Ontology meets Big Data:

Immutability

From the perspective of enterprise computing, ontology is seen as a kind detached pure science. When enterprise computing ventures into ontological topics it does not look to ontology to provide it with theories - it devises its own theory-lite solutions. This keynote aims to make a case for joining up these two by identifying an area where enterprise computing can usefully apply ontological theory. It does this using an example; immutability, a current concern in big data. It argues that ontology’s theories about change, in particular McTaggart’s analysis of ways of viewing time in terms of series, provide a strong explanatory framework for enterprise computing’s immutability and have the potential to lead to better solutions. This approach also reveals that there is an aspect of change in computing systems – the epistemic aspect – where a mutable approach (McTaggart’s Series A) provides a better explanatory framework.