Re: PROV-ISSUE-520: Data Model Section 5.3.1 [prov-dm]

Hi all,

I have drafted a response to this issue on the wiki at:
http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/wiki/ResponsesToPublicComments#ISSUE-520_.28Person.2FOrganization.2FSoftwareAgent.29
I copy the text below for your convience.

Feedback, suggestions welcome.
Luc


      ISSUE-520 (Person/Organization/SoftwareAgent)

    * Original email:
      http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-prov-wg/2012Sep/0110.html
    * Tracker: http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/520
    * Group Response:
          o The reason why the WG introduced agents in the PROV model is
            to be able to assign responsibility for an activity taking
            place, for the existence of an entity, or for another
            agent's activity.
          o For inter-operability reason, the WG also believed it is
            useful to define commonly encountered types of agents:
            Person, SoftwareAgent, and Organization. Agents of type
            prov:Person are people responsible for something; agents of
            type prov:SoftwareAgent are running software responsible for
            something; etc
          o Given this, it is not appropriate to make
            Person/SoftwareAgent/Organization subtypes of Entity, since
            entities by default do not bear responsibility in the PROV
            model. It is the notion of prov:Agent that carries
            responsibility, in PROV.
          o If one wishes to introduce a type of person, as an entity,
            without associating any responsibility, then there are
            ontologies, outside PROV, which allow for that. FOAF
            concepts such as foaf:Person, foaf:Organization may be
            relevant. With these, one can write entity(e,
            [prov:type='foaf:Person'])
    * References:
          o foaf:Person: http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/#term_Person
          o foaf:Organization: http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/#term_Organization
    * References:
    * Proposed changes: none
    * Original author's acknowledgement:



On 10/09/2012 09:47, Provenance Working Group Issue Tracker wrote:
> PROV-ISSUE-520: Data Model Section 5.3.1   [prov-dm]
>
> http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/track/issues/520
>
> Raised by: Luc Moreau
> On product: prov-dm
>
>
> http://www.w3.org/2011/prov/wiki/LC_Feedback#Data_Model_Section_5.3.1
>
> ISSUE-463
>
> Given their definitions, Entities (or Activities) act as Agents for Activities. Since Person, Software, and Organization all fit the definition of Entity, I believe they should be specializations of Entity rather than Agent, which is a role that Entities can play in a given context.
>
>
>
>
>    

-- 
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