FROLIO – Formalizable Relationship-Oriented Language-Insensitive Ontology
© Roger M Tagg 2009 revised 2010
Welcome to FROLIO – a new attempt to merge philosophy and the "semantic web" .
This website is under continuing development.
A Reading List
The books, papers and web pages listed below are an assortment of things that
I have read in the last few years that I feel are relevant to FROLIO and may
explain some of my assumptions. Where possible I have put in links to a publicly
available web page about the reading (e.g. for books, Amazon, Google books etc),
and also to the author (home page or Wikipedia entry).
The first group of 8 tables relates to the research work I was doing in the
later years of my time as a university lecturer. A general title for this would
be "detecting meaning in group activities and communications". The goal of this
work was to provide better support for individuals and groups working in an
increasingly complex (and work- and information-overloaded) environment, in
business, government, health care and social services.
The next group contains just 2 tables. The first is on Socio- and
Psycho-logical issues, again mainly related to active organizational work, but
extending into the person-to-person and individual realms. The second is on
Demythologized Religion - the view that one can still have valuable guidelines
for life without having to abandon rationality and everything we have learnt
about the universe and life (both physical and mental) over the last 1000 or so
years - and without having to accept myths and mystical beliefs as being
equivalent (or alternative) to established knowledge, or the dogmatism and
creeds of any one religious tradition.
This leads naturally to the philosophy group of 4 tables, the first of which
contains introductory books. The second, on Existentialism, has links with
demythologized religion. Epistemology covers the Theory of Knowledge and what we
can reliably know. The final table is an assortment of web readings and books
looking at individual philosophers (other than existentialists).
The final table, in a group of its own, covers readings and books on
"Bullshit", mumbo jumbo, crooked thinking, scams, Great Lies and so on. From my
corner of the world, this is the "Satan" I think I am here to fight!
I have also read, but don't plan to put on this list, books of humour (jokes,
puns, graffiti, satire and "Colemanballs"); books from specific religions; books
about the future of the world (e.g. EF Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful", the
Club of Rome's "The Limits to Growth" and Robert Theobald's "Guaranteed Income";
or, a host of "self-improvement" books!
Ontologies generally
| Natalya F. Noy and
Deborah L. McGuinness (Stanford Univ), 2001 |
Ontology Development 101: A Guide to Creating Your First Ontology |
A classic primer for students wanting to learn how to build a computer-based ontology |
| W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium), 1994 on |
W3C Semantic Web Activity | A website giving links to literature,
papers and group activities related to the "Semantic Web" |
| John F. Sowa, 2005 |
Guided Tour of Ontology |
A private website, explaining Ontology - and a few other things - in Sowa's terms |
| Adam Pease and collaborators, 2001 on |
Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (SUMO) |
A framework into which a whole set of specialist ontologies can be fitted.
Has links to Stanford University research. |
| Nicola Guarino (Trento, Italy), 2006 |
Making Basic Ontological Assumptions: The DOLCE Experience |
A fairly academic slide presentation, has many similarities with FROLIO |
| Raj Sharman, Rajiv Kishore, Ram Ramesh (Eds.), 2007 |
Ontologies: A Handbook of Principles, Concepts and Applications in Information Systems |
A textbook for academics and postgrad students, pub by Springer |
| Misoo Kwon and collaborators (KIST, Korea), 2006 |
Design of OWL Ontology in R&D Project Management Meeting |
A relatively readable conference paper showing how an ontology language (OWL) is
applied to a particular activity (project meetings) |
| US Dept of Defense, c1995 on |
About DAML |
A website about an ontology language (DAML), developed in the US defence sector,
with a link to a large number of specialist ontologies that have been built in it. |
| UK Ordnance Survey Research, 2007 |
Domain Ontology Development |
A fairly simple introduction with some diagrams |
Thesauri, Taxonomies, Categorization
| Leonard Will, 1992-8 |
Thesaurus principles and practice |
A very good introduction to Thesauri as used in bibliographic and other similar
retrieval systems |
| Peter Mark Roget, 1852 with many revisions since |
Roget's Thesaurus |
A collection of English words organized as a tree containing 1000+ groups of
semantically linked words. |
|
George A. Miller and collaborators (Princeton University), 2006 |
WordNet - a lexical database for the English language |
A website where "nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of
cognitive synonyms (synsets), each expressing a distinct concept" |
| Cycorp Inc, 2002-8 |
What's in Cyc? |
Cyc advertises itself as a "Knowledge Base", but it includes an ontology component.
