Re: vocabulary simplification: two proposals to vote on [deadline, Oct 26 midnight, GMT]

Hi all,

I appreciate that some members are still casting their vote, but I 
wanted to comment
on two recent negative votes.

Currently, the prov-dm document defines:

Conceptualization:    characterized thing  and   activity
Data Model:              entity expression       and   process execution 
expression

I think it was acceptable to have different terms for conceptualization 
and data model,
but it made the writing convoluted at times.

With two votes against the second proposal, we may end up with:

Conceptualization:    entity                        and   activity
Data Model:              entity expression      and   process execution 
expression

I really find this non logical: entity expression is  record about an 
entity, while
process execution execution is a record about an activity. Why this 
difference?

JimMcC indicated that activity implied a notion of agency. I am not 
familiar with this
interpretation. Where does it come from? He suggests 'event', but this 
term is already in
the document (and will be the subject of a future clarification proposal).

Graham mentions a distinction between activity and process execution 
which I don't think belongs to the document.
(I also note that process execution is not defined, but process 
execution expression is).

An alternative proposal is to drop the word 'activity' in the 
conceptualisation, and just use process execution.
I find the later unintuitive, and difficult to explain. Can you 
reconsider the negative votes?

Cheers,
Luc



On 10/22/2011 06:29 PM, Luc Moreau wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> Graham recently, and Simon previously, suggested that we define an
> entity as an identifiable characterized thing.  Such a definition
> would be appearing in section 2.1 [1].  This would work since PROV-DM
> has a notion of 'Entity Expression' for the provenance record that
> describes an entity.
>
> Hence, there would be no confusion between an Entity Expression and an
> Entity.
>
> It would further simplify the writing and presentation of PROV-DM,
> because we could simply talk about entity, rather than 'identifiable
> characterized thing'.
>
> The prupose of this email is to confirm that we want to adopt this
> terminology.
>
> PROPOSED: in section 2.1 [1], to define an entity as an identifiable
> characterized thing.
>
> Can you confirm your support or not for this proposal?  If not, can
> you explain your reasons?
>
> Assuming we go ahead with this proposal, section 2.1 would
> define :
> - 'Entity' and
> - 'Activity',
> whereas section 5.2 [2] would define:
> - 'Entity Expression' and
> - 'Process Execution Expression'
>
> This is not symmetric and this is confusing. This issue
> (PROV-ISSUE-129) was also raised by Yolanda.
>
> The term 'Process Execution' is dating back from the charter, and was
> never questioned.  It feels that Activity is more intuitive and
> broader than process execution.
>
> In the spirit of simplification [3] of the presentation and model,
> I am suggesting, the following.
>
> PROPOSED: to rename 'process execution' by 'activity'
>
> Again, can you express your support or not for this proposal. If you
> don't support it, can you make a counter-proposal. It feels that
> keeping both 'Activity' and 'Process Execution Expression' is not
> suitable: so the status quo is not an option, really.
>
> Cheers,
> Luc
>
>
> [1] 
> http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/prov/raw-file/default/model/ProvenanceModel.html#conceptualization 
>
> [2] 
> http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/prov/raw-file/default/model/ProvenanceModel.html#expression-element 
>
> [3] http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-prov-wg/2011Oct/0140.html

-- 
Professor Luc Moreau
Electronics and Computer Science   tel:   +44 23 8059 4487
University of Southampton          fax:   +44 23 8059 2865
Southampton SO17 1BJ               email: l.moreau@ecs.soton.ac.uk
United Kingdom                     http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~lavm

Received on Wednesday, 26 October 2011 11:34:05 UTC