourceforge.net/

EvanWallace: See http://www.w3.org/2007/OWL/wiki/Document_Overview for an explanation of

EvanWallace: how the parts of OWL2 relate to each other.

HowardMason: Gellish is being proposed by the Dutch delegation for standardisation in ISO TC 184/SC 4

EdBarkmeyer: I fully agree with what Michael was saying in response. Axiomatic ontologies, at least, allow us to clarify exactly what one party intends in a term and what subset of that some other party accepts.

EvanWallace: OMG MDA is an approach.

JoelBender: ...and what language did they use?

DavidEddy: Just an observation... before the dawn of time I worked with a tool that automated the enforcement of "naming standards" (this was before concepts like taxonomy & ontology had entered common usage). I observed: (1) organizations were entirely clueless as to what language they used, and (2) they were equally clueless as to the rules of usage of said language.

EdBarkmeyer: Nomenclature standards is still a big issue for the USArmy, although less for other armed services. I regard it as misguided; because it is about what words will be used for things, without comparable attention to the use of those words in the definitions of the other words. It is the WordNet approach to ontology.

EdBarkmeyer: I should say that I regard "ontology" as a model that _defines_ terms, and _relates_ terms, not just creates terms.

DavidEddy: Ed... yes some of this goes back to Army AR25-9... which never got off the ground. Trouble w WordNet is that it deals with real words... much of the language around/in information systems is never found in formal dictionaries & does not comply with real language usage.

JoelBender: thank you!

DeborahMacPherson: can't get unmuted - wanted to say that to ed's point - would like to build ontologies into standards but need some help and good examples, can you point to any good examples of standards with ontologies built in?

DeborahMacPherson: Thank you Peter, I keep looking at umbel - sorry can't get unmuted (my phone?)

PeterYim: great session ... thank you Michael, the panelists and all participants!

PeterYim: we'll be posting the audio archive in a day or two!

-- end of chat transcript --


 * Further Question & Remarks - please post them to the [ ontolog-summit ] listserv

Audio Recording of this Session

 * To download the recording of the session, click here
 * the playback of the audio files require the proper setup, and an MP3 compatible player on your computer.
 * Conference Date and Time:	12-Mar-2009 10:38am~12:30pm PDT
 * Duration of Recording:	1 Hour 46 Minutes
 * Recording File Size:	       12.2 MB (in mp3 format)
 * suggestions:
 * its best that you listen to the session while having the respective presentations opened in front of you. You'll be prompted to advance slides by the speaker.
 * Take a look, also, at the rich body of knowledge that this community has built together, over the years, by going through the archives of noteworthy past Ontolog events. (References on how to subscribe to our podcast can also be found there.)

For the record ...

How To Join (while the session is in progress)

 * 1. Dial in with a phone: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2009_03_12#nid1UDP
 * 2. Open chat in a new browser window: http://webconf.soaphub.org/conf/room/ontolog_20090312
 * 3. Download presentations for each speaker here: http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2009_03_12#nid1UP1
 * or, 3.1 http://ontolog.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?ConferenceCall_2009_03_12#nid1UE3