It can be used to support computerized Artificial Intelligence. An "OpenCyc"
version is available. |
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Taxonomy |
A basic introduction - taxonomy is the science of classification; it relates to
ontology but does not capture relationships other than those
representing the classification itself. |
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Categorization |
A basic introduction - similar to the above, it also relates to ontology |
| John F. Sowa, 2006 |
Categorization in Cognitive Computer Science |
An essay showing the evolution of categorization from Aristotle to the computer age. |
|
Barbara Ann Kipfer, 2001 |
The Order of Things |
A book of lists - things, ideas, people arranged into categories.
Kipfer has also edited a version of Roget's Thesaurus. |
|
Woody Pidcock (Boeing Corp), 2003 |
What are the differences between a vocabulary, a taxonomy, a thesaurus, an ontology, and a meta-model? |
A short article explaining the differences |
| Clay Shirky, 2005 |
Ontology is Overrated: Categories, Links, and Tags |
An irreverent alternative view! |
Part-Whole relationships (Mereology)
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Mereology |
This introduction is rather mathematical in places |
| Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2003 |
Mereology |
This review from Stanford starts quite readable and useful, but gets tougher later on |
| A. Artale, E. Franconi, N. Guarino, and C. Pazzi (Italy), 1996 |
Part-Whole relations in Object-centered systems: an overview |
Despite being an academic journal paper, this gives good ideas on several variations
on composition relationships. |
|
Roger Chaffin, Douglas J. Herrmann, Morton Winston, 1988 |
An empirical taxonomy of part-whole relations: Effects of
part-whole relation type on relation identification |
The full article costs US$28, but one can get some idea from the abstract |
Activity Theory
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Scandinavian Activity Theory |
This introduction gets a bit rambling in places, but covers the main points. |
| Sam Rajkumar, Indiana Univ, c2004 |
Activity Theory |
Another introduction, quite readable throughout. |
| A. N. Leontyev, 1977 |
Activity and Consciousness |
A Russian - more correctly, a USSR - view; with stronger emphasis on psychology and goals. |
| Bonnie Nardi, 1996 |
Context and Consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction, chapter 1 |
Chapter 1 of Nardi's book on the subject.
A book review by J.M. Nyce is available. |
| Yrjö Engeström, Reijo Miettinen, Raija-Leena Punamäki, 1999 |
Perspectives on Activity Theory |
A University of Helsinki website about their book - which one has to
buy!
A review by T.D. Wilson is available. |
| Larry Constantine (Univ of Madeira), 2006 |
From Activity Theory to Design Practice |
An action-packed slide presentation - very readable. |
Language Action Perspective (LAP)
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Language/action perspective |
A rather short entry. |
|
Anders W. Tell, 2002 |
Speech Act Theory |
This is one of the underlying theories for LAP;
this introduction is brief and to the point. |
| Terry Winograd, 1987 |
A Language/Action Perspective on the Design of Cooperative Work |
This was the classic paper that brought LAP into prominence, leading to
the concept of "Conversation for Action" and "Action Workflow". |
|
Raul Medina-Mora, Terry Winograd, Rodrigo Flores,
Fernando Flores, 1992 |
The action workflow approach to workflow management technology |
The seminal paper applying LAP to workflow management. Needs a subscription to ACM
or other on-line library to get the full paper |
| Kalle Lyytinen, 2003 |
The Struggle with the Language in the IT– Why is LAP not in the Mainstream? |
An honest attempt to analyze why LAP, despite considerable research effort
and support, hasn't become a natural part of how we model things in IT systems. |
Organizational Semiotics
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Organizational Semiotics |
A very short introduction. |
|
Henk W. M. Gazendam, 2004 |
Organizational Semiotics: a state of the art report |
Fairly wordy and much fuller than the above. |
|
Kecheng Liu,
Rodney J. Clarke,
Peter B. Andersen,
Ronald K. Stamper, 2002 |
Coordination and Communication Using Signs : Studies in Organizational Semiotics |
An expensive book of ideas and case studies. |
| K Liu, R K Stamper, A Alderson, L Sun, H Shah, c2000 |
Semiotic Enterprise Design for IT Applications (SEDITA) |
An outline of Stamper's MEASUR methodology, based on Organisational Semiotics. |
| Jose Cordeiro,
Joaquim Filipe (Poly Univ Setubal, Portugal), 2006 |
LAP, Organizational Semiotics and the Theory of Organized Activity |
A conference paper that attempts to link 3 different approaches together. See also their
"
Semiotic Pentagram Framework". |
| Jennifer Ferreira, James Noble and
Robert Biddle (Victoria University, Wellington NZ), c2004 |
The Semiotics of Usage-Centered Design |
A conference paper showing the application to user-oriented IT design.
