Re: [HCLS] Bridging Ontology...An Automated Approach?

We are using mediation technology within the BIRN project as well.   
It has many ways in which it can solve some of the problems we're  
discussing.

My fear is every new repository requires an new mapping/registration  
to the mediator and/or shared ontology.  This can be a very fragile  
system over time, and - as you point out, Peter, tacit assumptions in  
the source data models (and their use of semantics) - which of course  
can also change - may greatly limit the depth and breadth with which  
queries can be mapped to all the data sources.

Semantic web approaches appear to circumvent some of the technical  
frailties, though I don't think they can necessarily overcome the  
requirement for shared foundational and generic ontology layers.

Cheers,
Bill


On Aug 22, 2006, at 7:52 AM, Mork, Peter D.S. wrote:

>
>>> Creating explicit connections between all similar and/or identical
>> entries
>>> in two schemas is an arduous task that is impractical to do
> manually.
>>
>> [VK] Will mapping each of these schemas to an ontology and then using
> the
>> ontology to mediate further queries help alleviate the problem?
>>
>> ---Vipul
>>
>>
>
> This is the approach adopted by caBIG.  Individual data models (or
> schemata) are related to a common ontology.  By itself, this doesn't
> allow one to rewrite queries (because of tacit assumptions present in
> the respective data models?), but the hope is that development of
> query-mediators will be facilitated by the existence of a loose
> mapping.
>
> Peter
>

Bill Bug
Senior Research Analyst/Ontological Engineer

Laboratory for Bioimaging  & Anatomical Informatics
www.neuroterrain.org
Department of Neurobiology & Anatomy
Drexel University College of Medicine
2900 Queen Lane
Philadelphia, PA    19129
215 991 8430 (ph)
610 457 0443 (mobile)
215 843 9367 (fax)


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