--- a/model/ProvenanceModel.html Thu Oct 06 12:32:41 2011 +0100
+++ b/model/ProvenanceModel.html Thu Oct 06 12:53:53 2011 +0100
@@ -226,8 +226,8 @@
<p>This specification is based on a conceptualization of the world
that is described in this section. In the world (whether real or not),
there are things, which can be physical, digital, conceptual, or
-otherwise, and activities involving things. Words such thing or
-activity should be understood with their informal meaning.</p>
+otherwise, and activities involving things. Words such 'thing' or
+'activity' should be understood with their informal meaning.</p>
<p>When we talk about things in the world in natural language and even when we assign identifiers, we are often imprecise in ways that make it difficult to clearly and unambiguously report provenance: a resource with a URL may be understood as referring to a report available at that URL, the version of the report available there today, the report independent of where it is hosted over time, etc.</p>
@@ -240,14 +240,14 @@
<p>Hence, to accommodate different perspectives on things and their situation in the world as perceived by us, we introduce the concept of <dfn id="concept-characterized-thing">characterized thing</dfn>, which refers to a thing and its situation in the world, as characterized by someone. A characterized thing <em>fixes some aspects</em> of a thing and its situation in the world, so that it becomes possible to express its provenance, and what causes these specific aspects to be as such. An alternative characterized thing may fix other aspects, and its provenance may be entirely different.</p>
<div class="xmpl">
-Different users may take different perspectives about a resource with
+Different users may take different perspectives on a resource with
a URL. These perspectives in this conceptualization of the world are
referred to as characterized things. Three such characterized things may be
expressed:
<ul>
<li>a report available at URL: fixes the nature of the thing, i.e. a document, and its location; </li>
<li>the version of the report available there today: fixes its version number, contents, and its date;</li>
-<li>the report independent of where it is hosted over time: fixes the nature of the thing as a concepual artifact.</li></ul>
+<li>the report independent of where it is hosted and of its content over time: fixes the nature of the thing as a concepual artifact.</li></ul>
The provenance of these three characterized things will differ, and may be along the follow lines:
<ul>
<li>the provenance of a report available at URL may include: the act of publishing it and making it available at a given location, possibly under some license and access control;</li>
@@ -320,7 +320,9 @@
<p>
-These representations are relative to an asserter, and in that sense constitute assertions stating properties of the world, as represented by an asserter. Different asserters will normally contribute different representations, and no attempt is made to define a notion of consistency of such different sets of assertions. The data model provides the means to associate attribution to assertions.
+These representations are relative to an asserter, and in that sense constitute assertions stating properties of the world, as represented by an asserter. Different asserters will normally contribute different representations.
+This specification does not define a notion of consistency between different sets of assertions (whether by the same asserter or different asserters).
+The data model provides the means to associate attribution to assertions.
</p>
<div class="note">Suggestion: add "should not attempt to define or ensure the
@@ -545,7 +547,7 @@
<p>
-wasComplementOf: (this relation is described in <a href="#expression-complement-of">Section wasComplementOf</a>). The crime statistics file (<span class="name">e0</span>) has various contents over its existence (<span class="name">e1</span>, <span class="name">e2</span>, <span class="name">e3</span>); the entity expressions identified by <span class="name">e1</span>, <span class="name">e2</span>, <span class="name">e3</span> complement <span class="name">e0</span> with an attribute content. Likewise, the one denoted by <span class="name">e6</span> complements the expression denoted by <span class="name">e3</span> with an attribute spellchecked.</p>
+wasComplementOf: (this relation is described in <a href="#expression-complement-of">Section wasComplementOf</a>). The crime statistics file (<span class="name">e0</span>) has various contents over its existence (<span class="name">e1</span>, <span class="name">e2</span>, <span class="name">e3</span>); the entity expressions identified by <span class="name">e1</span>, <span class="name">e2</span>, <span class="name">e3</span> complement <span class="name">e0</span> with an attribute <span class="name">content</span>. Likewise, the one denoted by <span class="name">e6</span> complements the expression denoted by <span class="name">e3</span> with an attribute <span class="name">spellchecked</span>.</p>
<pre>
wasComplementOf(e1,e0)
wasComplementOf(e2,e0)
@@ -646,7 +648,8 @@
| <span class="nonterminal">annotationAssociationExpression</span>
</div>
-Furthermore, the PROV data model includes a "house-keeping construct" acting as a wrapper for interchanging PROV-DM expressions, which is compliant with the production <span class="nonterminal">provenanceContainer</span> (see section <a href="#ProvenanceContainer">Provenance Container</a>).
+<p>
+Furthermore, the PROV data model includes a "house-keeping construct", which is compliant with the production <span class="nonterminal">provenanceContainer</span> (see section <a href="#ProvenanceContainer">Provenance Container</a>). This construct is used to wrap PROV-DM expressions and facilitate their interchange.</p>
</section>
@@ -774,7 +777,7 @@
<p>The activity that a process execution expression is a representation of has a duration, delimited by its start and its end events; hence, it occurs over an interval delimited by two events. However, a process execution expression need not mention time information, nor duration, because they may not be known.</p>
-<p>Such start and end times constitute <em>attributes</em> of an activity, where the meaning of attribute in the context of a process execution expression is similar to the meaning of attribute for entity expression. A process execution expression's attribute remains constant for the duration of the activity it represents. Further characteristics of the activity in the world can be represented by other attribute-value pairs, which MUST also remain unchanged during the activity duration.</p>
+<p>Such start and end times constitute <em>attributes</em> of an activity, where the interpretation of attribute in the context of a process execution expression is the same as the interpretation of attribute for entity expression: a process execution expression's attribute remains constant for the duration of the activity it represents. Further characteristics of the activity in the world can be represented by other attribute-value pairs, which MUST also remain unchanged during the activity duration.</p>
<p> An instance of a process execution expression, noted <span class="name">processExecution(id, rl, st, et, [ attr1=val1, ...])</span> in PROV-ASN:</p>
<ul>