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1
Defining Vocabularies,Ontological and Linguistic:
A Tool for Ontologizing the Ontolog
Patrick CassidyMITRE Corporation*
Presented to the Ontolog ForumJuly 13, 2006
* NOTE: The author’s affiliation with The MITRE Corporation is provided for identification purposes only, and is not intended to convey or imply MITRE’s concurrence with, or support for, the positions, opinions or viewpoints expressed by the author.
2
Outline• A Common Upper Ontology is a Good Thing to
have. The minimum upper ontology will represent the set of basic concepts sufficient to specify the meanings of all other more specialized concepts.
• A Linguistic Defining Vocabulary that parallels the Ontological Defining Vocabulary will make the Upper Ontology a lot easier to build, understand, and exploit.
• To help in ontologizing the Ontolog, we can use the Linguistic Defining Vocabulary right now.
3
Problem Solving with Computers:Single Applications
Interface
Procedural ProgramSpecification:
Solve Current Problem. Report results
Short-TermTask-specific
Memory
PersistentStoredData
4
Tightness of Coupling & Semantic Explicitness
Implicit, TIGHT
Explicit, Loose
Local
Far
1 System: Small Set of Developers
Systems of Systems
Enterprise
Community
Internet
Looseness of Coupling
Se
ma
nti
cs
Ex
plic
itn
ess
Data
Same Address Space
Same DBMS
Federated DBs
Data WarehousesData Marts
Workflow Ontologies
Semantic Mappings
XML, XML Schema
Conceptual Models
RDF/S, OWLWeb Services: UDDI, WSDL
OWL-S
Modal Policies
Application
Same Process Space
Same CPUSame OS
Same Programming Language
Same Local Area NetworkSame Wide Area Network Client-Server
Same Intranet
Compiling
Linking
Agent Programming
Web Services: SOAP
Distributed Systems OOP
Applets
Semantic Brokers
Middleware Web
Peer-to-peer
N-Tier Architecture EAI
From Synchronous Interaction to Asynchronous Communication
Performance = k / Integration_Flexibility
Source: Leo Obrst
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Problem Solving with Computers:Application Suite
Interface
Common Operating Systemfor Stored data Access
Short-TermTask-specific
Memory
StoredData 1
Message Format and Protocol
App 1 App 2 App 3
StoredData 2
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Upper Ontology:Provides defining concepts to specify
conceptual message Content
Where Does The Upper Ontology Fit?
NLP Understandingand generation
Case-Based Reasoning
Informtn.Retrieval
Probabilistic Reasoning
SpatialReasoning
Long-TermKnowledge
Base:Ontology
usesUpper
Ontology forConcept
Specifications
Interfaces
RoboticsExpert
Systems
Task Control: SelectProcesses To Solve Current Problem. Report results
Short-TermMemory:Ontology
usesUpper
Ontology
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Overlord:Situation Awareness
Goal-Directed Action Selection
Upper Ontology:Provides defining concepts to specify
conceptual message Content
Where Does The Upper Ontology Fit?
NLP Understandingand generation
Case-Based Reasoning
Informtn.Retrieval
Probabilistic Reasoning
SpatialReasoning
EGO:Self Awareness
EpisodicMemory
KnowledgeBase:
Ontologyuses
UpperOntology for
ConceptSpecifications
Interfaces
RoboticsExpert
Systems
Task Control: SelectProcesses To Solve Current Problem. Report results
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Agents: Expectations & Norms
Goal StackRules:(1) Laws(2) Community(3) User(4) Supervisor/Owner(5) Self-generated(6) Cultural ExpectationsCommitment:
(1) Generate or Modify(2) Reference(3) Explain when asked
Is Goal PossibleWithin TimeConstraints?No. Report
Impediments
Yes. Request
Overlord action
Current Goal
OL
OL
OL
OL
Add/Modify/Delete Goals
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Upper Ontology:Provides defining concepts to specify
conceptual message Content
Where Does The Upper Ontology Fit?
