Re: KB interchange standards

Robert Neches <neches@isi.edu>
Message-id: <9111250204.AA17944@quark.isi.edu>
To: James Allen <james@cs.rochester.edu>, Danny Bobrow <bobrow@parc.xerox.com>,
        Steve Cross <cross@vax.darpa.mil>, Randy Davis <davis@ai.mit.edu>,
        Ed Feigenbaum <feigenbaum@sumex-aim.stanford.edu>,
        Richard Fikes <fikes@sumex-aim.stanford.edu>,
        Ken Forbus <forbus@ils.nwu.edu>,
        Mark Fox <Mark.Fox@golem.cimds.ri.cmu.edu>,
        Mike Genesereth <mrg@sunburn.stanford.edu>,
        Tom Gruber <gruber@sumex-aim.stanford.edu>, Ed Hovy <hovy@isi.edu>,
        Lewis Johnson <johnson@isi.edu>, Robert Kahn <rkahn@nri.reston.va.us>,
        Peter Karp <pkarp@ai.sri.com>, John Kunz <kunz@intellicorp.com>,
        Jintae Lee <jin@eagle.mit.edu>, Doug Lenat <lenat@mcc.com>,
        Kim Luu <luu@isi.edu>, Bill Mark <Mark@sumex-aim.stanford.edu>,
        Tom Malone <malone@eagle.mit.edu>, Bob Neches <neches@isi.edu>,
        Chris Overton <overt@prc.unisys.com>,
        Bruce Porter <porter@cs.utexas.edu>,
        Daniel Russell <dan_russell.parc@xerox.com>,
        John Sowa <sowa@watson.ibm.com>, Mark Stefik <stefik.pa@xerox.com>,
        Marty Tenenbaum <marty@cis.stanford.edu>,
        Mark Tuttle <tuttle@mis.ucsf.edu>,
        Brian Williams <bwilliam@parc.xerox.com>,
        Carl Hewitt <hewitt-srkb@ai.mit.edu>,
        Nicolaas Mars <mars@cs.utwente.nl>,
        Michael Cleary <cleary@corwin.ccs.northeastern.edu>,
        Doug Skuce <doug@csi.uottawa.ca>, John Boose <john@atc.boeing.com>,
        Roger Burkhart <roger@ci.deere.com>
Subject: Re: KB interchange standards 
Reply-To: neches@isi.edu
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 91 18:03:51 PST
From: Robert Neches <neches@isi.edu>


This is a resend of a reply to a message from Gio Wiederhold.  Apparently
the original transmission of the reply did not get through to the SRKB
mailing list.

  -- Bob

------- Forwarded Message

Date:    Sun, 24 Nov 91 17:56:00 -0800 
From:    Robert Neches <neches>
To:      gio@darpa.mil (Gio Wiederhold), friedland@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov,
	 interlingua, kr-advisory, JFULTON@atc.boeing.com, ohlander,
	 TI@darpa.mil, neches, ramesh
Subject: Re: KB interchange standards 


>   From: gio@DARPA.MIL (Gio Wiederhold)
>   Subject: KB interchange standards
>   
>   KBers,
>   It seems that the time is ripe to make an aggressive stab at  
>   achieving a broad consensus on an Interlingua for knowledge  
>   interchange.
>   
>   While there are several different proposals on the table, in various  
>   states of development and validation, they are quite similar in  
>   objective, and most seem to be willing to accept a reasonable amount  
>   of formalism in order to assure growth and consistency.
>   If these groups do not coalesce, then it is likely that multiple  
>   divergent pseaudo-standards will emerge.
>   
>   While DARPA has supported a specific standards effort, it is in  
>   DARPA's interest to have an outcome which is 
>   
>   	a. be technically correct
>   	b. be acceptable to as broad a community as possible
>   	c. be susceptible to growth.
>   
>   I expect that Bob Neches can help in arranging that the work of the  
>   communities involved can be shared, mutually discussed,  
>   scientifically evaluated, and assessed for acceptance.  That is a  
>   tall order and will need everyone's cooperation.
>   
>   Gio
>   

I, and my fellow Knowledge Sharing Effort coordinator Ramesh Patil, strongly
concur with Gio's comments.

Among the things we are doing to foster the goals outlined in Gio's message is
arranging a series of meetings in which reviewers from various communities
will be asked to analyze, comment upon, and advise the products of the
Knowledge Sharing Effort's working groups.  The first such meeting for the
draft KQML specification of the External Interfaces working group was held
a few weeks ago, and represents a model for what we will be trying to do with
all the working groups.

You can expect to be hearing from us in the near future, both via individual
contacts and public announcements, regarding plans for similar meetings
concerning Interlingua.  And, of course, please don't feel obliged to wait to
hear from us -- please feel free to contact either of us about issues you'd
like to discuss.

  -- Bob (and Ramesh)


======================================================================
                            Robert Neches
     USC/ISI, 4676 Admiralty Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 USA
                Phone: 310/822-1511, Fax: 310/823-6714
======================================================================



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