Month Year Issue

October 1998 Issue: 5

Journal of Conceptual Modeling
www.inconcept.com/jcm

Editor's Notes: Now 99% Rant Free
by Scot A. Becker

The Growth of Conceptual Modeling Internet Resources

I have received some questions as to what's out there on the Internet for conceptual modeling resources. Further, as we have gotten some new (or, at least, I haven't mentioned them yet) sites out there, I thought I toss out some of my favorites.

For a while there were very few Internet resources that dealt with conceptual modeling. While I'm glad that the JCM and the other sites I am involved in are able to fill a desired niche, it's also great to see more and more quality content out there. Most notably, I'm glad to see the latest edition to conceptual online content at http://www.orm.net. This is the official ORM site and contains many great papers authored by Dr. Terry Halpin.

There are a few other good spots to check out. First, InConcept offers several resources from our main page at http://www.inconcept.com including an online forum, chat areas, articles, Internet resources, and of course, the JCM itself. Second, Visio has increased its ORM related offerings as well. You may want to check out the Data Modeling Resource Center once in a while at http://www.visio.com/products/professional/res_center/datamod/. Visio also offers a few forums; The InfoModeler forum can be found at http://www.visio.com/imsupportforum/ and general Visio support forums can be found at http://www.visio.com/support/forums/.

A couple of newsgroups are also still around and contain interesting discussions at times. For general database discussions, direct your favorite newsreader to comp.databases and/or comp.databases.theory.

And finally, a data modeling related mailing list is also getting some traffic lately. Check out http://www.infoadvisors.com/datamodellist.htm for more details.

Please, don't be afraid to participate in any of the above interactive resources; that's why they are there!

Venice

Venice, the next release of Visio, will be released sometime in Q4 (according to the Press Release at http://www.visio.com/company/pr/releases/090298.html) and promises to have some InfoModeler functionality imbedded as well as support for UML, Visual Studio, and the Microsoft Repository. Venice will be priced at around $1000. Stay tuned for more details; the JCM will keep you up to date as soon as we can.

Call For Articles

Publishing even a modest journal such as this one takes up a chunk of time in which no one is ever glad to give up. However, I feel this is an important resource, so I don't mind donating my time and the resources of my company to the cause.

But I can't do it all alone. If it weren't for the great contributions (and late nights) donated by the authors who have contributed thus far, this journal would never exist.

We all have a lot of great experiences (and more than a couple war stories) to draw on and share. Further, you don't have to be a talented author to contribute (one look at my grammatically-challenged ramblings from issue to issue is more than enough proof that we are less that perfect <s>); and your contributions don't have to be long.

For more information on publishing in the JCM, please see our Author's Information page.

Suggestion box

I love to get feedback from our readers. In fact, I even want to take a moment now and solicit some feedback. How are we doing? What else can we add? What do you like best and what can you do without? What about an e-mail version? How about an HTML-based e-mail version? Would you like some sort of notification system to let you know when the next issue is online?

We aim to please, and your feedback will help shape the direction of this publication, so please take a moment to drop me a line at scotb@inconcept.com. Be sure to put "JCM FEEDBACK" in the title.

Speaking of feedback, I also want to start a new section for "Letters to the Editor" (I'll come up with a snazzier name when the section debuts). Did a rant of mine tick you off? Do you think an error was made? Do you want to provide feedback (or criticism) to an author? Drop us a line. Send any and all comments to scotb@inconcept.com. Do me a favor, however, and put "LETTER TO THE EDITOR" in the subject area so I can filter my mail easily. This is also to let me know that this is a submission for potential publication rather than all the other sorts of mail I get, so please be sure to put this in your message. Also, be sure to let me know if I can post your name and/or e-mail address if I publish your letter. (Insert standard disclaimer: All letters may be subject to editing upon publication.)

What?! No Rants?

This month, the one thing I hate the most is people who constantly spout off; I'll bottle up my rants until next issue.

Preface

This Issue of the JCM contains the fifth in Dr. Terry Halpin's series on ORM and UML, a bit about COBOL from Pat Hallock, a search for Engineering from Dr. John Sharp, and, of course, this issue's analysis problem with last issue's results.

Scot A. Becker is a software consultant and the founder of Orthogonal Software Corporation. He is also a certified ORM consultant and trainer, a certified Visio trainer, and former Editor of the Journal of Conceptual Modeling.

Contact Information:

Scot A. Becker
Orthogonal Software Corporation
scot@orthogonalsoftware.com
www.orthogonalsoftware.com