[VoCamp Discuss] VoCamp DC is a go!

Harry Halpin hhalpin at ibiblio.org
Fri Apr 17 13:50:59 PDT 2009 

On Fri, Apr 17, 2009 at 8:31 PM, Mike Lang Jr. <mikelangjr at revelytix.com> wrote:
> 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.

I might add that as of now, Mike's correct as regards collaborative,
Web 2.0 vocabulary design - currently Knoodl is the only thing in the
space. I think it's a "crying shame" that the Semantic Web, despite
having nearly a decade in some odd form of gestation, has yet to
develop a usable and simple vocabulary Web-based editor, although it
does have a host of desktop tools (Protege, Neon, etc.), most of which
are overkill for the typical vocabulary. I'm looking forward to
Neologism and other Web-based systems in the future.

I hope to see more effort, a *lot* more in this space, and some degree
of sensible centralization in this space. I'm not sure under what
banner - Knoodl, vocab.org, but we should really work on this as a
community. If it's hard for "insiders" to post a vocabulary and have
people find it, you can bet it's virtually impossible for outsiders.



> 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
>>>    >
>>>    >
>>>    > Please consider the environment before printing this email.
>>>    >
>>>    > Find out more about Talis at www.talis.com <http://www.talis.com>
>>>    >
>>>    > shared innovationTM
>>>    >
>>>    > Any views or personal opinions expressed within this email may
>>>    not be those
>>>    > of Talis Information Ltd or its employees. The content of this
>>>    email message
>>>    > and any files that may be attached are confidential, and for the
>>>    usage of
>>>    > the intended recipient only. If you are not the intended
>>>    recipient, then
>>>    > please return this message to the sender and delete it. Any use
>>>    of this
>>>    > e-mail by an unauthorised recipient is prohibited.
>>>    >
>>>    > Talis Information Ltd is a member of the Talis Group of
>>>    companies and is
>>>    > registered in England No 3638278 with its registered office at
>>>    Knights
>>>    > Court, Solihull Parkway, Birmingham Business Park, B37 7YB.
>>>    >
>>>    >
>>>    >
>>>    >
>>>    ______________________________________________________________________
>>>    > This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security
>>>    System.
>>>    > For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
>>>    >
>>>    ______________________________________________________________________
>>>    >
>>>    > _______________________________________________
>>>    > discuss mailing list
>>>    > discuss at lists.vocamp.org <mailto:discuss at lists.vocamp.org>
>>>    > http://lists.vocamp.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-vocamp.org
>>>    >
>>>    >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    --
>>>    Dr Tom Heath
>>>    Researcher
>>>    Platform Division
>>>    Talis Information Ltd
>>>    T: 0870 400 5000
>>>    W: http://www.talis.com/
>>>    _______________________________________________
>>>    discuss mailing list
>>>    discuss at lists.vocamp.org <mailto:discuss at lists.vocamp.org>
>>>    http://lists.vocamp.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-vocamp.org
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> discuss mailing list
>>> discuss at lists.vocamp.org
>>> http://lists.vocamp.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-vocamp.org
>>>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> discuss mailing list
> discuss at lists.vocamp.org
> http://lists.vocamp.org/listinfo.cgi/discuss-vocamp.org
>
>

More information about the discuss mailing list