Where to start (was: Ontology for Dummies)

[Tony Linde]

Roy et al,

My own goal (apart from those of engaging in stimulating discussion and
enjoying the virtual company of interesting people!) from the work that
lies behind and drives this discussion is to demonstrate the practical
applicability of an ontological approach to:

 - VO Registry:
    - a sort of cross between your (1) & (3)
 - VO Workflow
    - bit like your (2)
    - but more expert guidance in putting jobs together

But to do any of this, I think, requires more knowledge about ontologies
(like the ontological distance discussion) and then some help in setting
up the trials.

Cheers,
Tony. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-semantics at us-vo.org 
> [mailto:owner-semantics at us-vo.org] On Behalf Of Roy Williams
> Sent: 02 October 2002 15:13
> To: semantics at us-vo.org
> Subject: Re: Where to start (was: Ontology for Dummies)
> 
> 
> Tony et al
> 
> What I am looking for from this discussion is a project that 
> brings together astronomical data and  what I will call 
> Knowledge Engineering. Something where a 6-month effort by 
> one person leads to a demo where the viewer would be a bit 
> impressed at what the Virtual Observatory can do, (even if 
> that person is still an astronomer in the Fortran club!)
> 
> It may be that the topics under management are:
> 
> (1) Physical objects, such as galaxies. Of course NED and 
> Simbad already do a good job there, and they have been doing 
> that for years. Is there a capability that can be added to NED?
> 
> (2) Data types a la UCD. "Find me services that consume 
> Orbital Eccentricity and also a Light Curve". "Given a table 
> that has Johnson Photometry, can this be converted to Gunn 
> Photometry?"
> 
> (3) Services and Published Data -- a VO registry. Yellow 
> pages and classifications of data providers and their data, 
> but without employing a full-time librarian. How can someone 
> publish their own data/services into this system?
> 
> How can we see something good from Knowledge Engineering 
> without investing many years and millions of currency units?
> 
> Roy
> 
> ---------
> Caltech Center for Advanced Computing Research
> mail    roy at cacr.caltech.edu
> voice   +1 626 395 3670
>