[seek-kr-sms] Update on current and future activities

[Bertram Ludaescher]

Hi Josh:

For comments, see below. 

BTW, I noticed that the apple mailer adds the following lines within a
"quoted string". Specifically I get the following error message: 

    MIME error: "something other than line break or hex digits after =
                 in quoted-printable encoding" 
 
I get this MIME error with other Apple users. I think I localized the
offending lines in the original mail. Somewhere in the header there
are the following lines:
	charset=UTF-8;
	delsp=yes;
	format=flowed

Since they appear within a "quoted-printable encoding" (whatever that
is) it seems to violate the MIME rules.. alright. Now to the subject
matter ;-)

>>> On Mon, 12 Jun 2006 17:19:08 -0700
>>> Joshua Madin <madin at nceas.ucsb.edu> wrote: 
JM> 
JM> Dear all,
JM> The NSF site review last week seemed to go very well.  There were  
JM> several potential areas for improvement for the KR working group.   
JM> Generally, these were exposing our ontologies to the broader  
JM> community for comment, and publishing in ecological journals.
JM> 
JM> I think that our primary objective for the next few weeks should be  
JM> to finalize OBOE, so that we can then focus on domain extensions.   
JM> Before we do this, I'd like to draw your attention to several new  
JM> developments that need your attention before moving on.
JM> 
JM> XMML
JM> When in Edinburgh, Shawn was pointed to another initiative for  
JM> describing observation and measurement.  It is an XML schema for  
JM> describing observation.  They have included some interesting points  
JM> that we do not capture, such as measurement procedure.  It would be  
JM> great to discuss this initiative, and to talk about ways it might  
JM> help us with OBOE.  Because I'm not great with XML Schema, I would  
JM> love to hear other peoples interpretation of the O&M work.  Here's  
JM> the link (just hit cancel if you're asked for a password):
JM> 
JM> https://www.seegrid.csiro.au/twiki/bin/view/Xmml/ 
JM> ObservationsAndMeasurements?skin=print.pattern

Looks like an interesting link! I noted that there is also a UML
diagram there.  The UML diagram might be more digestible than the XML
Schema (those schemas tend to obfuscate matters). 
In addition to the UML model, maybe there's even a paper or sth that
explains the philosophy. 

Either way, definitely sth to compare against!

JM> Observation
JM> In New Mexico last week Ferdinando showed me some alterations that he  
JM> had made to the observation ontology, to try and make it more  
JM> generic.  Even though there is "almost" a consensus on OBOE, I think  
JM> that it would be very healthy for us to review these changes and see  
JM> how they might improve what we already have.  I'll attach the  
JM> ontology to this email.  I'll also attach one of my flow diagrams;  
JM> although I haven't included all the properties because of crowding  
JM> issues.

BTW, note that the most widely-known (widely used?) ontology, GO, does
NOT use OWL or XML (or XML Schema) as their primary data format. This
might be a small but important issue. Is there a description logic
(latex) version of OBOE? Probably nice to look at (and if not, maybe
we can reactivate the "Sparrow-to-latex" pretty printer for that purpose.

JM> PUBLISHING
JM> One of the review team's criticisms was a lack of publishing outside  
JM> of the CS realm.  I think that we can counter this criticism quickly  
JM> by publishing OBOE, and what it can do for ecology, in some high  
JM> profile journals.  We may want to think about a strategy where we can  
JM> publish aspects of OBOE separately.  For example, some of us could  
JM> target ecological journals, while others target informatics journals  
JM> or KR journals.

right. I think it'll be most convincing to show an *application* of
OBOE. For example a scientific study, implemented as a Kepler workflow
and enriched/enhanced by the use of OBOE..

JM> MEETING
JM> We are planning to meet in July or August and it would be great if we  
JM> could all send dates that would suit us.  So far I have:
JM> 
JM> Mark -- July 20,21st  /  August, generally available
JM> Ferdinando -- July 15 - 25th, late August
JM> Josh -- Generally available
JM> Serguei --
JM> Deana --
JM> Shawn --
JM> Matt --
JM> Corinna --
JM> Others -- ??

I would like to attend. My BLACKOUT dates are:
- July 18-25 (DILS06 @ EBI, UK)
- August 14-18 (CSIG06 @ SDSC); I'll probably be in San Diego also a week
before and after CSIG, so if those times could be avoided, it would be
good (unless we have the meeting in San Diego ;-)

JM> I hope that we can find a good time for everyone.
JM> 
JM> Cheers,
JM> Josh
JM> 
JM> PS. Corinna, I cc'd you because I wasn't sure if you had signed up  
JM> for the kr-sms mailing list yet.
JM>