Re: Actions in Schema.org: target & object properties

Hi James,

Thanks for the reference to the activitystrea.ms set of verbs and new
definitions spec. This is great.

Just as an exercise, its interesting to see the difference in the
specification approach between schema.org and activitystrea.ms.

In activitystrea.ms, we have:

*Verb | Description*
play | Indicates that the actor spent some time enjoying the object. For
example, if the object is a video this indicates that the subject watched
all or part of the video. The "play" verb is a more specific form of the
"consume" verb.

along with a machine readable format, like this:

 {
       "objectType": "verb",
       "$collection": "http://example.org/verbs/all",
       "$self": "http://example.org/verbs/play",
       "displayName": "play",
       "id": "http://example.org/verbs/play",
       "value": "http://example.org/verbs/play",
       "synonyms": [ ... ],
       "hypernyms": ["consume"],
       "objects": [ ... ]
 }

Whereas in schema.org, the equivalent will be documented as:

*Type: Thing > Action > ConsumeAction > PlayAction*
Used to express that the actor spent some time enjoying the object. For
example, if the object is a video this indicates that the subject watched
all or part of the video. The "play" verb is a more specific form of the
"consume" verb.

*Property |  Type | Description*
mediaPlayed | Media | The item that was played
volume | Number | The volume level
audience | Person | Other people watching / listening to the media.
score | Number | Score achieved when playing the media (for computer games)
... other PlayAction specific properties ...
... other properties inherited from Thing, Action and the ConsumeAction...

The rest of schema.org is specified that way too, and the specification is
machine readable via multiple standard formats[1]. So nouns & verbs are
specified the same way.

The main difference is that schema.org documents action specific
properties, whereas activitystrea.ms also specifies the relation between
the model and natural language forms (display names, templates, etc). That
later is something schema.org doesn't try to address at all at the moment,
afaik (though Dan might correct me).

-Yaar

[1] http://schema.rdfs.org/


p.s. It seems like Schema.org & ActivityStrea.ms would need multiple types
of "play" verbs, since in English the verb is overloaded:
1. Play (=act) a character in a theatre play.
2. Play (=consume) a video or a song.
3. Play a game.
In schema.org, there might be 3 distinct action types (e.g.
PlayACharacterAction, PlayMediaAction, PlaySportsGameAction), each with
specific properties (e.g. PlayACharacterAction.script,
PlayACharacterAction.role, etc). ActivityStrea.ms only has #2 right now.