http://www.subjectcentric.com What if every subject that we think about can have explicit representation in our computers? en-us Subject-centric computing "Google and Metaweb plan to maintain Freebase as a free and open database for the world. Better yet, we plan to contribute to and further develop Freebase and would be delighted if other web companies use and contribute to the data..." (Google blog) Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:22:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Google_acquired_Metaweb_company_that_maintains_Freebase_good_news_for_Subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Google_acquired_Metaweb_company_that_maintains_Freebase_good_news_for_Subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing I attended TIBCO's TUCON 2010 conference this year. It gave me a great opportunity to explore Event-driven Architecture, SOA, BPM and Cloud computing. I had a chance also to listen/think/talk about the future of computing. And this future looks very subject-centric Sat, 15 May 2010 20:24:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/TIBCO_and_Subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/TIBCO_and_Subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing Carl Hewitt Paraconsistent logic I have been fascinated by the idea of building computer systems which are inconsistency tolerant for many years. I usually address this problem from practical perspective: I just try to write code that demonstrates behavior that I would like to model. But I always thought that it should be beneficial to have some kind of a formal logic that can provide foundations for my heuristic approach. I follow Carl Hewitt's work for many years and it seems that his inconsistency tolerant Direct Logic can play this foundational role. Firstly, let's take a look at how traditional logic handles contradictions Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:23:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Carl_Hewitt_s_Direct_Logic__inconsistency_tolerant_reasoning_and_Subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Carl_Hewitt_s_Direct_Logic__inconsistency_tolerant_reasoning_and_Subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing Multi-touch interaction iPhone iPod touch iPad I am very excited about iPad. It makes multi-touch interaction mainstream. iPad revives and introduces new generation of developers and users to the idea of "direct object manipulation" which is one of the key concepts of Subject-centric computing. Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:29:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/iPad_Multi-touch_interaction_and_Subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/iPad_Multi-touch_interaction_and_Subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing OWL Cyc Paraconsistent logic Common Logic I just finished reading "Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist: Modeling in RDF, RDFS and OWL". Great book! Lots of examples and deep exploration of Semantic Web fundamentals. It inspired me... not to use OWL, no... but to describe how we approach inference/reasoning in Ontopedia. Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:10:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Inference_in_Ontopedia http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Inference_in_Ontopedia Subject-centric computing Topic Maps Recently we added a small framework that allows us to build/use subject-centric applications in Ontopedia. Within traditional paradigm of application-centric computing, we have to start an application (or go to some domain/function specific website) and then we can change application/website context. Within subject-centric environment, we can select a subject and then we can have access to various applications/functions that can be used with the subject in context Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:41:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_applications_toward_subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_applications_toward_subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing Topic Maps RDF Jeni Tennison published several excellent blog entries which describe process of creating Linked Data. If you are interested in semantic technologies, you will find lots of important ideas in these postings Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:48:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Creating_Linked_Data_by_Jeni_Tennison http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Creating_Linked_Data_by_Jeni_Tennison Subject-centric computing Are We There Yet? I really like ideas described in this presentation by Rich Hickey. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:35:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Modeling_Time_and_Identity http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Modeling_Time_and_Identity TMCL Cyc Carl Hewitt Paraconsistent logic Actor model I did a short presentation about paraconsistent reasoning in Ontopedia on TMRA 2009. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:08:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Paraconsistent_Reasoning_in_Ontopedia http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Paraconsistent_Reasoning_in_Ontopedia TMCL I created several PSIs for describing associations based on the idea of patterns (vs. constraints). Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:40:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/association_patterns http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/association_patterns Subject-centric computing iPhone Subject-centric micro-blogging iPhone Push Notification Service iPhone OS "Apple":http://psi.ontopedia.net/Apple_Inc just introduced "iPhone OS":http://psi.ontopedia.net/IPhone_OS 3.0 (beta) and 3.0 SDK. There are lots of improvements and new features. "iPhone":http://psi.ontopedia.net/iPhone is a great platform for developing mobile applications. OS 3.0 makes it even more compelling for building Subject-centric solutions. One of my favorite features is Push Notification Service Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:17:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/iPhone_OS_3_0_-_ready_for_Subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/iPhone_OS_3_0_-_ready_for_Subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing PSI Generic User Interface The new version of Ontopedia PSI server is out. There are several interesting features in this release. We introduced auto-reification of all assertions, "everything is a subject" now. In the new version, preferable and recommended way to model web resources is to model them as first class "subjects". Another interesting feature is ability to search for 'facts' related to various subjects. Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:32:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Finding_facts_without_scanning_millions_of_documents http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Finding_facts_without_scanning_millions_of_documents Subject-centric computing Subject-centric micro-blogging Traditionally, when we think about subject-centric approach to organizing information, we have in mind equivalent of "master data" - main entities, their properties and relationships. This type of information is relatively static. Of course, subject-centric approach works well also for representing/organizing information about "transactions" and "events". Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:44:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_micro-blogging_and_Ontopedias_ knowledge_map http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_micro-blogging_and_Ontopedias_ knowledge_map Subject-centric computing OWL Carl Hewitt Paraconsistent logic Actor model ITConversations published recently Jon Udell's interview with Carl Hewitt. In this interview - "Interdependent Message-Passing ORGs", Carl Hewitt shares his ideas about distributed computations, Actor model, inconsistent knowledge, paraconsistent logic and semantic web. Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:01:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Carl_Hewitt-Actor_model_OWL_knowledge_inconsistency_and_paraconsistent_logic http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Carl_Hewitt-Actor_model_OWL_knowledge_inconsistency_and_paraconsistent_logic Subject-centric computing XTM Topic Maps RDF PSI InfoQ published an interview with Tom Preston-Werner on Powerset, GitHub, Ruby and Erlang. I really like projects that try to analyze text/resources on the web and try to implement "smart search". Powerset is one of these projects. But what I like even more is the approach when we explicitly represent facts/information items using open knowledge representation standards such as Topic Maps or RDF. Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:03:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Watching_an_interview_about_Powerset http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Watching_an_interview_about_Powerset Topic Maps RDF PSI 2008 SemTech Conference PURL I have been thinking about RDF support on Ontopedia PSI server for quite some time. Semantic Technology Conference that I attended this spring gave me some new ideas in this direction. I decided to follow recommendations from Eric Miller's and David Wood's presentation "Persistent Identifiers for the 'Real Web'" regarding PURLs (Persistent Uniform Resource Locators). Ontopedia PSI server was extended to handle PURLs Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:40:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Extending_Ontopedia_PSI_server_to_handle_PURLs_support_for_RDF_step_one http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Extending_Ontopedia_PSI_server_to_handle_PURLs_support_for_RDF_step_one Subject-centric computing Resource-Oriented Architecture Topic Maps PSI The new version of Ontopedia PSI server is out now. It is possible to represent various types of assertions related to subjects (names, occurrences, associations). The new PSI server allows also to record and integrate opinions of different users. Its internal knowledge representation is optimized for paraconsistent reasoning Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:30:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/The_new_version_of_Ontopedia_PSI_server http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/The_new_version_of_Ontopedia_PSI_server Resource-Oriented Architecture Oracle (Corporation) RDF OWL Yahoo! Franz Inc Ontos AG Douglas Lenat Cyc PSI 2008 SemTech Conference I am back from "Semantic Technology Conference":http://www.semantic-conference.com. It is becoming bigger and bigger each year. This year there were more than hundred sessions, full day of tutorials, product exhibition. It was quite crowded and energizing. Sat, 24 May 2008 16:54:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/2008_Semantic_Technology_Conference_random_observations http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/2008_Semantic_Technology_Conference_random_observations Subject-centric computing Resource-Oriented Architecture CTM Topic Maps Steve Vinoski published a very interesting article: "Serendipitous reuse":http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IEEE-Serendipitous_Reuse.pdf. He also provided additional comments in "his blog":http://steve.vinoski.net/blog/2008/01/05/serendipitous-reuse. The author explores benefits of RESTful uniform interfaces based on HTTP "verbs" GET, PUT, POST and DELETE for building expansible distributed systems. He also compares RESTful approach with traditional SOA implementations based on strongly typed operation-centric interfaces. Serendipitous reuse is one of the main goals of Subject-centric computing. In addition to uniform interfaces, Subject-centric computing promotes usage of uniform representations with basic ontological commitments (as one of the possible representations). Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:14:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Serendipitous_reuse_and_representations_with_basic_ontological_commitments http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Serendipitous_reuse_and_representations_with_basic_ontological_commitments Subject-centric computing Topic Maps I did a presentation and tutorial at "Topic Maps 2008":http://www.topicmaps.com/tmc/conference.jsp?conf=TM2008. Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:45:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Slides_from_Topic_ Maps_2008 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Slides_from_Topic_ Maps_2008 CTM Ruby (programming language) Topic Maps Domain Specific Language Designing and using Domain Specific Languages (DSL) is a popular programming style in Ruby community. I am experimenting with Ruby-based DSL for authoring topic maps. Surprisingly, the result is very close to my view on the "ideal" CTM (Compact Topic Maps syntax). Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:47:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Authoring_topic_maps_using_Ruby_based_DSL_CTM_the_way_I_like_it http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Authoring_topic_maps_using_Ruby_based_DSL_CTM_the_way_I_like_it XTM Topic Maps XTM export has been available on Subject-centric blog from the first day. But, I think, it was not obvious what readers can do with it. I added a link to "Subject-centric topic map":http://www.ontopedia.net/omnigator/models/topic_nontopoly.jsp?tm=subject-centric.xtm&id=id_d13864244f388d31a24c79ad3f1603dd in "Omnigator":http://www.ontopia.net/omnigator (Topic Maps browser). Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:16:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_blog_in_XTM_Topic_Maps_interchange_format http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_blog_in_XTM_Topic_Maps_interchange_format Subject-centric computing Robotics I was in Kyoto for three days in December. Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto is a region with high concentration of companies involved in robotics. I cannot stop thinking about robotics and Subject-centric computing after this trip. Traditionally, when we talk about Subject-centric computing (SCC) and Topic Maps (as enabling technology), we assume more or less slowly evolving models. In the world of robotics, models are evolving in real time. Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:32:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_computing_and_robotics_Osaka_will_soon_be_known_as_the_capital_of_the_robotics_world http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_computing_and_robotics_Osaka_will_soon_be_known_as_the_capital_of_the_robotics_world Subject-centric computing Resource-Oriented Architecture RESTful Web Services Service-oriented architecture (SOA) If we look at traditional SOA, business transactions are modeled typically as service operations that are part of a service contract. Operation invocations in traditional SOA are not treated as first class "objects". Operation invocations do not have own identity. Components/processes inside of a service and service clients cannot reference individual operation calls. Situation is different if we look at subject-centric and RESTFul services. Sat, 24 Nov 2007 15:37:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Resource-Oriented_Architecture_and_Subject-centric_computing_vs_traditional_SOA_modeling_business_transactions http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Resource-Oriented_Architecture_and_Subject-centric_computing_vs_traditional_SOA_modeling_business_transactions Subject-centric computing Multi-touch interaction iPhone iPod touch If you follow news related to HCI (human-computer interaction), then you probably saw multi-touch interaction demonstrations by Jeff Han. You probably already use (or played) with iPhone or iPod touch. So you know what multi-touch interaction is about. This kind of interface goes hand in hand with Subject-centric computing. Why? Mon, 19 Nov 2007 20:11:00 -0500 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Multi-touch_interaction_iPhone_and_Subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Multi-touch_interaction_iPhone_and_Subject-centric_computing Subject-centric computing Ruby (programming language) OS X Leopard I upgraded one of my Mac-based systems with OS X Leopard. It is great. I like it. But from the subject-centric perspective it is still more or less a traditional application/document-centric OS. How can we make it more subject-centric? Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:10:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/OS_X_Leopard_and_subject-centric_computing http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/OS_X_Leopard_and_subject-centric_computing TMCL TMQL CTM Ruby (programming language) I did a short presentation (3 slides) about requirements for a new subject-centric programming language on TMRA 2007. I made a reference to COBOL as a language that had built-in high-level support for defining and manipulating "business data". Many modern programming languages "outsourced" data handling to relational databases and lost transparency and simplicity in manipulation of data. Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:29:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_programming_language_or_what_was_good_about_COBOL http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Subject-centric_programming_language_or_what_was_good_about_COBOL ISO 13250 Subject-centric computing XTM Resource-Oriented Architecture RESTful Web Services I just finished reading RESTful Web Services. It is an amazing book and I think it will play a very important role in defining main principles of the next generation of the Web. The authors of the book introduce the Resource-Oriented Architecture (ROA) as an architecture for building the resource-centric programmable Web. "Resource" is a fundamental concept in this architecture. Sat, 11 Aug 2007 19:01:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Resource-oriented_architecture_and_Subject-centric_computing_what_is_the_difference http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/Resource-oriented_architecture_and_Subject-centric_computing_what_is_the_difference Subject-centric computing Representation of "real life" objects and direct object manipulation were fundamental ideas during early days of personal computers. Unfortunately, over the years these ideas have been forgotten in the mainstream of computing. Not entirely, of course. We have GUI, object oriented programming. Sat, 09 Jun 2007 22:26:00 -0400 http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/About_Subject-centric http://www.subjectcentric.com/post/About_Subject-centric