New UCDs for VOEvent please

[Ed Shaya]

Fred,
    Actually, I've been slaving away at an ontology for several months.  
It is still quite broad and far from complete.  But if you are 
interested and have the facility to examine OWL, then have a look.  I am 
open to any and all comments.:
http://archive.astro.umd.edu/ont/  (an svn archive)

Ed


Frederic V. "Rick" Hessman wrote:

>
> On 29 Apr 2005, at 8:51 pm, Ed Shaya wrote:
>
>> But we can also be keeping another eye on the longer time scale 
>> where  we want to be able to put data in machine understandable terms 
>> so that  applications can do the most possible on our behalf.  This 
>> requires  something a bit more sophisticated than just a simple class 
>> hierarchy  of terms.  An ontology would be more complete but probably 
>> not even an  order of magnitude (factor 10) more than the UCD is 
>> now.  In fact,  given the requests and requirements to augment UCDs,  
>> with time, the  UCD will probably grow to the size of an ontology 
>> anyway.   So, it is  probably wise to start doing some thinking in 
>> terms of the formal OWL  standard now. What we do with the ontology 
>> can vary greatly.
>> 1.  Use it as a string identifier, exactly as UCDs are.  The 
>> advantage  is that one can read the Ontology at that point to get 
>> more context  for the meaning of the term.
>> 2.  Use it as one more model builder for developing schemas.  This 
>> is  like UML but more in tune with knowledge/information structures.  
>> I  think this is what Mathew had in mind.
>> 3. Use it to test completeness and consistency of terms.  This would  
>> not be on the fly, but rather as one adds new terms one can see  
>> whether it is clashing with other terms and Venn diagrams let you 
>> see  something about completeness.  This then makes it more 
>> acceptable for  groups to be adding terms into their namespace 
>> without going to the VO  heads or the IAU.
>> 4. One can use it as the defining structure of all information being  
>> exchanged.  Sounds daring but in fact several other related science  
>> fields are preparing to do just that, including space physics.
>> 5. One can use it to reason out pathways to converting, pipelining,  
>> and analysing data.  It should be possible to automatically find the  
>> transformation and queries needed to satisfy an arbitrary  stated 
>> goal  or request.   Our group at UMD has an NASA/AISRP grant to 
>> figure out  the basics of how this might be done using OWL.
>
>
> Ummm.... maybe my googling didn't go quite as far or I'm missing  
> something: the "ontology" I found was a "low-level" (no - that sounds  
> too negative - let's say "very fundamental") means of describing  
> scientific quantities - nothing particularly "astronomical" about 
> it.    If this is as far as anyone has gotten, then I vote for a 
> mid-term  temporary solution - what I've called "VOThings" - which 
> someone else  can turn into a full astronomical ontology in the 
> future.  Thus,
>
>     - Small, multiple, overlapping, incompatible lists within 
> different  schemata will be an unnecessary pain, so we need a minimal  
> common-ground list.
>
>     - A formal development of a real astronomical ontology will take 
> many  years and we can't wait that long.
>
>     - We should resist the temptation to make VOThings "complete" 
> since it  won't ever be such and we'd waste time in trying.  Maybe 
> having such a  terrible name will be a good thing - let's get it over 
> quickly knowing  that some day somebody else will get it right.
>
> Rick
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
> ------------------------
> Dr. Frederic V. Hessman      Hessman at Astro.physik.Uni-Goettingen.DE
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