Computational aspects of the FLBC framework

摘要

Recent research has sought to develop formal languages for business communication as more expressive, flexible and powerful alternatives to current electronic data interchange (EDI) standards, with potential benefits both for business-to-business exchanges in e-commerce and for general intra-organizational communication. A prominent approach in this area has become known as the formal language for business communication (FLBC) and is grounded on speech act theory, event semantics, thematic roles, and first-order logic (FOL). In this paper, we discuss some of the specific technical choices for the representation of messages in the original FLBC framework and propose two modifications. The first eliminates a problematic modal logical component from the representations of messages; the second transforms the message representation into Skolemised clausal form. Focusing on two different computational tasks, we illustrate how existing computational methods can be employed directly on the resulting representation for messages. We also propose an alternative formulation for messages using C-logic and discuss possible extensions to the resulting modified FLBC framework, for example, in establishing whether an exchange is meaningful and in compliance with the setting in which the parties have pre-agreed to operate. Finally, we consider some open problems and identify directions for future developments.