The Provenance Spectrum....

Thank you Scott for suggestion that we move the discussion to the mailing list... and to include the provenance working group.

What is provenance? Where do we draw the line in the definition?

Our HCLSIG TMO discussion today was reminiscent of the 'what is an ontology discussion?'.  And this is good discussion (that we just had on the HCLSIG call).  I would like to settle the argument of what is provenance and what isn't by suggesting (and claiming, if no one else has already claimed, and if so, then agreeing) that there is a Provenance Spectrum and inviting my esteemed colleagues to fill in the provenance spectrum ... and let's create a nice graphic to go with it that we can all use.

Let's add UTILITY, if we can, so as we move across the spectrum, we get more out of including more into the provenance definition.  I noticed that many of us have spent a lot of time creating metadata terms and standards to address the problems with legacy data for the purpose of integration, for example, but that if these metadata are included as "provenance" then many questions become easier to answer.  I learned this when I went to the IPAW conference last June (2010) at RPI.  I suggest people check the papers there. I was impressed.

And to Invite the Provenance working group to the discussion (or join their discussion).

Cheers,
Joanne
 
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Joanne S. Luciano, PhD                            Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
Research Associate Professor                 110 8th Street, Winslow 2143
Tetherless World Constellation                Troy, NY 12180, USA 
Deputy Director, WebScience            	Email: jluciano@cs.rpi.edu
Office Tel. +1.518.276.4939                         Global Tel. +1.617.440.4364 (skypeIn)
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