- From: Luc Moreau <L.Moreau@ecs.soton.ac.uk>
- Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:27:31 +0100
- To: Jim McCusker <mccusj@rpi.edu>
- CC: Paolo Ncl <paolo.missier@newcastle.ac.uk>, Provenance Working Group WG <public-prov-wg@w3.org>
Hi Jim, That's what my OED says: A condition in which things are happening or being done. Is there a notion of agency when we say "things are happening"? Luc On 10/26/2011 03:56 PM, Jim McCusker wrote: > Then not Event. But I think a key goal of our work is to find terms > that align best with the intended usage. This makes it much easier for > people who are coming to the model for the first time. It's perfect > that we've started with concepts, but these concepts are being > grounded in terminology, and that should align with the chosen, > default language. > > If someone can give me a counterexample where an act or activity > doesn't have an implied actor, I'll withdraw my negative vote. > > Jim > > On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 10:40 AM, Paolo Ncl > <paolo.missier@newcastle.ac.uk> wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I think we are in fact reading a bit too much into this. The intent was to simplify and harmonize the key terms used in the model. an agent may play a part in the activity, and we do have a way to express that, but that doesn't have to be (does that mean we cater to eastern cultures as well? :-) ) >> But I strongly advise against using the term "event" to refer to activities that have a time duration. Events already have a clear role to play in the model, and have no duration. >> >> Thanks, Paolo >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On 26 Oct 2011, at 15:05, Jim McCusker<mccusj@rpi.edu> wrote: >> >> >>> On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 7:33 AM, Luc Moreau<L.Moreau@ecs.soton.ac.uk> wrote: >>> >>>> 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). >>>> >>> Activity (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/activity) is >>> defined as a quality or state of being active. If you look at the >>> examples at MW, all of them have some sort of agent or actor. There is >>> one natural process example, which is that a volcano is active. Even >>> in that case, the volcano is being considered an actor (which is fine >>> in discourse, but isn't technically correct). The root word, "act", >>> when used, requires an actor. An act can happen with an unknown actor, >>> but there is always an entity that is behind an act. >>> >>> Using this word to describe all events (including natural events), >>> especially formally in a standard, gives the model a pre-scientific >>> bais (the idea that a prime mover is needed, because all events are >>> acts). Note that this is actually a western bais too, as many eastern >>> traditions do not require a prime mover. >>> >>> Maybe I'm reading far too much into this, but if we're looking to >>> simplify, I would far prefer Event or Process (but with a clear >>> explanation that it is a occurrent, not a specification of an >>> occurrent) to Activity. >>> >>> Jim >>> -- >>> Jim McCusker >>> Programmer Analyst >>> Krauthammer Lab, Pathology Informatics >>> Yale School of Medicine >>> james.mccusker@yale.edu | (203) 785-6330 >>> http://krauthammerlab.med.yale.edu >>> >>> PhD Student >>> Tetherless World Constellation >>> Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute >>> mccusj@cs.rpi.edu >>> http://tw.rpi.edu >>> >>> >> >> > > > -- 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 15:28:26 UTC