Includes a good introduction to Stamper's "Semiotic Ladder". |
Context detection
| Andrew Smith (University of Queensland), c2007 |
Leximancer Concept Miner |
A white paper showing how a text analysis tool can be used to detect the main concepts
and themes in a text document - without reference to any ontology. |
| P-A Chirita and collaborators (Univ of Hannover), 2006 |
Desktop Context Detection Using Implicit Feedback |
Addresses the problem of detecting context on each user's desktop.
Readable except for one chunk of maths. |
| Datong Chen and Hans-Werner Gellersen (Univ Karlsruhe), 1999 |
Recognition and Reasoning in an Awareness Support System for Generation of
Storyboard-like Views of Recent Activity |
Addresses context detection in group work, using cues detected
on video and audio records |
| Jianqiang Shen and collaborators (Oregon State Univ) 2006 |
A Hybrid Learning System for Recognizing User Tasks from
Desktop Activities and Email Messages |
Describes a prototype system called TaskTracer.
There is some maths later in the paper. |
| Philipp Cimiano and
Johanna
Völker,(Univ Karlsruhe), 2004 |
Text2Onto - A Framework for Ontology Learning and Data-driven Change Discovery |
Another prototype, this time to generate an ontology from a combination of text
analysis and learning from the users. |
| Craig A. N. Soules,
Gregory R. Ganger (Carnegie Mellon Univ), 2004 |
Toward automatic context-based attribute assignment for semantic file systems |
Describes research into automatic categorization of files, based on their context. |
Systems and Cybernetics
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Information Engineering |
Introduction to a group of information systems development methodologies
that were in their heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. Much emphasis was put on the data
aspects. |
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Business Process Reengineering |
Introduction to another systems methodology where the emphasis is on fundamental
revolution in an organization's business processes. |
| Open University, UK, after 1990 |
Rich Pictures |
A guideline on how to use this concept, as proposed by
Peter Checkland as part of
Soft Systems Methodology |
| CreatingMinds.org, 2002-7 |
CATWOE |
Explanation as "Customers-Actions-Transformation Process-World View-Owner-Environment"
(CATWOE) as proposed by
Peter Checkland as part of
Soft Systems Methodology |
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Belief-Desire-Intention model |
A concept introduced by
M.E. Bratman, concerned with computer systems where autonomous
software "agents" have belief, desire and intention (BDI). |
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Systems
Engineering |
A wider systems discipline that includes not only design of systems
(human, engineering or IT) but also management of development projects and
testing. |
| Wikipedia, last updated 2008 |
Cybernetics |
Introduction to a discipline within Systems Engineering where the
emphasis is on feedback loops and control. |
------------------------------------------------------End of the first
group of tables------------------------------------------
Socio-Psycho dimensions (including the workplace)
|
Richard Appignanesi & Oscar Zarate, 1992 |
Introducing Freud (formerly titled Freud for Beginners) |
One of a series of cartoon-style books on Philosophical,
Sociological and Scientific topics. Irreverent - and anyone can follow
it. |
| Erich Berne, 1966 |
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships |
A classic study of how people try tactics with other people
when trying to achieve some objective. The author was the creator of
"Transactional Analysis", his approach to psychotherapy. |
|
Edward de Bono, 1985 |
Six Thinking Hats |
A classic: White hat – facts; Red Hat – emotions; Black Hat – negatives;
Yellow hat – positives; Green hat – creative; Blue hat – process control
(ensure each hat gets effectively the big picture) |
| Rick Brenner (Chaco Canyon Consulting), 2001 |
Workplace Politics Is Not a Game |
A comparison of genuine games with politics, and how to deal with the difference. |
| Alan Chapman (www.businessballs.com) |
Frederick Herzberg Motivational Theory |
Covers Herzberg's Motivation and Hygiene factors.
