Foundations for Office Semantics

Abstract

In this paper we develop the semantics of work in the office in terms of the concepts of application structure and organizational structure of the office. Application structure is concerned with the rules and constraints of the domain of the office work such as accounting, law, or social security regulations. Organizational structure is concerned with the informal and formal social relationships within the organization. Detailed knowledge of office application structures and organizational structures is necessary in order to understand how they interact and evolve. Problem solving is a pervasive activity within offices which is performed when office workers apply general knowledge about office procedures to the specific cases encountered in their daily work. We discuss how a description system (named OMEGA) can aid in the construction of interactive systems whose intent is to describe the application and organization structures. Using the knowledge embedded within itself about the office OMEGA can help support office workers in their problems solving processes.