--- a/model/working-copy/towards-wd4.html Tue Feb 07 12:53:27 2012 +0000
+++ b/model/working-copy/towards-wd4.html Tue Feb 07 14:33:04 2012 +0000
@@ -1114,14 +1114,12 @@
<section id="record-alternate-specialization">
-<h4>Alternate and Specialization Records</h4>
-
-<div class="note">This section is currently under revision and in flux</div>
+<h4>Alternate and Specialization</h4>
-The purpose of the record types defined in this section is to establish a relationship between two entities, which asserts that they provide a different characterization of the same thing.
+<p>The purpose of this section is to introduce relations between two entities that characterize a same thing.
Consider for example three entities:
+</p>
<ul>
-
<li><span class="name">e1</span> denoting "Bob, the holder of facebook account ABC",
<li><span class="name">e2</span> denoting "Bob, the holder of twitter account XYZ",
@@ -1129,7 +1127,8 @@
<li><span class="name">e3</span> denoting "Bob, the person".
</ul>
-One may make several assertions to establish that these entities refer to the same the real-world thing Bob, either in different contexts, or at different levels of abstraction. For example:
+<p>These entities refer to the same the Bob, either in different contexts, or at different levels of abstraction. For example:
+</p>
<ol>
<li> Entity denoted by <span class="name">e1</span> provides a <em>more concrete</em> characterization of Bob than <span class="name">e3</span> does;
@@ -1137,112 +1136,37 @@
<li> The entities denoted by <span class="name">e1</span> and <span class="name">e2</span> provide two different characterizations of the same thing, i.e., Bob.
</ol>
-Two relations are introduced to express these assertions:
+<p>Two relations are introduced to this end: </p>
<ul>
- <li> e2 is a <em>specialization</em> of e1, written <span class="name">specializationOf(e2,e1)</span> captures the intent of assertion (1) and (2);
- <li> e2 is an <em>alternative characterization</em> of e1, written <span class="name">alternateOf(e2,e1)</span> captures the intent of assertion (3).
+ <li> e2 is a <em>specialization</em> of e1<span class="withAsn">, written <span class="name">specializationOf(e2,e1)</span>,</span> captures the intent of assertion (1) and (2);
+ <li> e2 is an <em>alternative characterization</em> of e1<span class="withAsn">, written <span class="name">alternateOf(e2,e1)</span>,</span> captures the intent of assertion (3).
</ul>
-In order to further convey the intended meaning, the following properties are associated to these two relations.
-
- <ul>
- <li><span class="name">specializationOf(e2,e1)</span> is <strong>transitive</strong>: <span class="name">specializationOf(e3,e2)</span> and <span
-class="name">specializationOf(e2,e1)</span> implies <span class="name">specializationOf(e3,e1)</span>.
- <li><span class="name">specializationOf(e2,e1)</span> is <strong>anti-symmetric</strong>: <span class="name">specializationOf(e2,e1)</span> implies that <span
-class="name">specializationOf(e1,e2)</span> does not hold.
- <li><span class="name">alternateOf(e2,e1)</span> is <strong>symmetric</strong>: <span class="name">alternateOf(e2,e1)</span> implies <span class="name">alternateOf(e1,e2)</span>.
- </ul>
-
- <div class="note">There are proposals to make alternateOf a transitive property. This is still under discussion and the default is for alternateOf <strong>not</strong> to be transitive, and this is what the current text reflects.</div>
-
-<p>A <dfn id="dfn-Alternate">alternate record</dfn>, written alternateOf(alt1, alt2, attrs) in PROV-ASN, has the following constituents:</p>
+<p>An <dfn id="dfn-Alternate">alternate relation</dfn><span class="withAsn">, written <span class="name">alternateOf(alt1, alt2, attrs)</span> in PROV-ASN,</span> has the following constituents:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>first alternate</em>: an identifier <span class="name">alt1</span> of the first of the two entities</li>
<li><em>second alternate</em>: an identifier <span class="name">alt2</span> of the second of the two entities</li>
-<li><em>attrs</em>: an OPTIONAL set <span class="name">attrs</span> of attribute-value pairs to further describe this record.</li>
+<li><em>attrs</em>: an OPTIONAL set <span class="name">attrs</span> of attribute-value pairs to further describe this relation.</li>
</ul>
-<p>A <dfn id="dfn-Specialization">specialization record</dfn> written specializationOf(sub, super, attrs) in PROV-ASN, has the following constituents:</p>
+<p>A <dfn id="dfn-Specialization">specialization relation</dfn><span class="withAsn">, written <span class="name">specializationOf(sub, super, attrs)</span> in PROV-ASN,</span> has the following constituents:</p>
<ul>
-<li><em>specialised entity</em>: an identifier <span class="name">sub</span> of the specialised entity</li>
-<li><em>general entity</em>: an identifier <span class="name">super</span> of the entity that is being specialised</li>
-<li><em>attrs</em>: an OPTIONAL set <span class="name">attrs</span> of attribute-value pairs to further describe this record.</li>
+<li><em>specialised entity</em>: an identifier of the specialised entity</li>
+<li><em>general entity</em>: an identifier of the entity that is being specialised</li>
+<li><em>attrs</em>: an OPTIONAL set of attribute-value pairs to further describe this relation.</li>
</ul>
</p>
-<p>
-An entity record identifier can optionally be accompanied by an account identifier. When this is the case, it becomes possible to use the <span class="name">alternateOf</span> relation to
-link two entity record identifiers that are appear in different accounts. (In particular, the entity identifiers in two different account are allowed to be the same.). When account
-identifiers are not available, then the linking of entity records through <span class="name">alternateOf</span> can only take place within the scope of a single account.
-</p>
-
-
-
-<div class="withAsn">
-<p>In PROV-ASN, an alternate record's text matches the <span class="nonterminal">alternateRecord</span> production of the grammar defined in this specification document.</p>
+<p>To promote take up of these relations, it is not specified whether they are transitive or symmetric. We anticipate that applications will specialize these relations according to their needs. </p>
-<div class='grammar'>
- <span class="nonterminal">alternateRecord</span> ::=
- <span class="name">alternateOf</span>
-<span class="name">(</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">optional-attribute-values</span>
-<span class="name">)</span> <br/>
-|
- <span class="name">alternateOf</span>
-<span class="name">(</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
- <span class="nonterminal">accIdentifier</span>
- <span class="name">,</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
- <span class="nonterminal">accIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
- <span class="nonterminal">optional-attribute-values</span>
-<span class="name">)</span>
-</div>
-
-
-<p>In PROV-ASN, a specialization record's text matches the <span class="nonterminal">specializationRecord</span>production of the grammar defined in this specification document.</p>
-
-<div class='grammar'>
- <span class="nonterminal">specializationRecord</span> ::=
- <span class="name">specializationOf</span>
-<span class="name">(</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">optional-attribute-values</span>
-<span class="name">)</span> <br/>
-|
- <span class="name">specializationOf</span>
-<span class="name">(</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
- <span class="nonterminal">accIdentifier</span>
- <span class="name">,</span>
-<span class="nonterminal">eIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
- <span class="nonterminal">accIdentifier</span>
-<span class="name">,</span>
- <span class="nonterminal">optional-attribute-values</span>
-<span class="name">)</span> <br/>
-
-</div>
-</div>
<div class='issue'>A discussion on alternative definition of these relations has not reached a satisfactory conclusion yet. This is <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/29">ISSUE-29</a>. Also <a href="http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/96">ISSUE-96</a>.</div>