NLP Understandingand generation
Case-Based Reasoning
LearningProbabilistic Reasoning
SpatialReasoning
Long-TermKnowledge
Base:Ontology
usesUpper
Ontology forConcept
Specifications
Interfaces
RoboticsExpert
Systems
Task Control: SelectProcesses To Solve Current Problem. Report results
Short-TermMemory:Ontology
usesUpper
Ontology
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Is a Common Language EnoughFor Module Integration?
Some doubt has been expressed:“Merely encapsulating this machinery into modules
that pass messages among each other does not allow for the internal operation of one algorithm to be influenced by another”– Nicholas Cassamatis, A Cognitive Substrate for Achieving
Human-Level Intelligence, AI Magazine, Summer 2006, pp. 45-56.
However, the use of the Upper Ontology not only permits effective message passing, but fuses all components into a unified knowledge base. The ontology has not only a message format, but logical inference which may be used by multiple modules.
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Upper Ontology:Provides defining concepts to specify
conceptual message Content
Modules May Have Tight Coupling
NLP Understandingand generation
Case-Based Reasoning
LearningProbabilistic Reasoning
SpatialReasoning
Long-TermKnowledge
Base:Ontology
usesUpper
Ontology forConcept
Specifications
Interfaces
RoboticsExpert
Systems
Task Control: SelectProcesses To Solve Current Problem. Report results
Short-TermMemory:Ontology
usesUpper
Ontology
12
Upper Ontology:Provides defining concepts to specify
conceptual message Content
Where Does Upper Ontology Fitin Natural Language Understanding?
Parsing Disambiguation LearningEntity
ExtractionMetaphoricReasoning
KnowledgeBase:
Ontologyuses
UpperOntology for
ConceptSpecifications
Interfaces
WordExperts
NLP Understandingand generation
TC
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What About Ontology Mapping Rather Than a Common UO?
• OK if:– Modest accuracy (10-80%) is acceptable– Very shallow reasoning (e.g. taxonomy only)
is to be used
14
First Order Logic?
• In a multimodule message/blackboard system, FOL is only one of potentially many reasoning mechanisms.
• Decidability and inference efficiency are not rate-limiting unless FOL alone is to be used on the full knowledge base.
15
So, What’s the Problemwith existing Upper Ontologies?
• It is time-consuming to learn how to use them effectively.– If an interface that uses language people
already know can be developed, it will make upper ontologies easier to exploit.
– Human language is easy for people to use.
– A defining vocabulary can serve as the intermediate phase to improve usability.
16
Outline• A Common Upper Ontology is a Good Thing to have
A Linguistic Defining Vocabulary that parallels the Ontological Defining Vocabulary will make the Upper Ontology a lot easier to build, understand, and exploit.
• To help in ontologizing the Ontolog, we can use the Linguistic Defining Vocabulary right now.
17
What is a “Defining Vocabulary”?
• For lexicographers, a controlled list of words which are the only words allowed to be used in creating definitions (e.g. in LDOCE).– makes definitions easier to understand, especially
for learners of a language
• For Ontologists, the set of basic concepts (and their ontological representations) which are sufficient to specify the meanings of any other concepts (or terms) by combinations of the basic concepts – a special type of “Upper Ontology”.
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How Big is the Defining Vocabulary?
• Longman’s Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE) uses about 2000 root words, some of which are used in more than one sense. With morphological variants, there are over 9000 words.
• For the conceptual defining vocabulary, probably at least 4000 senses will be needed.
• The vocabulary will probably grow over time.
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Is There a Relation Between theLinguistic Defining Vocabulary and
The Conceptual Defining Vocabulary (Upper Ontology)?
• Hypothesis: yes, we should be able to use a linguistic controlled vocabulary like that of LDOCE and have definitions in that vocabulary translate directly and automatically into logical specifications using the conceptual inventory of the Upper Ontology.
20
How Does this Differ from other Ontology Projects?
• By emphasizing the primary importance of developing the defining vocabulary – ontological and linguistic – and creating relations between them, before attempting representation of complex domain-specific concepts.
• The automatic conversion of linguistic to logical specifications is an essential element.
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So, This has no Immediate Real-World Application?
