ConferenceCall 2005 12 15

= Ontolog Scheduled Discussion session - Dec. 15, 2005 =

Topic: Ontology Applications & Implementations

 * Organized and Co-Moderated by: DuaneNickull (Adobe Systems) & KurtConrad (The Sagebrush Group)
 * Topic first proposed by DuaneNickull & KurtConrad on 2005.10.06


 * Panelists
 * LeoObrst, MITRE
 * ItzhakRoth, Unicorn Solutions
 * AdrianWalker, Reengineering


 * Prepared Materials
 * Slides can be accessed at http://ontolog.cim3.net/file/work/Ontolog-Discussion/application-implementation_20051215/
 * Other relevant resources
 * (TBD)


 * Contents
 * Conference Call Details
 * Attendees
 * Abstracts
 * Agenda
 * Procedings
 * Audio Recording

Conference Call Details

 * Date: Thursday, December 15, 2005


 * Start Time: 10:30 AM Pacific Standard Time / 1:30 PM Eastern Standard Time / 18:30 UTC (see world clock for other time zones)


 * Duration: 2.0 hours


 * Dial-in Number: 1-702-851-3330 (Las Vegas, Nevada)
 * Participant Access Code: "686564#"


 * Shared-screen support (VNC session) will be started 5 minutes before the call at: http://vnc2.cim3.net:5800/
 * View-only password: "ontolog"
 * If you plan to be logging into this shared-screen option (which the speaker may be navigating), and you are not familiar with the process, please try to call in 5 minutes before the start of the session so that we can work out the connection logistics. Help on this will generally not be available once the presentation starts.
 * People behind corporate firewalls may have difficulty accessing this. If that is the case, please download the slides here for local display. The speaker will prompt you to advance the slides during the talk.


 * 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_2005_12_15


 * This will be a virtual session conducted over an augmented conference call.


 * For Virtual Speaker Session Tips and Ground Rules - see: VirtualSpeakerSessionTips


 * To register for this event, please add your name to the list of Expected Attendees or email [mailto:peter.yim@cim3.com peter.yim@cim3.com]. Pre-registration is appreciated to ensure sufficient conferencing resources.


 * Questions for the panel may be posted before the session starts to Questions section (please identify yourself). The moderator and panel will field them during the open discussion.


 * To post questions in real time, you can use the experimental queue management chat tool located at: http://webconf.soaphub.org/conf/room/ontolog_20051215
 * Once you have opened the page, click on the Settings button and identify yourself by modifying the Name field.
 * You can indicate that you want to ask a verbal question by clicking on the "hand" button and waiting for the moderator to call on you.
 * Alternatively, you can enter your question into the chat window at the bottom of the screen.


 * Those who have additional questions and remarks on these topics after the session ends are invited to post them to the [mailto:ontolog-forum@ontolog.cim3.net [ontolog-forum]] so that everyone in the community can benefit from the extended discourse.


 * Please note that this session will be recorded and the audio file will be made available as open content to our community members and the public-at-large under the terms of our prevailing open IPR policy.

Attendees

 * Attended
 * PeterYim
 * Grant Gustafson (Software AG)
 * DuaneNickull
 * KurtConrad
 * LeoObrst
 * JohnGilman
 * Madi Weland Solomon (The Walt Disney Company)
 * ItzhakRoth
 * AdrianWalker
 * SusieStephens
 * BobSmith
 * GaryBergCross
 * Kathy Ellis (Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, IN)
 * MillsDavis
 * Conor Shankey (Visual Knowledge Software, Vancouver BC, Canada)
 * PatCassidy
 * EvanWallace


 * Expected (and could have joined us after the roll call):
 * DavidCMartin
 * RamSriram
 * Douglas Bowden (University of Washington, Seattle, WA)
 * BrandNiemannJr


 * To register for this event, please add your name to this list of Expected Attendees or email [mailto:peter.yim@cim3.com peter.yim@cim3.com]. Pre-registration is appreciated to ensure sufficient conferencing resources.


 * Regrets
 * DeniseBedford (originally scheduled as one of our panelists today; she's sick, and her session is postponed. Get well soon, Denise!)
 * RexBrooks
 * ChristopherChute
 * JonathanCheyer
 * EMichaelMaximilien (in Amsterdam for the ICSOC 2005 conference)
 * BarrySmith
 * SteveRay (on a plane, regrettably)
 * BrandNiemann
 * DougEngelbart
 * SusanGolden


 * Delayed Listener
 * EdDodds
 * JackPark

Semantic Technologies in Bioinformatics

 * By ItzhakRoth, Unicorn Solutions, Inc.


