Re: Proposal for a domain

Soenke, Wei -
thanks for joining the list and for getting the ball rolling

Two points for further discussion:

1. In an earlier thread, I wonder whether 'disaster management' is the best
definition. Others whom I work with on this issue,   support the view that
'disaster' is not the best word that we should use for a number of reasons.
examples: disaster is the last stage of a crisis, also it is a very generic
term, etc. We prefer 'emergency mangemnet'. Therefore we propose that the
name of this list, and all realted issues are changed to 'emergengy
management'
I can forward to this list the discussions that have already taken place if
you are interested



2. The risk with starting with one domain, is that we do not sufficiently
generalize the problem definition, therefore we will end up with a knowledge
representation that only applies to 'fly pandemic' or either flu, or either
pandemic, ie a narrow problem
Starting from one domain is a possible approach, but we should explore
alternatives

Another possibility, perhaps a bit more ambitious, is to start defining a
'top level' domain for emergency management, and make sure that the
'subdomain definitions'  all fit in there. This will allow us to work the
foundations of  a framework that can be applied to any domain.

Just thoughts

Cheers
Paola Di Maio



On 6/8/07, Xu, Wei <Wei.Xu@tudelft.nl> wrote:
>
>
> Dear Soenke,
>
> First of all, I would like to introduce myself. I'm a PhD student working
> on the topic "Geo-information and formal semantic for disaster management",
> OTB, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.
>
> I submitted to the mail-list of W3C Incubator Group and read your letter
> just now. You suggested we start by a specific domain or a sapmle crisis,
> which I fully agree. However, do you think in the future we will model
> different types of disaster? Or do you think it is better if we define
> different types of disaster by means of the management processes? Do you
> think if it is better if we abstract all the basic processes of managing a
> disaster. For instance, the process of traffice control, which is
> independent of any types of disaster --- it doesn't matter if the disaster
> is caused by hurricane, by an exploration or whatever (in the Netherlands,
> at the moment, the processes of managing disaster is well-studied and
> modeled).  I think it is difficult to define a certain type of disaster,
> because if we define the types of disaster, there are more things we need to
> think about, for instance, the damage levels of disasters, the people
> involved in the management work of disasters and ect.
>
> It to me, how to model disaster management, remains unclear. But I do
> agree with you, we need to start by a specific domain and a sample.
>
> Thank you for reading.
>
> Kind Regards
> Wei XU
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-disaster-management-ont-request@w3.org [mailto:
> public-disaster-management-ont-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Soenke Ziesche
> Sent: donderdag 7 juni 2007 12:40
> To: public-disaster-management-ont@w3.org
> Subject: Proposal for a domain
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> Since I'm joining this group slightly later I would like to briefly
> introduce myself: I have been working for the UN for several years in
> information management, currently  as the Head of the Resident Coordinator's
> office in Blue Nile State, Sudan. I am very interested in applying Semantic
> Web approaches to humanitarian information management and have published an
> article on xml.com in this regard:
>
>
> http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2006/12/13/semantic-wikis-and-disaster-relief-operations.html
>
> I'm very keen on contributing to the Incubator Group. But since I haven't
> worked with the W3C before, I thought it's maybe better for me to get an
> overview first and to wait until specific tasks will be distributed.
>
> However, one proposal I'd like to make at this stage: While, obviously,
> the deliverables of this project should be applicable to any kind of
> disaster, I still believe it would be a good idea to have a specific domain
> or sample crisis to work on and I'd like to suggest to take "influenza
> pandemic" as such an example for the following reasons: 1) This is an
> example for a complex and very large scale, potentially even global
> disaster, thus a good test for the robustness of a system. 2) As you
> probably know, there is indeed a risk of an upcoming "influenza pandemic",
> potentially caused by a mutation of the Avian Flu virus, and relevant
> departments of the UN are already working on the preparation for such a
> pandemic.
>
> Looking much forward to cooperating with you.
>
> Warm regards,
> Soenke
>
>
> Humanitarian Affairs Liaison Officer
> Head of Resident Coordinator's Office
> Damazine, Blue Nile State, Sudan
>
> soenke.ziesche@undp.org
> +249-9-12178326
>
>
>
> --
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>
>
>
>
>


-- 



Paola Di Maio *****
School of Information Technology
Mae Fah Luang University
Chiang Rai - Thailand
*********************************************