- I build smarter
software for science. Here's a list of my projects, my resumé, my curriculum
vitae, and some stuff I think is
interesting.
- Knocean Inc.2012 to presentontology, science, consultingKnocean Inc. is my consultancy, running since 2012
and incorporated in 2016. I help my clients multiply the value of
their resources using linked data, ontologies,
and careful
thinking.
- OntoDev: Ontology
Development2012 to
presentontology,
softwareMost of the
software I write is open source and available on GitHub at github.com/ontodev or github.com/jamesaoverton.
- Ontology for
Biomedical Investigations (OBI)2011 to presentontology,
science, OBO, OBIOBI is
an OBO Foundry ontology for describing scientific investigations
-- the perfect project for a philosopher of science. I'm the
release manager and I've been working hard on OBI Core, better
processes, better documentation, and better tools.
- Open Biological and
Biomedical Ontologies (OBO)2011 to presentontology,
science, OBO, OBI, IAO, BFOOBO is a consortium of free, open, and
interoperable scientific ontology projects. I'm a member of the
OBO
Foundry Technical Working Group and I contribute to the Basic Formal Ontology, and
the Information
Artifact Ontology, and a few others.
- Immune Epitope Database
(IEDB)2012 to
presentontology, science, consulting,
IEDBAn epitope is the
portion of a molecule that's recognized by the adaptive immune
system. Working on a new vaccine? Pretty much every epitope ever
mentioned in a scientific publication is recorded in the IEDB,
free for anyone to use. My job is to make their data even more
useful
- Chemical
Effects in Biological Systems (CEBS)2012 to presentontology,
science, consulting, CEBSThe National
Toxicology Program has spent decades and millions studying
the effects of potential toxins, and that data is freely
available in CEBS. Using linked data tools and OBO ontologies,
I'm working on multiplying the value of that data.
- Epistemology and Ontology
of Medical Imaging2008
to presentphilsci, radiology, ontology,
epistemologyPhilosophy
and radiology have a lot to teach each other. My friend Cesare
Romagnoli and our collaborators do interdisciplinary work to
improve both the theory and the practise of both
fields.
- Doctor of Philosophy in
Philosophy of Science2007 to 2012philosophy, philsci,
explanation, PhDI did my
doctoral work at The University of
Western Ontario under Bob
Batterman, where I was part of the creation of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy. My
dissertation, "Explanation in Science", applies novel
text-mining techniques and randomly sampled case studies to build
a general model of explanation in science.
- Bachelor of
Mathematics, with Honours2004 to 2005mathThere are few
things as beautiful and profound as mathematics. I wrote an
honours thesis on "Categories and their
Algebra", and I was proud to receive the University Medal at
my graduation.
- Master of Arts
in Philosophy2002 to
2004philosophy, MA"Toward
a Foundation for Interdisciplinary Science: A Model of Special
Sciences and Levels of Complexity" is the title of my MA
thesis, and my supervisor was Andy Brook.
- Bachelor of
Humanities, with Honours1998 to 2002humanities, liberal
arts, literature, philosophyThe College of the Humanities opened my eyes to the
breadth and depth of history, literature, and
philosophy.