1 Everyday Requirements for an Open Ontology Repository Denise Bedford Ontolog Community Panel Presentation April 3, 2008

2 Key Questions  Addressing three questions in the context of what I do each day  Everyday work context involves full ontology life cycle: Creating and adapting ontologiesCreating and adapting ontologies Implementing and maintaining existing ontologiesImplementing and maintaining existing ontologies Share ontologies from time to timeShare ontologies from time to time  Main question for me in thinking through the issues was: is there a difference between what I expect from my internal registry and repository, and what I would expect from an external one?  Are there differences based on whether we’re talking about a registry or repository?

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4 Institutional vs. Community OORs  In my everyday work environment I use both registries and repositories to manage ontologies Registry in the form of a master data store which provides basic metadata and metainformation about each sourceRegistry in the form of a master data store which provides basic metadata and metainformation about each source Repositories or source systems which actually contain the ontologiesRepositories or source systems which actually contain the ontologies  Registries can take as a baseline ISO but needs considerable extension to provide all the metainformation (fitness for use) needed to make decision to use/not use Metainformation about the ontology is critical not just metadataMetainformation about the ontology is critical not just metadata  Repositories implications …. Different architectures suited to the nature of the ontologyDifferent architectures suited to the nature of the ontology More important to me that the repository be suited to the ontology than that I try to force fit an ontology into a single repository structureMore important to me that the repository be suited to the ontology than that I try to force fit an ontology into a single repository structure Application implications for accessing and using the ontologyApplication implications for accessing and using the ontology

5 OOR Requirements  Given these distinctions, purpose of an OOR would be to provide a framework for documenting and helping anyone to understand features and dimensions that should be or were considered in the design, creation, management and exchange of ontologies  Four dimensions for what I need to know about an ontology before I create it or consider using it… Context and purposeContext and purpose Content and conceptsContent and concepts Structures and relationshipsStructures and relationships GovernanceGovernance  My everyday decision for an ontology design or whether to use an existing one builds as I consider each of these dimensions

6 What I Need to Know – Context & Purpose  What kind of a domain does it represent? Topical, process oriented, personal, institutional, political, economic, research vs. application….  Does it represent a formal or an informal knowledge domain  Is the design top down or bottom up? (users vs. intermediaries and developers?)  is it intended for human or machine use and application?  What is the intended application context – search, financial analysis, logical inference, simple classification, dynamic clustering, conceptual indexing, knowledge mapping, metadata representation??

7 What I Need to Know -- Content  Purpose and warrant -- intended audience, basic functionality supported  Type of content -- data/numbers, calculations or ratios, words, grammatical fragments, logical statements, rule expressions or engineering equations  Degree of ambiguity built into the content -- contextual sensitivity or insensitivity of the content  Representational form – does it have a usable encoding form or specification or do I have to do a log of manual transformation?does it have a usable encoding form or specification or do I have to do a log of manual transformation? Is the data distinct from the business rules? Can I use one without the other?Is the data distinct from the business rules? Can I use one without the other?  Degree of conceptualization – is it theoretical or applied?

8 What I Need to Know – Structure & Representation  What form do the relationships take? Grammatical, mathematical, logical?  How do the relationships behave – what kind are there? derivational, causal, equivalence, representational or instance, class membership only, etc.  Have the relationships been validated? Can I trust them? Fully subjective, grammatical validation only, mathematical validation, logical rigor?  How tested – is methodology exposed?  What is the encoding structure? Are there conversion programs available?  What is the business logic – is it exposed and can I review it?  Do I need to use their business logic to interpret? Can I strip it out and add my own?

9 What I Need to Know -- Governance  Does it have a formal, standard set of guiding principles which I can interpret or adapt, or is it entirely home grown and serendipitously developed?  How are the GPs enforced? Prescriptive vs. description – how reliable is the enforcement?  What is the change management process? Can I access changes?  Is it extensible or can I build upon it in its current form?  How current is the ontology? Does it represent a 1980s view and is that view still valid for the context?  Do I trust the organization or people who have built and maintained it? How much effort will I have to put into reconciling?

10 Application Value to My Work  From an ontology life cycle perspective, there are three major stages in which an OOR can provide value Creation and deployment stageCreation and deployment stage Maintenance and management stageMaintenance and management stage Sharing or exchange stageSharing or exchange stage  I would expect an OOR to provide me with information I need at any stage of the life cycle

11 Value of Community OOR  Knowledge value current knowledge of ontologies is limited to who we know and our social networkscurrent knowledge of ontologies is limited to who we know and our social networks Open registry would have tremendous general knowledge domain value (registry)Open registry would have tremendous general knowledge domain value (registry)  Collaboration value We’re working on a business model to make some of our ontologies available in a collaborative space to support shared development (Registry + repository)We’re working on a business model to make some of our ontologies available in a collaborative space to support shared development (Registry + repository)  Simple publish and subscribe value Same business model can be used to make ontologies available for reuse and adaptation by others (registry + repository)Same business model can be used to make ontologies available for reuse and adaptation by others (registry + repository)

12 Advice and Suggestions  Just because ontologies are available does not mean they will be used – set the success factor at increased knowledge and participation  Start small and learn with a registry model, then incrementally build in the complexity of repositories for different types and degrees  Eventually, an OOR will be used to evaluate or characterize ontologies  Development of an OOR must go hand in hand with the metrics used to evaluate ontologies -- build the registry on attributes that will be used by people and machines to evaluate

13 Thank You!