[Fwd: Cheers and Concerns]

>Sender: autumn@auckland.ac.nz
>Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 12:21:58 +1200
>From: Autumn Cuellar <a.cuellar@auckland.ac.nz>
>Organization: Bioengineering Research Group, University of Auckland
>X-Accept-Language: en
>To: hendler@cs.umd.edu
>Subject: [Fwd: Cheers and Concerns]
>
>Hello
>
>I sent this to the web-ont-wg discussion mail yesterday, but I'm not
>sure it went through because it was not posted on the archive list.
>Please pass on to those who might be interested.  Thanks.
>
>Respectfully,
>Autumn
>Message-ID: <3CBE4AE1.4CBA9DBA@auckland.ac.nz>
>Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 16:26:09 +1200
>From: Autumn Cuellar <a.cuellar@auckland.ac.nz>
>Organization: Bioengineering Research Group, University of Auckland
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>X-Accept-Language: en
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>To: www-webont-wg@w3.org
>Subject: Cheers and Concerns
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>
>Hello,
>
>I was very happy to learn of your group's massive undertaking, as I've
>tried to use RDF Schema and DAML+OIL in defining an XML ontology for an
>XML-based biological modelling language we're developing, and both have
>fallen short in areas.  So you know where I'm coming from: we have
>already done the work (released a specification) for a language that
>describes cellular models.  We're interested in using ontologies to not
>only describe the language that we've created, but to continue to add to
>that language.  For instance, we have the ability to describe reactions,
>now we want to add the ability to import a commonly used reaction.
>First we have to be able to define what those commonly used reactions
>are.  Anyways, enough about my work and on to yours....
>
>I wanted to bring up a couple of problems I've had in the past, and
>maybe others have had these problems and they might be worth discussing:
>
>1)  I've found the common way of referencing attributes and elements in
>a namespace inconvenient (url#element_name, or
>http://www.example.org/attribute_name).  Perhaps rather short-sightedly,
>we've given elements and attributes the same name, so you can see the
>problem that arises when you're trying to describe two different
>concepts (an element with the name of "units" and an attribute with the
>name of "units") with an rdf:about="http://www.example.org#units".
>According to the XML namespace spec
>(http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xml-names-19990114/), these two "units"
>could be given their expanded names which would establish that they are
>not the same, but how do you reference the expanded names in an
>rdf:about attribute?  This is possibly an issue that I should raise
>elsewhere (suggestions on where?) and is probably out of the scope of
>your intentions, but it is an issue that could affect any ontologies
>built with your language.
>
>2)  Scientific groups using XML, of which I am sure there are more than
>a few, might find it helpful to be able to define things in an ontology
>mathematically, for instance, one thing is a ratio of two other things.
>Have you considered allowing the use of MathML in an ontology language? 
>
>3)  I'm supportive of your use of DAML+OIL, but the one complaint I have
>about DAML+OIL is their method of using user-defined datatypes
>(referencing an XML Schema file).  They suggest referencing a class that
>hasn't been specifically defined as such.  Additionally, I would prefer
>to define the datatypes in the same file.
>
>4)  Will import capabilities (of other ontologies) be dealt with at some
>point?  Can't imagine you'd create a web ontology without import
>capabilities, but I want to make sure it's somewhere on your list.
>
>Cheers for your efforts so far.  I like what I'm seeing and will coninue
>to watch your progress closely.
>
>Best wishes,
>Autumn
>
>--
>Autumn A. Cuellar
>Bioengineering Institute
>The University of Auckland
>New Zealand
>www.cellml.org


-- 
Professor James Hendler				  hendler@cs.umd.edu
Director, Semantic Web and Agent Technologies	  301-405-2696
Maryland Information and Network Dynamics Lab.	  301-405-6707 (Fax)
AV Williams Building, Univ of Maryland		  College Park, MD 20742
http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/hendler

Received on Friday, 19 April 2002 00:02:12 UTC