I was just looking over W3C's Ontology Web Language (OWL), and was
wondering if anyone had thoughts on the subject as it related to
openEHR.
Should openEHR archetypes be modeled using OWL or another "standard"
syntax?
If openEHR archtypes are compatible with a standardized ontology
description language, then generic ontology viewing and manipulation
tools could be used on them.
Perhaps the alternative of converting openEHR archetypes into OWL
representations with XSLT and then using generic tools is preferable?
We are looking at OWL, which is being used by Mayo clinic to represent HL7 templates. However, we are not yet convinced that all the semantics are there for archetypes. Our current work is to discover the semantic requirements for a shared archetype language. The beginnings of a paper on this are at http://www.deepthought.com.au/health/archetypes/archetype_language.doc.
In any case, we need a shared formalism that is readable by humans. OWL in raw XML form is not this - I would guess it needs to be viewed through a tool.