OrganISM: An Abstract Representation Paradigm for Intelligent Information Networks

David Soergel
May 1998

Thanks for your interest in my 1998 paper "OrganISM: An Abstract Representation Paradigm for Intelligent Information Networks".

The paper argues that a knowledge representation using a combination of higher-order logic with an object-oriented database architecture can produce many surprising and beneficial features that have not yet been explored in practice. There are parallels to projects such as Cyc, as the purpose of the OrganISM system is to represent and reason on large quantities of knowledge from many conceptual domains. There are also parallels to the Web, as the goal is for the system to be widely distributed and collaborative in nature.

The paper can be found here.

It is several years old, and parts of it are now obsolete or (in retrospect) less interesting than the rest.

Thus, I recommend reading only chapters 1, 2, 3, and 6, and sections 4.4 and 4.12. Section 4.5 is a bit obscure, but demonstrates the flexibility of the system in representing some complex ideas. The implementation described in chapter 7 is very primitive; definitely please don't read that :)

Finally, please note my updated contact information (the information on the cover of the paper is outdated).

David Soergel
418 Richmond St.
El Cerrito, CA 94530
(650) 303-5324
http://www.lorax.org
lorax@lorax.org