[VoCamp Discuss] VoCamp DC is a go!

Mike Lang Jr. mikelangjr at revelytix.com
Fri Apr 17 12:31:49 PDT 2009


Hi Peter,
Forgetting about Knoodl for a second, I'd like to reiterate the larger point
that I was trying to make.  If VoCamps are going to accomplish anything more
than being fun, networking kinds of events, I think that it is vital that
they enable attendees to continue collaborating on their vocabularies after
the VoCamp is over.  As organizers, I think part of our responsibility is to
help people do this.  Its nice that we can bring people together to
collaborate, but would be far more effective if we could help facilitate
their continued collaboration.  Clearly, part of helping people collaborate
on vocabularies is to help them find tools that are useful for the purpose.
 I think we agree on all these points, but I'm not sure.

I also believe that if we feel confident about a tools ability to do a job
better than alternatives, then we should recommend that tool.  I suggested
Knoodl become the VoCamp tool of choice because I think it is the best tool
for the job.  I have not come to this conclusion without doing the due
diligence.  A large part of my job is to track the market and learn about
other tools, both competing and complimentary ones.  I also have a fair
amount of experience managing collaborative ontology projects.  I think that
the essential properties that a collaborative vocabulary editor must have to
be useful for VoCamp participants are that it is web-based, publicly hosted,
and free.  As far as I know, Knoodl is the only tool that fits this
description.  Of course, others may disagree with my opinion as to what
properties are essential for a collaborative vocabulary editor.

I really believe that VoCamps can be very important in spreading the
development of domain vocabularies, which are essential to the success of
semantic technologies.  I also strongly believe that collaborative ontology
building must be done over the web.  I understand your view, I hope you
understand mine as well.

Cheers,

Mike
Revelytix, Inc.

phone: 410-584-0009 (office)
          443-928-3782 (cell)
skype: michael.allen.lang.jr
aim: MikeJrRevelytix


On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 6:46 PM, Peter Mika <pmika at yahoo-inc.com> wrote:

> Hi Mike,
>
> As VoCamp organizers, I think it's critically important for us to be
> impartial as to what tools we are using and recommending to others. In this
> past VoCamp at Ibiza we have actually went through a number of tools, and
> checked out the basic features of each.
>
> You are welcome to expand the page on publishing tools at [1], but without
> supporting evidence I think it's inappropriate to conclude that your
> company's product offers the best solution. In particular, your company's
> tool is not the only one allowing collaborative ontology editing, again see
> [1].
>
> Best,
> Peter
>
> [1] http://vocamp.org/wiki/Publishing_Tools
>
>
> Mike Lang Jr. wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I am going to encourage participants in VoCamp DC to use Knoodl <
>> http://www.knoodl.com> to collaborate on their Vocabularies both before
>> and after our VoCamp and I think that other organizers should do the same.
>>  It may be in bad taste for me to promote my own company's product in this
>> way, but it is free (and will remain so) and it is the only tool I am aware
>> of that enables collaborative vocabulary editing.  Without such a tool,
>> VoCamps will not be able to accomplish their main goal, which is to produce
>> useful ontologies.  It is not reasonable to expect an ontology to be
>> finished within a weekend.  In fact, an ontology is never finished because
>> part of the point of using one is that it can adapt and change as it needs
>> to.  Knoodl is a natural place for people to continue to develop and manage
>> any ontologies and it enables them to do so collaboratively with the people
>> that they meet at a VoCamp.
>>
>> I have started a VoCamp Community <http://www.knoodl.com/ui/groups/VoCamp>
>> in Knoodl where participants can upload Vocabularies.  If we make this a
>> best practice of future VoCamps, then participants of any VoCamp will be
>> able to collaborate on their ontologies long after their VoCamp ends.
>>
>> I'd be glad to hear any thoughts/feedback on this issue.
>>
>> Mike Lang
>> Revelytix, Inc.
>>
>> phone: 410-584-0009 (office)
>>          443-928-3782 (cell)
>> skype: michael.allen.lang.jr
>> aim: MikeJrRevelytix
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 6:54 PM, Tom Heath <tom.heath at talis.com <mailto:
>> tom.heath at talis.com>> wrote:
>>
>>    Hi Mike,
>>
>>    Great news! Quite a turnaround time, and an impressive list of
>>    participants already :) I took the liberty of adding Clark & Parsia to
>>    the list of VoCamp supporters
>>    <http://vocamp.org/wiki/VoCampSupporters>; just one way of us giving
>>    credit for the generosity that helps grease the VoCamp wheels ;)
>>
>>    Just shout if I can help in any way,
>>
>>    Cheers,
>>
>>    Tom.
>>
>>
>>    2009/4/14 Mike Lang Jr. <mikelangjr at revelytix.com
>>    <mailto:mikelangjr at revelytix.com>>:
>>    > Hi everyone, Kendall Clark of Clark & Persia has generously
>>    offered to let
>>    > us use his offices for VoCamp DC the weekend of May 30/31. I
>>    have updated
>>    > the VoCamp wiki (http://vocamp.org/wiki/VoCampDCMay2009) to show
>>    our plans
>>    > so far. There will be an initial cap of 40 people, so be sure to
>>    visit the
>>    > wiki to sign up (anyone who joined the VoCamp DC Google Group
>>    has been
>>    > signed up, if you can not attend, please remove your name). Feel
>>    free to
>>    > contact me with any questions/suggestions. Thanks, Mike Lang
>>    > Revelytix, Inc.
>>    >
>>    > phone: 410-584-0009 (office)
>>    >           443-928-3782 (cell)
>>    > skype: michael.allen.lang.jr
>>    > aim: MikeJrRevelytix
>>    >
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