• Right! We do not already know the minimum set of conceptual components for representing everything; which basic concepts are required needs to be discovered by using a common upper ontology in generating other concepts.
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Is This Just Basic Research?
• NO! The need for information communication is immediate, and clear descriptions of information content can have immediate benefits.
• There are no negative side-effects to creating clear and comprehensible descriptions of information content.
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Specialists Will Want to Use Specialized Terms in Definitions
• The “Controlled Defining Vocabulary” is infinitely expandable.
• Probably, at least three levels will emerge:– the basic irreducible defining vocabulary– the general defining vocabulary, having terms
which are defined by use of the basic vocabulary
– specialized defining vocabularies, containing terms of interest to specific domains
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How Will We Know When We Have Succeeded in Building The
Linguistic Conceptual Defining Vocabulary?
When almost all new terms can be defined using intuitive linguistic phrases, and the words are already in the defining vocabulary.
25
How Will We Know When We Have Succeeded in Building A Correct
Mapping of Linguistic and Conceptual Defining Vocabularies?
• When people can enter and retrieve information of a basic nature using intuitive linguistic phrases.
• The most honest measure of correct representation is a correct answer to a straightforward question.
26
Example Definitions from Longman’s
• Raspberry– a soft sweet red berry, or the bush that this
berry grows on
• Obligation– a moral or legal duty to do something
• Automobile -- a car
• Car– a vehicle with four wheels and an engine, that
can carry a small number of passengers
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Language Logic
• Duty -- Longman: something that you have to do because it is morally or legally right
• More specific:– An action that an intelligent agent must
perform or refrain from; the failure to perform or refrain from that action carries some undesirable consequence for that agent; the undesirable consequence may be enforced by the authority that assigned the duty.
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KIF “Duty”(=> (hasDuty ?AGENT ?DUTY)) (and (instance ?DUTY ActionOrInaction) (exists (?AUTHORITY ?CONSEQUENCE) (and (hasAttribute ?CONSEQUENCE (UndesirableFor ?
AGENT)) (imposed ?AUTHORITY ?DUTY) (=> (not (performed ?AGENT ?DUTY)) (hasLiability ?AGENT (enforces ?AUTHORITY ?
CONSEQUENCE)))))))
29
Spatial Metaphors
• Orientation: Up, Down, Front, Back, Side• Proximity: in Space, In time• Basic shapes: compact, filament, sheet,
multi-armed, network, hollow (container)• Motion: origin, goal, path• Edge: limit, obstacle, support• Contact: Force, gravity, causing motion• Body shape: Head, Foot, Arm• Parts and structural relations
30
What About Specialized Applications That Don’t Need a
High-Level Ontology?
• They can interoperate with other applications if they map the concepts they do use to the precisely defined concepts in the upper ontology.
• This principle can be applied transitively, through multiple levels of expressiveness.
31
Definition Acceptance Hierarchy
Executable Specification: Methods, Sequence, States
Axiomatic Ontology: Quasi-2nd Order, Function Terms
OpenCycSUMO DOLCE
Restricted FOL: OWL
Taxonomy/Thesaurus/Terminologyaccepts
accepts
is used in
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What Can We Do Now?
• Begin immediately to define terms in Knowledge Organization Systems (ontologies, taxonomies, glossaries, etc.) using the basic English defining vocabulary.
• Add terms to the supplemental defining vocabulary as needed, with their definitions created from the basic terms
• Add terms to the community domain vocabularies, with their definitions created from the basic or supplemental defining vocabulary.
33
Where is the Defining Vocabulary?
• A version that runs in Windows XP is on the ONTACWG web site, along with a Java utility to check definitions against the controlled vocabulary.
http://colab.cim3.net/file/work/SICoP/ontac/reference/ControlledVocabulary/CheckCV.ZIP
Unzip in a separate directory and run the .bat file to use the utility (Opening screen shot, next slide).
34
35
And if The English Logic Translation Project Lags?
• We will have terminologies and knowledge classifications with well-defined terms, understandable to anyone with a basic knowledge of English.
– In itself, this result will be worth the effort.
36
END