The Opinionated Ontologist

Jamie McCusker

I'm Jamie McCusker, the host of The Opinionated Ontologist, a weekly podcast where I discuss Graph AI in all its forms (neurosymbolic AI, knowledge graphs, semantics, knowledge representation, and, of course, generative AI). I interview thought leaders in academia, industry, and culture who are researching, creating, and using graph AI to solve real problems. We discuss current trends and historical context, as well as provide introductions to concepts in Graph AI as needed. Since I am the Opinionated Ontologist, I also will add my own thoughts on topics in separate Op Ed episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

  1. 05/23/2025

    What's in a Triple?

    We discuss reification using the W3C draf recommendation RDF 1.2, modeling choices, and how the approach is similar to, and different from, edge properties in Labeled Property Graphs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min

  2. 05/09/2025

    KGC-palooza!

    This week I was at the Knowledge Graph Conference, the biggest industry Graph AI conference out there! I spoke with Bob Metcalfe of network effect fame, Peter Crocker of Oxford Semantics, and a huge KGC crew of ontologists, technologists, and knowledge graph experts. Featuring: Bob MetcalfePeter CrockerMara Inglezakis OwensMargaret WarrenPete RivettHande McGintyTom PlastererOra LassilaKeith CorbettElisa KendallLarry SwansonDeborah McGuinness Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    50 min

  3. 05/06/2025

    What's so Basic about BFO?

    We continue our mini series on upper level ontologies with an episode on the Basic Formal Ontology, or BFO. John Beverley of University at Buffalo joins us. John is the current steward of BFO, and works with its founder Barry Smith on its use in domain applications. For more information about BFO, visit their github page at https://github.com/BFO-ontology/BFO-2020. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 10m

  4. 04/12/2025

    Upper Ontologies: gist

    This week we discuss the upper level ontology gist with its creator, Dave McComb. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    49 min

  5. 04/06/2025

    What Does Medicine Mean?

    Chime Ogbuji joins me to talk about the role of medical informatics in knowledge graphs and semantics, all the way from MYCIN and GALEN to today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    53 min

  6. 03/26/2025

    Careful with that Predicate, Eugene!

    Properties are the workhorse of ontologies, where semantics really happen. So be careful when you make a new one! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    22 min

  7. 03/20/2025

    What's So Hard to Understand?

    Keith Corbett and Grace Roessling join us for a discussion about learning RDF, OWL, and knowledge graphs. Keith: For nearly 50 years, Keith has been a technical communicator, data modeler, and knowledge engineer. Then and now, he has explored the intersections of deterministic AI, hypertext, and graph data.  Grace: Grace is a PhD candidate cognitive science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. in the Perception and Action lab with Dr. Brett Fajen. Her dissertation is focused on how humans combine vision and spatial knowledge to guide high speed steering.  References Larkin & Simon (1987) -- list vs. diagrammatic representations (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1551-6708.1987.tb00863.x)Temple Grandin (2016) -- visual thinking, pattern mathematical thinking, and verbal/auditory thinking (https://www.jstor.org/stable/26407108?seq=3) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 19m

  8. 03/12/2025

    What's an Ontology?

    In this episode, Deborah McGuinness and I discuss ontologies: what's in them, what they're used for, what makes them good, and how to go about making them. Notes and links: Deborah McGuinness: https://tw.rpi.edu/person/Deborah_L_McGuinnessThe Ontology Spectrum: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221024668_Ontologies_Come_of_AgeSchemas vs ontologies: https://www.w3.org/wiki/SchemaVsOntology Ontology and database schema: What's the difference?Ontologies 101: https://protege.stanford.edu/publications/ontology_development/ontology101.pdfOntology Engineering: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/book/8701593 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    59 min
  9. What are we talking about?

    03/05/2025

    What are we talking about?

    Today we flip the script: Prof. Zara Waldman DeLuca interviews Jamie on the fundamentals of knowledge graphs and ontologies, and they talk about some of the social, linguistic, and cognitive aspects of human vs machine cognition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 1m
  10. How does RAG work with KGs?

    02/26/2025

    How does RAG work with KGs?

    Today I was joined by David Hyland-Wood to discuss how Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) works with Knowledge Graphs. We also talked about LLM b******t, and the relationship between RAG systems, knowledge graphs, and open-source large language models, and explore the importance of modeling knowledge graphs for effective output. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 7m
  11. Whatever Happened to Autonomous Agents?

    02/19/2025

    Whatever Happened to Autonomous Agents?

    Today, start at the beginning, and talk with one of the fathers of the Semantic Web, Ora Lassila. We take a look at the origins of the semantic web in autonomous agents, talk for a while about why the design of RDF works the way it does (and how it's different from Labeled Property Graphs), and what the future of autonomous agents might be. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    49 min

  12. 02/13/2025

    What are we even doing here?

    In which I test the audio settings and tell you what's coming. Visit our Patreon at patreon.com/OpinonatedOntologist to support this podcast! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    2 min
  • 12 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

I'm Jamie McCusker, the host of The Opinionated Ontologist, a weekly podcast where I discuss Graph AI in all its forms (neurosymbolic AI, knowledge graphs, semantics, knowledge representation, and, of course, generative AI). I interview thought leaders in academia, industry, and culture who are researching, creating, and using graph AI to solve real problems. We discuss current trends and historical context, as well as provide introductions to concepts in Graph AI as needed. Since I am the Opinionated Ontologist, I also will add my own thoughts on topics in separate Op Ed episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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