[ubl-comment] RE: Revised Ontolog Invitation Letter

I am 
interested in participating as an observer, especially I am interested to find 
out how this work relates to semantic web.

 

Regards, 

Sally Chan 
Associate Technical Fellow 
The Boeing 
Company 
Boeing Commercial Airplanes 

IS - Architecture & eBusiness 
206-544-7488  <--- New 

-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Conrad 
[mailto:]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 
12:35 AM
To: ; 

Cc: Peter P. Yim; Leo 
Obrst
Subject: Revised Ontolog Invitation 
Letter

Friends and 
associates,

This message is an invitation to join the reconstituted 
Ontolog discussion group.  For those of you who were once subscribed to the 
[ubl-ontolog] forum, you will need to respond to subscribe to this new 
forum.  This is the only general call for participation that we currently 
expect to distribute.

Charter

Ontolog is an open forum 
to: 

  
Discuss practical issues and strategies associated with the development of 
  both formal and informal ontologies used in business. 

  
Identify ontological engineering approaches that might be applied to the 
  UBL effort. 

Background

In March and April of 
2002, members of the OASIS Universal Business Language (UBL) Committee with 
backgrounds and interests in ontologies attempted to kick off and charter a 
discussion dealing with ontological issues under auspices of UBL Library Content 
Subcommittee (http://oasis-open.org/committees/ubl/lcsc/).

Two 
factors made this approach problematic: 1) Early feedback indicated more 
interest in learning about ontologies than applying experience with ontological 
development 2) Tight timetables, deadlines, and priorities within the UBL effort 
made it an inappropriate forum.

After conversations with the chair of the 
UBL committee, Jon Bosak, the conveners of this forum decided to reconstitute 
the Ontolog forum outside of the UBL effort around the statements of mission 
listed in the above charter. 

Objectives 

In addition 
to the primary statements of purpose: 

  
We want to be pragmatic and not take a purely philosophical or academic 
  approach to the topic. 

  
We expect to contribute to the development of future standards.  The 
  ongoing relationship with the UBL effort is one example of this. 

  
We encourage forum members to propose and decide upon their own 
  objectives. 

  
Some day, we hope to host a repository of business ontologies. 

How It Will Work 

  
The Ontolog discussion will use infrastructure provided by CIM 
  Engineering, Inc.  This is normally provided on a subscription 
  basis.  If you have any ideas about potential sponsorship, please inform 
  the conveners. 

  
Messages can be posted by members to  

  
Archives can be accessed by anybody at http://ontolog.cim3.org/forums/ontolog/ 

  
A shared, web-accessible work space is available at http://ontolog.cim3.org/files/ 

  
Activities will follow the OASIS process as closely as possible. 

  
Where the discussion raises specific issues or leads to specific proposals 
  or recommendations for the UBL effort, they will be separately documented and 
  forwarded to the UBL Chair for consideration. Input will be limited to 
  actionable recommendations, not just general issues that would require further 
  study. 

What We Expect Each of You To Do 

  
Reply to this message, indicating whether you would like to be added to 
  the in the Ontolog discussion group. 

  
If you choose to participate, indicate whether you expect to be an active 
  member (with voting rights) or merely an observer (no voting rights).  
  Observers will be encouraged to participate in the discussion but will not be 
  expected to take responsibility for critical path activities. 

What We Hope Each of You Will Do 

  
Add discussion threads of personal interest. 

  
Identify other individuals that might want to participate in the list. 
  Simply ask them to contact one of the three convenors, who will coordinate 
  their addition to the list. 

We would like to see Ontolog 
become the forum of choice for discussing the development and application of 
business ontologies.  With your participation, we expect this to quite 
feasible.

/s/ The conveners of the Ontolog 
forum,

   Kurt 
Conrad         
<>
   Leo 
Obrst           
<>
   Peter 
Yim           
<>