BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN TECHNICAL AND COGNITIVE INTEROPERABILITY

Abstract

Exchanging and using information effectively is what interoperability is all about. ISO/IEC 24765 defines interoperability as “The ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged”. We often say that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and the same is true of the interoperability value chain. If we can’t exchange information we don’t have interoperability. If we can’t use the information we don’t have interoperability. If the people benefitting from interoperation across an interface, don’t understand the information, they can still benefit from the use of the information - but that involves something else understanding it for us. Actually it involves multiple somethings since communication is an integral piece of interoperability and both the sending and receiving entities need to have a common understanding of the information and what it means. This is where convergence of technical and cognitive interoperability is happening.