Re: Why Model Concepts? (Was RE: Object Role Modelling (ORM) or UML or ??for designing Schemas)

[Rick Jelliffe <ricko@allette.com.au>]

From: Bullard, Claude L (Len) <clbullar@ingr.com>

>IMO, we need it to make notions like the semantic
>web work reliably.  Long before the machines process machine
>processable descriptions, humans have to agree
>on what those descriptions mean.

I wonder.  Perhaps (as well?) we need to go the other way: concentrating on
information hiding--figuring out how to notate data so that it can be
manipulated by as generic tools as possible.  Perhaps we need to be reducing
the need for human agreement on meanings as much as possible.   To be able
to route information without knowing its meaning; to be able to build
structural dependencies into schemas so that users can take document types
for granted (and not need know why a stuctural constraint is--unless they
want to)

Without the widespread availability of generic tools, it is too difficult to
have specific data; and generic tools=layered standards for most intents and
purposes.

If the semantic web was AI, then human-machine descriptions would be king; I
suspect the semantic web will emerge out of pragmatic and incremental
development--raising the bar for generic manipulation of generic structures
each time.

Cheers
Rick Jelliffe