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

Hi Robert

Hmm... in RDF speak you would ask for something like

select * where {ex:Jim rdf:type ?type}

you would get back that Bob is both an entity and an agent.

then if you wanted to find the cases where ex:Jim was only an agent
then you would write

select * where {ex:Jim rdf:type prov:Agent. ex:Jim ?p ?o}

so this would work fine...

Paul

On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 8:53 PM, Freimuth, Robert, Ph.D.
<Freimuth.Robert@mayo.edu> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I understand the distinction PROV makes between entities and agents,
> regarding responsibility.  However, I am concerned (confused?) that this
> might make it difficult to implement consistently, which will ultimately
> hinder interoperability.
>
> For example, let's say I define a person as an entity (because that person
> bears no responsibility in the provenance assertions I publish) but a
> colleague defines the same person as an agent.  If I wanted to query my
> provenance system for the person in question, will I have to perform two
> separate queries to find instances of the person as both an entity and as an
> agent?
>
> Thanks,
> Bob
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: public-prov-wg-request@listhub.w3.org
> [mailto:public-prov-wg-request@listhub.w3.org] On Behalf Of Luc Moreau
> Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 4:34 AM
> To: public-prov-wg@w3.org
> Subject: 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:
>
> 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.
> 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
> 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.
> 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:
>
> foaf:Person: http://xmlns.com/foaf/spec/#term_Person
> 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
>


-- 
--
Dr. Paul Groth (p.t.groth@vu.nl)
http://www.few.vu.nl/~pgroth/
Assistant Professor
- Knowledge Representation & Reasoning Group |
  Artificial Intelligence Section | Department of Computer Science
- The Network Institute
VU University Amsterdam

Received on Wednesday, 3 October 2012 19:04:05 UTC