SETL: Semantic Extract, Transform and Load

Originally published on Thu, 05/09/2013 - 07:53

A longstanding category of database tools are dubbed "ETL", short for extract, transform and load.

Within the area of richer knowledge representations (including ontologies) there are an abundance of problems related to conceptual alignment and inferring equivalence between alternative formulations and semantics. In my work developing tools for these sorts of problems, I have coined the term "SETL", adding the adjective of "semantic" to extend, rather than restrict, the domain of ETL.

By the way, putting on my linguistics hat, the semantical distinction between intersective vs. non-intersective adjectives is well known. Think: brown mouse (intersective) vs. big mouse (non-intersective). However, rarely is there a connection drawn in the rather common way that multi-word expressions are formed where an adjective acts to extend a category, as in my use of "semantic" in SETL.