Abstract
Model mapping faces many challenging tasks and contemporary work seems to focus on computational issues. As a result it seems to lack an overarching theoretical framework whereby all aspects of model mapping can be investigated systematically. We maintain that the principles of semiotics may well provide theoretical foundations for developing such a framework. In this chapter we report our preliminary work on using semiotics in investigating mapping determination and creation between two independently created models across heterogeneous data sources. By employing semiotic principles, we develop a novel approach to model mapping as sign exchange. We give an analysis of the triadic relationship among data, information and knowledge concerning syntactics, semantics and pragmatics of signs. We present a conceptual view of sign interchange and propose an abstract architecture of information flow between two logic covers that is based upon our model of minimal mapping covers. This minimal mapping cover forms the basis of a set of signs participating in determining and establishing a set of correspondences between two disparate models. Our work considers a set of mappings at three semiotic levels and proposes a notion of the information bearing capability of signs. Our work thus far seems to show that semiotics principles do provide insight in tackling the complexity involved in model mapping, in particular the issue of “meaning”.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Barwise, J. 1993. Constraints, Channels, and the Flow of Information. In Situation Theory and Its Applications, P. Aczel, D. Israel, Y. Katagiri, and S. Peters, Eds. CSLI Lecture Notes, Stanford, California, 3(37):3–27.
Barwise, J. and Gabbay, D. 1995. On the Logic of Information Flow. Bulletin of the IGPL, 3(1):7–49.
Barwise, J. and Seligman, J. 1997. Information Flow: the Logic of Distributed Systems. Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science 44, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Bernstein, P. A., Halevy, A. V., and Pottigner, R. A. 2000. A Vision for Management of Complex Models. ACM SIGMOD Record, 29(3):55–63.
Brodie, M. L. 2002. Data Management Challenges in Very Large Enterprises. In Proc. of the 28th VLDB, Hong Kong, China.
Do, H. and Rahm, E. 2002. COMA — A system for flexible combination of schema matching approaches. In Proc. of the 28th VLDB, Hong Kong, China.
Dretske, F. I. 1999. Knowledge and the Flow of Information. CSLI Publications, Stanford, California.
Fagin, R., Kolaitis, P. G., Miller, R. J., and Popa, L. 2003. Data Exchange: Semantics and Query Answering. In ICDT.
Feng, J. 2002. The ‘Information Quantity’ Aspect of the ‘Information Bearing Capability’ of a Conceptual Data Schema. In Proceedings of the 7th Annual UKAIS Conference, Leeds, UK. ISBN 1-898883-149. pp.150–157.
Goh, C. H., Bressan, S., Madnick, S., and Siegel, M. 1999. Context Interchange: New Features and Formalisms for the Intelligent Integration of Information. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 17(3):270–293.
Heiler, S., Lee, W. C., and Mitchell, G. 1999. Repository Support for Metadata-based Legacy Migration. IEEE Data Engineering, 22(1):37–42.
Hull, R. 1986. Relative Information Capacity of Simple Relational Database Schemata. SIAM Journal of Computing, 15(3):856–886.
Madhavan, J., Bernstein, P. A., and Rahm, E. 2001. Generic Schema Matching with Cupid. In Proc. of the 27th VLDB, Roma, Italy.
Miller, R. J., Haas, L. M., and Hernandez, M. 2000. Schema Mapping as Query Discovery. In Proc. of the 26th VLDB, Cairo, Egypt.
Miller, R. J., Ioannidis, Y. E., and Ramakrishnan, R. 1994a. Schema Equivalence in Heterogeneous Systems: Bridging Theory and Practice. Information Systems, 19(1):3–31.
Miller, R. J., Ioannidis, Y. E., and Ramakrishnan, R. 1994b. Schema Intension Graphs: A Formal Model for the Study of Schema Equivalence. Technical Report 1185. Dept. of Computer Sciences, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
Miller, R. J., Ioannidis, Y. E., and Ramakrishnan, R. 1993. The Use of Information Capacity in Schema Integration and Translation. In Proc. of the Int’l Conf. on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB), Dublin, Ireland.
Mingers, J. 1995. Information and Meaning: Foundations for an Intersubjective Account. Information Systems Journal, 5:285–306.
Morris, C. 1938. Foundations of the Theory of Signs. In International Encyclopedia of Unified Science, vol. 1, no 2, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Rahm, E. and Bernstein, P. A. 2001. A Survey of Approaches to Automatic Schema Matching. The VLDB Journal, 10:334–350.
Stamper, R. 1997. Organisational Semiotics. In Information Systems: An Emerging Discipline? J. Mingers and F. Stowell, Eds. McGraw-Hill, London.
Stamper, R. 1987. Semantics. In Critical Issues in Information Systems Research, R.A. Boland and R.A. Hirschheim, Eds. Wiley.
Yang, L. L., Miller, R. J., Haas, L. M., and Fagin, R. 2001. Data-Driven Understanding and Refinement of Schema Mappings. In Proc. of ACM SIGMOD, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Xu, H., Feng, J. (2004). A Semiotic Insight Into Model Mapping. In: Liu, K. (eds) Virtual, Distributed and Flexible Organisations. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2162-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2162-3_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-2161-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2162-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)