On Thu, 5 Jul 2001, John S. Gage wrote:
>
> >I am not sure what you mean by this. My understanding is that
> >compositional codes serve as a "read-only" language that is more resistant
> >to undermining/redefinition by human usage.
...
> The question is why? We already have codes for billing and look-up. Why
> do we want more codes?
John,
Let's see.... If the codes are "read-only" and someone is not entirely
satisfied with them, maybe a solution is to simply create another set of
code?
> I know that this has a decidedly "devil's advocate"
> odor to it, but I am not being entirely unserious. Why am I wrong, is I
> guess what I'm saying?
Common/natural languages are never "read-only", even programming languages
allow "extensions". Using "read-only" languages (like the "codes") is a
design compromise that has benefits and costs.
The question at hand is not whether "read-only" codes/languages are
useful. Rather, it is whether open source "copyright" offer anything
that cannot be achieved through proprietary copyright?
> I definitely think it's a useful discussion, and
> even the use of the word "ontology" makes me believe that others think it's
> a useful discussion too.
I agree. Just to set the record straight and clarify any possible
misunderstanding, my position (and OIO design) is not to preclude the use
of "read-only"/standard ontologies. Rather, it is to offer the additional
"ontological extensibility" that is so rarely available to users of
current systems. GEHR has similar insight.
Perhaps an appropriate analogy is programming languages - which contain
"reserved words"(=read-only ontology) but allow extension through
definition of new variables and procedures (=extensible ontology).
The debate, therefore, is between those who believe one should setup
committees and spend millions to formulate a comprehensive set of
"reserved words" and mandate exclusive use of the resulting "word-list".
Vs. starting with a small and incomplete set but allow users to build as
they go. The latter is the approach taken by the OIO project. The
"reserved words" are the OIO forms that have been indexed by the OIO
Library. :-)
Cheers,
Andrew
---
Andrew P. Ho, M.D.
OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes
TxOutcome.Org (hosting OIO Library #1)
Assistant Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
University of California, Los Angeles