 * The initiative funded by a division of the NIH (National Institute of Health) aims to create an environment that provides advanced information technology support in the production, analysis, archiving, and exchange of scientific data for a diverse community of life science researchers. The target system integrates highly diverse bio-science data from numerous disparate sources, enabling access to a broad array of reference data (e.g., genes, proteins, genomics sequences, SNP, human haplotype etc.) combined with experimental data from about 20 different experimentation platforms.


 * The system overcomes the challenges of data diversity and disparity, by mapping data sources to one semantic model Ontology). The semantic model, as the name suggests, relies on meaning rather than on structure, thus elevating the level of interaction among agents from structure-driven to meaning-driven. Centered on a single semantic information model (ontology) of the domain of discourse, Semantic Technology introduces a single language that supports information exchange among agents, human or machine. The technology provides access to the data resources using only terms from the language (i.e., meaning) rather than using cryptic table and field names in the various databases (i.e., structure).


 * Unicorn participates in the project providing its semantic information integration platform. Via mapping of data sources to the ontology the system enables the creation of semantic queries and their execution. Semantic queries are queries that are created using terms from the ontology translated into SQL statements in the appropriate data base platform hosting the data. The system is intended to support hundreds of researchers access to diverse and disparate data from multiple sources. The semantic queries shield the users from the complexities of the data sources and the details of data base design enabling them create and execute queries using only terms from the ontology.

Semantic Interoperability via Business Rules in Open Vocabulary, Executable English

 * By AdrianWalker, Reengineering


 * New technologies are currently advancing the Semantic Web, based on the data semantics of XML and RDF. An advantage of RDF is that data from diverse sources can, in principle, be freely merged and repurposed.  Yet we cannot expect meaningful results from simply merging previously unseen data under an existing application.  We need to be able to easily state new meanings at the application level.


 * The presentation will argue that current approaches to semantics for machine-machine interoperability need to be extended, in order to capture real world meanings for human-machine communication. We show how this can be done in a system that combines inference based on a model theory of stratified nonmontonic logic [1], with support for lightweight, open vocabulary English.  One can think of this as realizing application level semantics.


 * We use an example of name resolution for e-commerce [2] to describe the system [3,4] . The example uses three namespaces: retailer, manufacturer, and shared. A retailer orders computers from a manufacturer. However, in the retailer's terminology, a computer is called a PC for Gamers, while in the manufacturer's terminology, it is called a Prof Desktop.  Fortunately, the retailer and the manufacturer can agree that both belong to the class Workstations / Desktops. Then, we find out to what extent a Prof Desktop has the required memory, CPU and so forth for a PC for Gamers.


 * The example, and others, can be viewed, run and changed by pointing a browser to [3]. For accountability, the system can explain, in business level English, results that it obtains from RDF or SQL.


 * [1] Backchain Iteration: Towards a Practical Inference Method that is Simple Enough to be Proved Terminating, Sound and Complete.  Journal of Automated Reasoning, 11:1-22


 * [2] http://www.reengineeringllc.com/demo_agents/SemanticResolution1.agent


 * [3] Internet Business Logic, online at http://www.reengineeringllc.com.  Shared use is free.


 * [4] Understandability and Semantic Interoperability of Diverse Rules Systems.

http://www.w3.org/2004/12/rules-ws/paper/19

Agenda

 * 1) Self-introduction of participants (10~15 minutes)
 * 2) Introduction of Moderators and Panelists
 * 3) Opening by DuaneNickull
 * 4) "Degrees of Interoperability: Syntactic, Structural, and Semantic" by LeoObrst (10 + 5 minutes)
 * 5) "Semantic Technologies in Bioinformatics" by ItzhakRoth (10 + 5 minutes)
 * 6) "Semantic Interoperability via Business Rules in Open Vocabulary, Executable English" by AdrianWalker (10 + 5 minutes)
 * 7) Discussion by panelists and participants, moderated by KurtConrad (45 minutes)
 * 8) Summary / Conclusion / Follow-up by DuaneNickull

Questions & Discourse

 * check out the audio archive below.


 * Session ended 2005.12.15 12:25 pm PST

Audio Recording

 * Thanks to KurtConrad, BobSmith and PeterYim for their help with getting the session recorded.


 * It is recommended that you listen to the session while having the prepared materials opened in front of you (by clicking on the title of each presentation as they are listed under the agenda). The speaker(s) will periodically prompt you to advance the slides.


 * MP3 Download
 * Click here to download the audio recording.
 * Conference Date and Time: Dec. 15, 2005 10:38am~12:25pm Pacific Standard Time
 * Duration of Recording: 1 Hour 46 Minutes (after editing)
 * Recording File Size: 24 MB


 * Telephone Playback
 * Prior to the Expiration Date below, one can call-in and hear the telephone playback of the session.
 * Expiration Date: Dec. 25, 2005 11:14 AM Pacific Std Time
 * Playback Dial-in Number: 1-805-620-4002 (Ventura, CA)
 * Playback Access Code: 330314#