Conceptual Knowledge Markup Language: The central core

The conceptual knowledge framework OML/CKML needs several components for a successful design (Kent, 1999). One important, but previously overlooked, component is the central core of OML/CKML. The central core provides a theoretical link between the ontological specification in OML and the conceptual knowledge representation in CKML. This paper discusses the formal semantics and syntactic styles of the central core, and also the important role it plays in defining interoperability between OML/CKML, RDF/S and Ontolingua. OVERVIEW The OML/CKML pair of languages is in various senses both description logic based and frame based. A bird’s eye view of the architectural structure of OML/CKML is visualized in Figure 1. • CKML: This language provides a conceptual knowledge framework for the representation of distributed information. Earlier versions of CKML followed rather exclusively the philosophy of Conceptual Knowledge Processing (CKP) (Wille, 1982; Ganter and Wille, 1989), a principled approach to knowledge representation and data analysis that “advocates methods and instruments of conceptual knowledge processing which support people in their rational thinking, judgment and acting and promote critical discussion.” The new version of CKML continues to follow this approach, but also incorporates various principles, insights and techniques from Information Flow (IF), the logical design of distributed systems (Barwise and Seligman, 1997). This allows diverse communities of discourse to compare their own information structures, as coded in ontologies, logical theories and theory interpretations, with that of other communities that share a common terminology and semantics. Beyond the elements of OML, CKML also includes the basic elements of information flow: classifications, infomorphisms, theories, interpretations, and local logics. The latter elements are discussed in detail in a future paper in preparation on the CKML Figure 1: OML/CKML at a glance CKML