response to satya's comments
authorLuc Moreau <l.moreau@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 22:15:39 +0100
changeset 573 df118b78d5e1
parent 572 06aa695679a1
child 574 1a34df0a28cf
response to satya's comments
model/ProvenanceModel.html
model/satya-comments.txt
--- a/model/ProvenanceModel.html	Thu Oct 06 15:26:12 2011 -0400
+++ b/model/ProvenanceModel.html	Thu Oct 06 22:15:39 2011 +0100
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
  
           // if your specification has a subtitle that goes below the main
           // formal title, define it here
-           subtitle   :  "Initial draft for internal discussion",
+          // subtitle   :  "Initial draft for internal discussion",
  
           // if you wish the publication date to be other than today, set this
           // publishDate:  "2009-08-06",
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@
   <br/>ok, so it seems that characterized thing is introduced to deal with (1) imprecision, (2) disagreement amongst different "observers" of the same data-related events. I don't think this is about "disambiguation". It's about accommmodating different perspectives on the what is the same abstract "thing".  This interpretation fits with the example:  "different users may take different perspective..."</div>
 -->
 
-<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>
+<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 different.</p>
 
 <div class="xmpl">
 Different users may take different perspectives on a resource with
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@
 etc.</p>
 
 
-<p>In our conceptualization of the world, punctual events, or <dfn id="concept-event">events</dfn> for short, happen in the world, which mark changes in the world, in its activities, and in its things.  This specification assumes that a partial order exists between events. How practically such order is realized is beyond the scope of this specification. Possible implementations of that ordering include a single global notion of time and Lamport's style clocks.</p>
+<p>In our conceptualization of the world, instantaneous events, or <dfn id="concept-event">events</dfn> for short, happen in the world, which mark changes in the world, in its activities, and in its things.  This specification assumes that a partial order exists between events. How practically such order is realized is beyond the scope of this specification. Possible implementations of that ordering include a single global notion of time and Lamport's style clocks.</p>
 
 <p> In this specification, the qualifier 'identifiable' is implicit whenever a reference is made to an activity or characterized thing.</p>
     </section> 
@@ -384,7 +384,7 @@
 <p>The model includes the following fundamental types:</p>
 <ul>
   <li>An instance of an <strong>Entity</strong> is a representation of a <em>characterized thing</em>, as defined informally above. The specific nature of an entity is specified by means of a set of <strong>characterizing attributes</strong>. The
-      <strong>wasComplementOf</strong> relationship is used to denote that two entities <em>complement</em> each other, in the sense that they each represent a partial, but mutually compatible characterization of the same thing.</li>
+      <strong>wasComplementOf</strong> relationship is used to denote that two instances of entities <em>complement</em> each other, in the sense that they each represent a partial, but mutually compatible characterization of the same thing.</li>
   
   <li>An instance of a <strong>Process Execution</strong> represents an activity that has an effect on entities, namely it either <em>generates</em> or <em>uses</em> one or more entities. Use and generation are modelled by means of the <strong>used</strong> and the <strong>wasGeneratedBy</strong> relationships. Additionally, one can use the <strong>hadParticipant</strong> relation to indicate participation of an Entity in a Process Execution.  Activities may include not only computations, but also any other type of activity that can be described in terms of their effect on entities.
 Note that multiple Process Executions may <em>use</em> the same entity, and each may use multiple entities. Finally, entities can be derived from other entities, and this is specified using the <strong>wasDerivedFrom</strong> relation.</li>
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@
 
 
 The model includes two additional types: <strong>qualifiers</strong> and <strong>annotations</strong>. These are both structured as sets of attribute-value pairs.
- <ul><li> Qualifiers can be associated to relations, namely <strong>use</strong> and <strong>wasGeneratedBy</strong>, in order to further characterize their nature. <strong>Role</strong> is a standard qualifier.</li>
+ <ul><li> Qualifiers can be associated to relations, namely <strong>use</strong> and <strong>wasGeneratedBy</strong>, in order to further characterize their nature. <strong>Role</strong> is a pre-defined qualifier.</li>
 <li>  Annotations are used to provide additional, "free-form" information regarding <strong>any</strong> identifiable construct of the model, with no prescribed meaning. The difference between attributes and annotations is further clarified <a href="#expression-annotation">here</a>. </li>
 </ul>
     
