Blog
Writing on knowledge graphs, ontologies, and data-centric architecture
Articles and working notes from the people at Semantic Arts, newest first.
D3 the Easy Way
by Dave McComb | The Whiteboard
We’ve found ourselves working with D3(d3js.org) more and more lately, both for clients and for our own projects. So far we’ve really just begun to scratch the surface of what it can do (if you’re unfamiliar, take a moment to […]
Ontologies and Taxonomies
by Michael Uschold | The Whiteboard
Are you struggling with how to make best use of your company’s knowledge assets that have grown overly complex? Have you wondered how to blend the more informal taxonomic knowledge with the more formal ontological knowledge? This has been a […]
How to Run a Project Over Budget by 300-500%
by Dave McComb | Data-Centric Architecture
In brief: This post walks through the playbook by which a consulting project ends up 300 to 500% over budget: a declared change of scope, then a new project manager who finds the work “way worse than we thought,” then […]
Supersumption: Solving Common Object Oriented Problems
by Dave McComb | Knowledge Graphs & Ontologies
The idea of supersumption may solve some common Object Oriented problems. We’ve been doing training in Semantics and Description Logics lately, and have decided it’s worth emphasizing the concept of supersumption. Of course, supersumption is nothing but the inverse of […]
The Treaty of Tordesillas
by Dave McComb | Knowledge Graphs & Ontologies
What history can teach us about semantics. Lately we’ve been grappling with the issue of how to get a Semantics Inference Engine and a Business Rules Engine to play nice in an Enterprise Architecture. Some long dormant neuron fired and […]
Systems Development: Assessing Risk Factors
by Dave McComb | Knowledge Graphs & Ontologies
In brief: This white paper explains why systems development projects fail by tracing failures to behavioral factors on two dimensions: planning versus executing, and technical versus human. Most failures surface late in a project but start in planning, often in the […]
The Problem with Default Values
by Dave McComb | Development
In brief: A default value is a value a system fills in for the user, such as the current date, the most common category, or a copy of the last entry, to speed up data entry. The trouble comes later, […]
Three Value Logic: The Case for an ‘Unknown’ Value in Software Logic
by Dave McComb | Development
Relational databases, relational theory, relational calculus, and predicate logic all rely on a two-value truth. That is, that a given proposition or predicate is either true or false. The fact that the results of the query can be proven to […]
The Magic Number in Complex Systems
by Dave McComb | Data-Centric Architecture
Somewhere around 200 items seems to be the optimum number of interrelated things we can deal with at one time, when dealing with complex systems such as computer software. In 1956 George Miller wrote an article for the Psychological Review […]
Deplorable Software
by Dave McComb | Data-Centric Architecture
Why can’t we deploy software as well we did fifty years ago? The way we build and deploy software is deplorable. The success rate of large software projects is well under 50%. Even when successful, the capital cost is hideous. […]
A Minimalist Upper Ontology
by Dave McComb | gist & Open Standards
Gist is designed to have the maximum coverage of typical business ontology concepts with the fewest number of primitives and the least amount of ambiguity, known as a minimalist upper ontology. A title guaranteed to scare off just about everyone; […]
Necessary and Sufficient
by Dave McComb | Knowledge Graphs & Ontologies
What’s the real difference between necessary and sufficient? We just completed another training class, and like they say, “no one learns more than the instructor.” In this case the blindingly obvious and yet elusive pattern that revealed itself was the […]
Contact Us
Semantic Arts, Inc.
123 N College Avenue
Suite 218
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Email:
Phone:
(970) 490-2224
Stay Connected
