by Dave McComb | Jul 30, 2013 | The Whiteboard
I’m writing this on an airplane as I’m watching the South Park episode where the lads attempt to save classic films from their directors who want to re-release them to make them more politically correct and appeal to new audiences. (The remake of Saving...
by Dave McComb | Jul 19, 2013 | The Whiteboard
Watch out world! Eric Callmann, a vet of data governance, recently joined the Semantic Arts team as a consultant. We like his fresh and unique perspective on how to use semantic technology to help manage the mass amounts of data that could potentially drive us all...
by Dave McComb | Jun 25, 2013 | The Whiteboard
We have revamped our DBBO, Designing & Building Business Ontologies, training to include 6 days instead of 4. Our very own, Shane Price, gave his two cents about the training to help you decide if it is right for you. WHO IS SHANE? As a DBBO alum (have the...
by Dave McComb | Mar 19, 2013 | The Whiteboard
Gartner has, finally, nominated Semantic Technology as one of their Top Technology Trends. We’ve seen this movie before. We know how it ends. Indeed it was Gartner themselves who named the plot trajectory: the “hype cycle.” It’s worth a pause...
by Dave McComb | Feb 4, 2013 | The Whiteboard
We were working with a client recently who wanted to incorporate their existing taxonomies into their newly forming enterprise ontology. It was, as they say, a “teachable moment.” Not all taxonomies are created equal. At least not with regard to...
by Dave McComb | Dec 6, 2012 | The Whiteboard
First, you need to know what the original objectives were for having the ontology. The more specific the objectives, the easier it is to test whether they have been met. If you never had any objectives (or requirements), it might be easier to declare success, but...
by Dave McComb | Nov 12, 2012 | The Whiteboard
A good place to start is to run an inference engine to see if there an any logical inconsistencies or classes that cannot possibly have any members. The former is always an error; the latter usually leads to an error. However, this is only the beginning. Plenty of...
by Dave McComb | Nov 9, 2012 | The Whiteboard
This is a question of scope. An ontology is complete if it has all the concepts and axioms that are needed. Needed for what? This depends on the intended purpose of the ontology. If you have a local, one-time need to integrate a small number of databases, then you...
by Dave McComb | Nov 8, 2012 | The Whiteboard
This is related both to scope and to design. An ontology is elegant if it has the fewest possible concepts to cover the required scope with minimal redundancy and complexity. Whereas completeness is about making sure enough is in the ontology, elegance is about making...
by Dave McComb | Nov 6, 2012 | The Whiteboard
This is a complex and multi-faceted issue. The answer depends on the audience, who have varying degrees of a) knowledge in the domain, b) technical background, c) awareness of what the ontology is for and d) need to directly work with the ontology. For everyone, and...
