Re: VMs: VMs knowledge management

[Nick Pelling <nickpelling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Alessio,

At 11:39 08/08/2005 +0200, Alessio Cervellin wrote:
> AFAICS there is a lot of knowledge about the VM in a wide range of fields, 
> but most of it seems not organized or unrelated - it means that most of 
> the knowledge is not being shared between reaserachers, and a lot of 
> people query often for the same questions - so i was wondering: is there 
> someone who's already working on an ontology-based knowledge management 
> system for the VM?

Ah - a VMKM question. :-)

Probably the most pragmatic answer is that Rene Zandbergen's 
http://www.voynich.nu/ site (top of the list when you Google for "Voynich" 
- and deservedly so!) is the closest we get to one of those. Eventually, 
the wikibook might surpass it... then again, it might not. :-)

FWIW, I'd say that ontology usually recapitulates philology [*] - that is, 
the objects we conceive are typically built on the language we perceive. 
And we still have next to no idea about the VMs' language, which makes 
ontology extremely difficult... oh well. :-(

To be honest, I did give it my best try with the Voynich wikibook (such as 
it is): but there's a good chance that what most people *actually* want is 
a Voynich 
"why-is-my-superficial-theory-conceived-after-only-ten-minutes-looking-at-one-blurry-JPEG-actually-wrong" 
FAQ, something like:-

(1) I think the VMs is written in Notarikon Hebrew - why am I wrong?
(2) I think the VMs is written in Old Finnish, just like the Phaistos Disk 
- why am I wrong?
(3) etc, etc

<flamebait>
At the very least, this would certainly save a lot of list traffic. :-)
</flamebait>

Cheers, .....Nick Pelling.....

[*] Getting some practice in, just in case arcane punning becomes an 
Olympic sport anytime soon. :-) 


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