Natural language terms (words and phrases) can index multiple concepts
(types, relations, properties, predicates, etc.) in the ontologies. (01)
Typically for any real application you'll need a thesaurus and/or
lexicons (in multiple languages) to go from user applications to the
ontologies: i.e., user terms -> thesauri/lexicons -> ontologies. (02)
In linguistics, words (and some phrases, e.g., idioms) are assumed to
be listed in a lexicon with their word-senses, i.e., pointers to
concepts or semantic types. (03)
Data elements will typically have names, i.e., terms, and hence either
use thesauri/lexicons -> ontologies or index directly to ontologies
(concepts/types). (04)
Leo (05)
_____________________________________________
Dr. Leo Obrst The MITRE Corporation, Information Semantics
lobrst@xxxxxxxxx Center for Innovative Computing & Informatics
Voice: 703-983-6770 7515 Colshire Drive, M/S H305
Fax: 703-983-1379 McLean, VA 22102-7508, USA (06)
-----Original Message-----
From: ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cassidy, Patrick
J.
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 1:00 PM
To: ONTAC Taxonomy-Ontology Development Discussion
Subject: [ontac-dev] Words and contexts (07)
David Eddy questions the need for selecting one concept for a word. (08)
The whole point of ONTACWG is to find a way to permit people to use any
word they want for a concept, and still have their computers
communicate accurately with others. Any term in the ontology can have
many synonyms, each specified as to the context in which that synonym
refers to the ontology element labeled by that term. (09)
Within any given ontology namespace, each element in the ontology (a
Type, relations, function, instance, axiom) needs to have unique label
- that is a requirement enforced by all ontology systems I have worked
with. But the words that people use to refer to those ontology
elements can be any word they choose. (010)
So there can be three or three hundred ontology elements that are
referred to, in some context or another, by the term "Process". We are
not restricting in any way that people use terms - except within the
set of labels in the ontology. (011)
To repeat: the ontology allows people to use terms in any way they want
to, in their own contexts. But we do need terms to be unique in the
ontology. Labels are how the programs keep track of the data elements,
and that's why they need to be unique -- within the ontology, and only
within the ontology. (012)
So we may have, within the ontology, any number of elements that
represent concepts that people refer to as a "process", and these
different concepts (and their representations) will have different
labels in the ontology, such as:
FunctionalProcess - to designate functions that describe
continuous processes
DiscreteProcess - to designate things that might be called "Event"
in some ontology
ProceduralProcess - designate specifications for some sequence of
actions that might be taken to achieve some desired goal. (013)
. . . or the ontology elements representing those concepts might
have different labels. In fact, to avoid confusion, the label
"Process" by itself may never occur in the ontology. That would be my
preference, because that word has been a great source of confusion over
the years. (014)
The important thing about the ontology elements is that their
meanings must be precisely specified with axioms so that we understand
clearly what the intended meaning is. The label used within the
ontology can be anything that helps to understand the intended meaning.
Each ontology element can be related, e.g. by a "hasSynonymInContext"
relation to many synonyms, each specified as to the context in which
that synonym is used to refer to the concept represented by that
ontology element. (015)
I am sorry that the above may not have been clearly stated in our
discussion in the past, and hope that the above clarifies the intended
use of labels in the ontology versus words that may be used in other
contexts. (016)
Patrick Cassidy
MITRE Corporation
260 Industrial Way
Eatontown, NJ 07724
Mail Stop: MNJE
Phone: 732-578-6340
Cell: 908-565-4053
Fax: 732-578-6012
Email: pcassidy@xxxxxxxxx (017)
-----Original Message-----
From: ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Eddy
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 11:32 PM
To: ONTAC Taxonomy-Ontology Development Discussion
Subject: RE: [ontac-dev] Type vs. Class -- Please vote (018)
Patrick - (019)
>
> The word "process" has been used, I think, in at least three
different
> senses in different ontologies,
> (020)
Why do we have to settle on a single meaning for a term/phrase? (021)
Can't there be multiple meanings... like in the real world. (022)
Only concession we'd need to make is to have a mechanism that
EXPLICITLY
states the context which then indicates which meaning is meant... just
like in the real world. (023)
Surely we're not going down the road of one word = one meaning across
all contexts? (024)
- David (025)
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