A useful article with several good links at the end. |
|
Bernard Guerin, 2004 |
Handbook for Analyzing the Social Strategies of Everyday Life |
Written as a student textbook, this provides a useful combination of
psychology and a range of social sciences. Occasionally drifts into
academic-speak, but the normal reader can manage without these bits. |
| Igor Hawryszkiewycz,
2008 |
Modeling Increasingly Complex
Socio-Technical Environments |
A paper at a recent conference on computerized information systems,
proposing models of how one can understand the human-to-human and group
aspects of working in organizations and with systems. |
| Stephen Law,
2006 |
The War for Childrens' Minds |
This war is between those whose believe that we should bring up
children to show deference to authority, and those who think that we
should bring them up to know how to make up their own minds about
morality.
Highlighted quotations on this website |
Nonaka &
Takeuchi (12manage)
- the Executive Fast Track, 2008 |
SECI Model (Nonaka, Takeuchi) |
An explanation of the authors' classic Internal/External and Tacit/Explicit
4-square model of knowledge in organizations. Their book is
"
The Knowledge Creating Company". |
Demythologized Religion
| Confucius (acc to Shanghai American School), 2007 |
Confucianism versus Legalism |
A school history course Wiki page with interesting comments regarding
Confucius' teachings, the rule of the emperors and religion. |
| Richard
Holloway, 2008 |
Between the Monster and the Saint |
A former church leader writes on our split "Jekyll and Hyde"
personality.
Highlighted quotations on this website. |
| M Scott Peck, 1978 |
The Road Less Traveled |
A psychotherapist's ideas on living life today, encompassing
religion without the mumbo-jumbo.
Highlighted
quotations on this website. |
| Robert M. Pirsig, 1983 |
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance |
A confession of personal experiences when going through a mental crisis, leading to
realization of a philosophy based on value.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
|
John A.T. Robinson, 1963 |
Honest to God |
An Anglican churchman's argument for "de-mythologizing religion".
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
|
John Shelby Spong,
1991 |
Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism |
Spong wrote this when he was an Anglican bishop in the USA. He
argues for freeing the Bible "from the clutches of a mindless
literalism", which he says has seen it used to justify slavery, ban
textbooks, deny rights to homosexuals, subordinate women and justify war
and revenge. |
|
John Shelby Spong,
2001 |
A
New Christianity for a New World |
Having recently retired, Spong more forthrightly explains his ideas for
a post-Theistic Christianity. The book is based on lectures at Harvard
and elsewhere in 2000.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
|
John Shelby Spong, 2008 |
Jesus for the Non-Religious |
A more recent book from the same author, retaining the justification
for following Christ, even if one can no longer put up with the
mumbo-jumbo. |
| Owe Wikström, 2004 |
The Icon in my Pocket |
A book with interesting reflections on why we travel and go on
holidays.
