Laboratory for Applied Ontology

Publications

• Implicit Requirements for Ontological Multi-Level Types in the UNICLASS Classification
  In the multi-level type modeling community, claims that most enterprise application systems use ontologically multi-level types are ubiquitous. To be able to empirically verify this claim one needs to be able to expose the (often underlying) ontological structure and show that it does, indeed, make a commitment to multi-level types. We have not been able to find any published data showing this being done. From a top-level ontology requirements perspective, checking this multi-level type claim is worthwhile. If the datasets for which the top-level ontology is required are ontologically committed to multi-level types, then this is a requirement for the top-level ontology. In this paper, we both present some empirical evidence that this ubiquitous claim is correct as well as describing the process we used to expose the underlying ontological commitments and examine them. We describe how we use the bCLEARer process to analyse the UNICLASS classifications making their implicit ontological commitments explicit. We show how this reveals the requirements for two general ontological commitments; higher-order types and first-class relations. This establishes a requirement for a top-level ontology that includes the UNICLASS classification to be able to accommodate these requirements. From a multi-level type perspective, we have established that the bCLEARer entification process can identify underlying ontological commitments to multi-level type that do not exist in the surface linguistic structure. So, we have a process that we can reuse on other datasets and application systems to help empirically verify the claim that ontological multi-level types are ubiquitous.
• Meta-Regimenting Extensionalism
  A presentation to raise awareness of what extensionalism is
  

  • to raise awareness of the connection with formality and computability
  • to make clear extensionalism has a role as an engineering tool for examining critical data infrastructure
  • where it enables us to uncover the implicit underpinnings of critical data infrastructure on the way, to make clear:
    • the concern that
      • so-called ‘theories of meaning’ fail to provide good enough identity criteria and
      • ‘regimentation’ is a way to relieve this concern
  • a way to construct the underlying extensional semantics
  • to raise awareness of how meta-regimentation drives the evolution of extensionalism –
    • increasing its scope
    • by providing an overview of the meta-regimentation journey
• Thoroughly Modern Accounting:
  Double entry bookkeeping lies at the core of modern accounting. It is shaped by a fundamental conceptual pattern; a design decision that was popularised by Pacioli some 500 years ago and subsequently institutionalised into accounting practice and systems. Debits and credits are core components of this conceptual pattern. This paper suggests that a different conceptual pattern, one that does not have debits and credits as its components, may be more suited to some modern accounting information systems. It makes the case by looking at two conceptual design choices that permeate the Pacioli pattern; de se and directional terms - leading to a de se directional conceptual pattern. It suggests alternative design choices - de re and non-directional terms, leading to a de re non-directional conceptual pattern - have some advantages in modern complex, computer-based, business environments.