RE: Clarification of wasStartedBy example in PROV-O [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

For email reference, the PROV-O example for wasStartedBy is

:experiment a prov:Activity;
  prov:wasStartedBy :researcher.
:researcher a prov:Agent .


https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-dm/#term-Start gives the formal definition of a prov Start.

The trigger here is meant as a passive “signal” entity that appears or is observed somehow – rather than being an Agent that decides to perform an deliberate action.  (Such action would rather be to do something with that trigger in advance – which would be a lower-level Activity/Generation).


PROV-DM Example 24 shows how the trigger entity can be attributed to an agent:


In the following example, a race is started by a bang, and responsibility for this trigger is attributed to an agent ex:Bob.

activity(ex:foot_race)

entity(ex:bang)

wasStartedBy(ex:foot_race, ex:bang, -, 2012-03-09T08:05:08-05:00)

agent(ex:Bob)

wasAttributedTo(ex:bang, ex:Bob)


Of course an Agent can play the role of a more passive “trigger” Entity (as long as it is not also typed as an Activity).
For example: a Person (an Entity which is also an Agent) appears next to a photo-sensitive automatic door; and her mere presence then starts the :openingDoor Activity.   But that activity could just as well have been triggered by the presence of a :cardboardBox – so she acts merely as an Entity in the wasStartedBy relation -- although as an Agent she can decide her own movements.


So I agree that the example in PROV-O is misleading, although not semantically wrong.

The expanded https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-o/#qualifiedStart and https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-o/#Start  give a better example where the trigger is a changed data record.

   :consistency_checking prov:wasStartedBy :updated_data_record

I suggest updating the wasStartedBy example to match the above; alternatively a simpler one from PROV-DM example 24:

:foot_race a prov:Activity ;
    prov:wasStartedBy :bang .
:bang a prov:Entity.



--
Stian Soiland-Reyes, eScience Lab
School of Computer Science, The University of Manchester
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-9718

From: Car Nicholas<mailto:Nicholas.Car@ga.gov.au>
Sent: 15 August 2017 12:51
To: public-prov-comments@w3.org<mailto:public-prov-comments@w3.org>
Subject: Clarification of wasStartedBy example in PROV-O [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]


PROV-O's RDF indicates that wasStartedBy has a domain of Activity and a range of Entity however the illustrative example of use (https://www.w3.org/TR/prov-o/#wasStartedBy) shows a domain of Activity and a range of Agent. While something viewed as an Entity may also be viewed as an Agent, is the PROV-O example incorrect or at least confusing?


Nick


Nicholas Car

Data Architect

Geoscience Australia

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