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Hi Javier,<br>
<br>
Sorry for the delay in responding to this one.<br>
<br>
Javier de la Torre wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="midFC0FCBD1-2CA4-4335-976F-76158F1F0A2B@gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>
<div>I think I also agree with what you are saying, but I suppose is
also too general and that in the details can arise differences.
Specially if we want TAG only to define a shared vocabulary or classes,
how complicate should these classes be?</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
This is part of my plan. It is easier to agree on the general
things and so I want to fix these things in stone and slowly move
towards the
detailed and more controversial subjects. We may find that some of the
controversial subjects can be avoided all together or, when we have a
framework of agreement in place, it may be possible to have a
polymorphic approach to some well defined areas.<br>
<br>
This is counter intuitive for most of us (including me) as we tend to
be analysts who look for the problems and exceptions in every case -
and are therefore unlikely to ever reach agreement.<br>
<br>
Your suggestions about auto generation of XML from UML are great. I
have added them to a wiki page here:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tdwg.hyam.net/twiki/bin/view/TAG/AutoGenerationOfXMLSchema">http://www.tdwg.hyam.net/twiki/bin/view/TAG/AutoGenerationOfXMLSchema</a><br>
<br>
and added that to a list of things to be discussed here:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tdwg.hyam.net/twiki/bin/view/TAG/TagDiscussionRoadMap">http://www.tdwg.hyam.net/twiki/bin/view/TAG/TagDiscussionRoadMap</a><br>
<br>
All the best,<br>
<br>
Roger<br>
<br>
<blockquote cite="midFC0FCBD1-2CA4-4335-976F-76158F1F0A2B@gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On 22/02/2006, at 16:50, Roger Hyam wrote:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite"> Hi All,<br>
<br>
It is generally agreed that we need an representation independent
object model or ontology of some kind. I would like to put together a
list of the things that need to be agreed or investigated in order to
do this.<br>
<br>
Firstly the things I believe we can all agree on (stop me if I am
wrong).<br>
<ol>
<li>It should be representation independent (i.e. we should be
able to move it between 'languages' UML, OWL, BNF etc).</li>
<li>It should be dynamic (i.e. capable of evolving through time).</li>
<li>It should be polymorphic. This is a result of it being
dynamic. There will, at a minimum, be multiple version of any one part
of the model when new version are introduced.<br>
</li>
<li>It should NOT attempt to be omniscient i.e. it will not cover
everything in our domain, only the parts that need to be communicated.<br>
</li>
<li>It will be managed in a distributed fashion. Different teams
will take responsibility for different parts of it.</li>
</ol>
My first Question is:<br>
<br>
<b>Does the centralization of the ontology need to go beyond a
small shared vocabulary of terms or base classes?</b> <br>
<br>
I envisage this ontology containing things like Collection, Specimen,
TaxonConcept, TaxonName but not defining the detailed structure of
these objects. It would contain a maximum of a few 10's of objects and
properties. TDWG subgroups would be responsible for building ontologies
that extend these base objects but that generally didn't refer to each
other - only to the core. If this is true then I think the definition
of the top level object falls within the remit of the TAG ( in
consultation with others). <br>
<br>
If this is not a valid way forward what are the alternatives?<br>
<br>
Are their questions we should ask before this one?<br>
<br>
Once again I'd be grateful for your thoughts.<br>
<br>
Roger<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
-------------------------------------
Roger Hyam
Technical Architect
Taxonomic Databases Working Group
-------------------------------------
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tdwg.org">http://www.tdwg.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:roger@tdwg.org">roger@tdwg.org</a>
+44 1578 722782
-------------------------------------
</pre>
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</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
-------------------------------------
Roger Hyam
Technical Architect
Taxonomic Databases Working Group
-------------------------------------
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tdwg.org">http://www.tdwg.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:roger@tdwg.org">roger@tdwg.org</a>
+44 1578 722782
-------------------------------------
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