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/model/satya-comments.txt	Thu Oct 06 22:15:39 2011 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+  > Hi all,
+  > I have some review comments on Section 2.1 and Section 3 of the
+  > current version of the conceptual document (these do not include
+  > typos/language and related issues).
+  > 
+  > Section 2.1 ===== 1. A characterized thing fixes some aspects 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.
+  > 
+  > Issue: A "thing" may be characterized differently, that is viewed in
+  > distinct ways, but they are still the same thing. Does the above
+  > statement refer to the "same" thing characterized differently or
+  > distinct things? If the above statement is referring to different
+  > characterization of the same thing, how can their provenance be
+  > "entirely different"?
+
+The example in section 2.1 illustrates multiple perspectives about a same
+resource with a URL. The provenance is different.
+
+Removed word 'entirely'.
+
+  > 
+  > 2. The provenance of these three characterized things will differ, and
+  > may be along the follow lines: a) 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;
+  > b) the provenance of the version of the report available there today
+  > may include: the authorship of the specific content, and reference to
+  > imported content; c) the provenance of the report independent of where
+  > it is hosted over time may include: the motivation for writing the
+  > report, the overall methodology for producing it, and the broad team
+  > involved in it.
+  > 
+  > Issue: Not sure about the issue that is being illustrated/described
+  > here - the three "characterized" things may be the same or
+  > different. In case they are the same thing - Report A (version 1.0,
+  > only one version was ever published) located at URL
+  > www.xyz.com/ReportA_V1.0 can be referred to differently by individual
+  > applications according to their requirements: simply as Report A, or
+  > as version 1.0 of Report A, or www.xyz.com/ReportA_v1.0 - in this case
+  > provenance of the three different characterization will be same.
+
+The point is not that a same thing is referred to differently by
+applications. It is that we take different perspectives on it.
+An egg vs a set of molecules.
+
+  > Further, we can associate the provenance information for (b) with (a)
+  > also, for example reference to imported content? Similarly for (c) and
+  > (b), (a), for example the motivation to write the report or broad team
+  > involved. I am confused regarding the criteria used to state the
+  > particular provenance information can be associated with (a), (b), or
+  > (c).
+
+I don't understand this point. 
+
+
+  > In case they are referring to different things (different reports
+  > located at same URL, different version of same report etc.), the
+  > provenance will be different.
+
+But that's not the same, we refer to the same report.
+
+  > 
+  > 3. This specification assumes that a partial order exists between
+  > events.
+  > 
+  > Issue: Are we excluding overlapping events or events that are
+  > "contained" in other events?
+
+Events are instantaneous. Hence, there is no overlap and
+containment. Two events occurs at the same instant or not.
+
+  > 
+  > 4. In our conceptualization of the world, punctual events, or events
+  > for short, happen in the world, which mark changes in the world, in
+  > its activities, and in its things.
+  > 
+  > Issue: This definition of event seems to be a specialization of a PE?
+  > What are the distinguishing features (if any) of an event vis-a-vis
+  > PE?
+
+I don't see why they seem to be a specialization. Is it because event duration=0?
+We have four types of events, two of which are start and end of PE.
+So, to me they are very distinct from PE.
+
+  > 
+  > Section 3 ===== 1. The wasComplementOf relationship is used to denote
+  > that two entities complement each other, in the sense that they each
+  > represent a partial, but mutually compatible characterization of the
+  > same thing.
+  > 
+  > Issue: What does "entity" in the above statement refer to? How can two
+  > entities refer to the same thing - assuming that entity is the term we
+  > agreed to use for "thing"?
+
+Entity is introduced in previous sentence.
+An entity (expression here!) does not refer to a thing, but represents a characterized thing.
+
+Entity is not defined here as thing (in this version of the document).
+
+  > 
+  > 2. Qualifiers can be associated to relations, namely use and
+  > wasGeneratedBy, in order to further characterise their nature. Role is
+  > a standard qualifier.
+  > 
+  > Issue: Are qualifiers associated with relations only - they can be
+  > associated with entities also to further "characterize" it (and
+  > thereby create specialized entities)? What do we mean by "standard
+  > qualifier"?
+
+Qualifiers are for relations.
+Entities have attributes (characterizing them) (and also annotations)
+
+standard -> pre-defined
+
+  > 
+  > 2. Attributes, qualifiers, and annotation are the main extensibility
+  > points in the model: individual interest groups are expected to extend
+  > PROV-DM by introducing new sets of attributes, qualifiers, and
+  > annotations as needed to address applications-specific provenance
+  > modelling requirements.
+  > 
+  > Issue: Since annotation have no prescribed meaning, how can they be
+  > used to extend the model? What is the difference between attributes
+  > and qualifiers? Qualifiers are standard mechanism for specialization
+  > (either entities or relations) - new attributes may or may not be used
+  > to define specialized entities or relations. For example, a new
+  > attribute stating that a Toyota Corolla car hasMileage 100miles does
+  > not necessarily extend the entity Toyota Corolla car?
+
+Annotations: we have given example of use of annotation, where application
+specific annotations give instructions on how to render provenance.
+
+Attributes -> for entities and PEs
+Qualifiers -> for relations
+
+There is no concept of "specialized entity" in the model. What do you mean?
+Entity expressions can be complement of other entity expressions
+
+
+  > 
+  > Thanks.
+  > 
+  > Best, Satya
+  >