Highlighted quotations on this website |
------------------------------------------------------End of the second
group of tables------------------------------------------
Introductions to Philosophy
| John Brockman (Ed), 2006 |
What is Your Dangerous Idea? |
Not specifically an introduction to philosophy, but a collection of
thoughts from 108 Anglophone "thinkers" from various fields on what idea
worries them most in today's (early 21st century) world - maybe these
are all "problems" that philosophy should address. |
| Jostein Gaarder, 1991 |
Sophie's World |
Written by a Norwegian who used to teach philosophy to teenagers,
this is a fascinating read for most adults as well. Watch out for the
interesting final twist! |
| Stephen Law, 2000 |
The Philosophy Files |
A very non-academic, and hence easily readable, introduction to some
of the problems that face human beings. It follows through the various
arguments in a lighthearted but basically philosophical fashion. There
is now also Philosophy Files 2. |
| Brian Magee (Ed), 1987 |
The Great Philosophers |
Edited transcripts of a BBC TV series, where Magee interviews
leading experts on various periods and movements in philosophy. It
follows an approximate historical sequence, and is limited to Western
philosophy. It also stops before it gets to Postmodernism. |
| Adam Morton, 2004 |
Philosophy in Practice |
Not the usual historical approach, but looks at the isms and the
questions that have to be asked. Oriented to student discussions.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
|
Kevin O'Donnell, 2003 |
Postmodernism |
An easy-to-read beginner's introduction to the general idea and the
big names. The author is a teaching priest who has wrestled with the
differences between Postmodernism and Religion. I found this book
helpful and even-handed. |
| Richard Osborne, 1992 |
Philosophy for Beginners |
A cartoon-style introduction that takes the historical approach,
covering all the "big names" and quite a few others. It keeps an
entertaining and humorous style from start to finish. It is limited to
"Western" philosophy, though. |
| Richard Osborne, 1996 |
Introducing Eastern Philosophy |
Also in cartoon and historical style, but covering just the Indian
(Hindu) and Chinese philosophical schools (and, briefly, Japanese Zen
Buddhism). It doesn't have the same level of humour as Osborne's earlier
book (above) though. |
Existentialism
|
Gary Cox, 2009 |
|
How to be an Existentialist |
A thoroughly readable, but Sartre-oriented view of what being an
Existentialist really means. Cox suggests that is "how to get a grip and stop
making excuses". Highlighted
quotations on this website |
|
Michael
Allen Fox, 2008 |
|
The Remarkable Existentialists |
A very readable introduction and comparison of the different
variations, with full chapters on Kirkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger,
Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
| T. M. Heath (disappeared) |
Martin Heidegger |
Making sense of 'Being & Time'
(link broken) |
Rather than struggle with the original, this set of pages with diagrams gives most
of us a chance of finding out what Heidegger's master work is all about.
All is not lost - I've saved a copy! |
| Dave Robinson, 2003 |
Søren Kirkegaard |
Introducing Kirkegaard |
A cartoon-style book on the life and ideas of Kirkegaard, who is
usually regarded as the first genuine existentialist. Interestingly he
remained a Christian, although a fairly unconventional one.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
| Alex Scott |
Martin Heidegger |
Review of 'Being and Time' |
A lightning overview of this very hard-to-read book. |
|
Laurie Spurling, 1977 |
Maurice Merleau-Ponty |
Phenomenology and the Social World |
A search for practical application of philosophy to that social
science. The book contains a very full analysis of the ideas of the
French existential philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
Epistemology
| Blackwell, 3rd edn, 2008 |
Adam Morton |
A Guide through the Theory of Knowledge |
A textbook on Epistemology, with lots of definitions one needs
before reading other books on this subject.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
| Harvard Univ Press, 1990 |
Willard V. Quine |
Pursuit of Truth |
A fairly recent, but more academic, view
of what one can or cannot reliably say is "true".
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
| Cambridge Univ Press, 1998 |
Richard Rorty |
Truth and Progress |
A series of roguishly-written essays, arguing against the
"correspondence theory of truth", and tackling - from this viewpoint -
issues of Human Rights, Cultural Difference, Feminism and even Leninism.
Highlighted
quotations on this website |
General philosophy (relating to particular philosophers)
------------------------------------------------------End of the
philosophy section------------------------------------------
The Bullshit Phenomenon
Links
Index to all related essays and diatribes
Index to all book
highlights
FROLIO home page
Some of these links may be under construction – or re-construction.
This version updated on 21st April
2010
If you have constructive suggestions or comments, please contact the author
rogertag@tpg.com.au .