Scott Farrar

Modelling models of robot navigation using formal spatial ontology

In this paper we apply a formal ontological framework in order to deconstruct two prominent approaches to navigation from cognitive robotics, the Spatial Semantic Hierarchy of Kuipers and the Route Graph of Krieg-Bruckner, Werner and others. The ontological framework is based on our current work on ontology specification, where we are investigating Masolo et al.s Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering (DOLCE) extended particularly for space and navigation by incorporating aspects of Smith et al.s Basic Formal Ontology (BFO). Our conclusion is that ontology should necessarily play an important role in the design and modelling of cognitive robotic systems: comparability between approaches is improved, modelling gaps and weaknesses are highlighted, re-use of existing formalisations is facilitated, and extensions for interaction with other components, such as natural language systems, are directly supported.

The GOLD Community of Practice: an infrastructure for linguistic data on the Web

The GOLD Community of Practice is proposed as a model for linking on-line linguistic data to an ontology. The key components of the model include the linguistic data resources themselves and those focused on the knowledge derived from data. Data resources include the ever-increasing amount of linguistic field data and other descriptive language resources being migrated to the Web. The knowledge resources capture generalizations about the data and are anchored in the General Ontology for Linguistic Description (GOLD). It is argued that such a model is in the spirit of the vision for a Semantic Web and, thus, provides a concrete methodology for rendering highly divergent resources semantically interoperable. The focus of this work, then, is not on annotation at the syntactic level, but rather on how annotated Web resources can be linked to an ontology. Furthermore, a methodology is given for creating specific communities of practice within the overall Web infrastructure for linguistics. Finally, ontology-driven search is discussed as a key application of the proposed model.

The Role of Conceptual and Linguistic Ontologies in Interpreting Spatial Discourse

This article argues that a clear division between two sources of information–one oriented to world knowledge, the other to linguistic semantics–offers a framework within which mechanisms for modelling the highly flexible relation between language and interpretation necessary for natural discourse can be specified and empirically validated. Moreover, importing techniques and results from formal ontology provides the formal underpinnings necessary for representing these sources of information appropriately. The result is a computationally specifiable model of dialogic interaction within which flexible discourse interpretation occurs as the result of inter-ontology mappings between our two sources of information. These mappings are dynamically negotiated according to the concrete discourse moves of interlocutors. The article draws on ongoing empirical studies in spatial discourse, where interlocutors jointly solve varieties of spatially embedded tasks, and suggests that ontological formalization benefits the construction of computational dialogue systems.

Advanced question and answering systems for community development

The Internet has made the transfer of knowledge of successful community development programs and processes possible by allowing practitioners to connect through computer-mediated-communications such as Web pages, email, chat rooms and groupware. However, because community development needs are specific to each community, it becomes difficult to design programs to solve the problem, despite the availability of funds, which is one of the problems of enduring poverty and distress. We propose that one of the ways to alleviate the burden of knowledge transfer among practitioners is to build a large repository of community development practices and practitioner knowledge using video or automated slide shows and an intelligent agent question/answering system to simulate a conversation between a practitioner seeking information and a practitioner sharing information. Such a system could provide the information seeking practitioner with the perception of dealing with one or more knowledgeable experts without having to actually interact, expediting the transfer of knowledge when the practitioner actually needs it.

An ontological account of linguistics: extending SUMO with GOLD

Recent advances in applied ontology and reusable linguistic resources such as WordNet have created exciting possibilities for synergy between knowledge engineering and linguistics. We present general ontology for linguistic description (GOLD), an effort to establish a common domain model for linguistics. GOLD extends the SUMO upper model and is inspired by data from a broad cross section of human languages. These two virtues of GOLD act to minimize language bias in the model. GOLD makes a clear distinction between grammar and semantics and furthermore, clarifies the connection between linguistic and world knowledge. A detailed summary of GOLD is presented which includes the motivation for the conceptual model along with an explanation of the major entities and relations. By taking into account data from endangered languages, the GOLD model also suggests revisions and expansions to the SUMO category process, in particular to account for verbal aspect in natural language.

An OWL-DL Implementation of Gold

An OWL-DL implementation of the General Ontology for Linguistic Description (GOLD) is presented with relevant examples of axioms given throughout. As background, an introduction to Description Logic is presented using examples from linguistics and with particular attention to \({\ensuremath{\mathcal{SHOIN(\textbf{D})}}}\), the logic which most closely relates to OWL-DL. The types of axioms used to develop an ontology in OWL-DL are explained. In addition, a domain independent methodology is given for creating description-logic based ontologies of any kind, not just those for linguistics. Using the \({\ensuremath{\mathcal{SHOIN(\textbf{D})}}}\) notation, the methodology is demonstrated for the linguistics domain with particular attention given to illustrating the use of each type of axiom. Finally, the relevant issues and limitations to linguistic modeling in OWL-DL are discussed.

On the Role of Conceptual and Linguistic Ontologies in Spoken Dialogue Systems

We report on the role of well-formed conceptual and linguistic ontologies in empirically grounded ‘spoken dialogue systems’ (SDS). In particular we use empirical results from spatial dialogues in German to argue for the strict separation of linguistically motivated knowledge from non-linguistic, domain concerns. We motivate our arguments with a number of examples relevant to the language generation task, and show how a well-defined separation of linguistic and domain concerns can be effected in a practical SDS.