Hi all, Here are some examples of databases that deal with individual or collectivites of animals NOT as THINGS but as AGENTS:
EMU: Pest Tracking in Museums http://help.emu.axiell.com/v6.4/en/Topics/EMu/Traps%20and%20Pest%20Events%20modules.htm Here's a database that tracks the migratory paths of individual birds: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/migratory-birds-tracking-map Here's a database that tracks orcas: https://theorcaproject.wordpress.com/killer-whale-orca-database/ Here's a database that tracks gorillas: https://www.gorillasland.com/la-plaine-zoo.php I would say that often something doesn't get documented because it is silenced by the information systems available (see the terrible gorilla database), arguably what CIDOC CRM is supposed to aid in getting out of (viz. Dominic's textual works issue and documenting context). The fact that people are forced to shoehorn identifiable individuals that they want to document and have discourse about into classes that do not suit them is for me the obvious argument for making classes and properties! Whether there are explicit fields for such data, the natural world is something which unsurprisingly Cultural Heritage is interested in and refers to. Orcas are, for example, highly important animals within different cultural systems in Canada, they are documented and they are documented not as things but as agents. So what is the pressing counter point to allowing this expressivity? That there are too many classes and properties. Many would make that argument about CRMinf or about any of our extensions. I suppose it depends on where you interest lies. By not opening these categories we effectively mute/suppress this voice. Because the limits of the world are my language when we choose to oppress a class we choose to oppress the ability to express that object. Or we indeed force the documentation of things that are considered agents as objects. This seems the greater harm to my mind. On the expertise question, I am not sure if we required a biologist to be able to model the notion of Birth or Death. Did we not use a middle level understanding of everyday objects and their documentation in systems in order to be support the recording of standard kinds of facts of interest to a researcher? Birth and Death are not high concepts of when conception begins or when the soul leaves the body, they are rough and ready everyday ideas of, there was a person and an event led to its end, there was a person and an event led to its death. How the case of modelling animals differs is not clear to me. Did we bring in financial experts model the payment class? On which issues we need an expert and on which issues not is not clear, nor is that expertise counts. As Rob says, having many years of experience in cultural heritage documentation and analysis of such systems does not count? I would think in basic matters like this, it goes back to the ground of coming to a common sense modelling in line with what is considered the best state of knowledge regarding the world. We KNOW that the best state of knowledge is not represented by the present modelling because agency is not just attributed to human beings. Therefore, we are presently deliberately out of synch with the best state of knowledge. I would think it behooves (pun intended) us to step up to the plate and get on to making it possible to express basic facts about the world that can be and are referenced in CH data systems (such as the existence of animals!). Best, George On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 1:19 AM Pat Riva <pat.r...@concordia.ca> wrote: > Hi Rob, > Looking at the dates on Lassie and Misha, I see that they were created > during the phase when people were trying this under an unwise modification > to RDA, and not been revised since. This would no longer be valid under the > latest RDA. And no one has bothered to propose MARC coding specific to this > type of heading, leading to the ones that were created being shoe-horned > into the personal name coding. The proportion of the huge LC names file is > too small. > > As for the fictitious, that was a completely different argument that has > also lasted years. Stems from a difficulty in distinguishing between a name > and the reality behind it. > > But these two issues are frequently conflated in the library world by > people trying to use discussion related to why one was invalid to imply the > position on the other issue didn't make sense. > > The thing is that there is no problem about having a work about an animal > or about a character (as a concept), or have photographs, films or sound > recordings of an animal. but it doesn't make sense to set up a relationship > where these own an item, publish a manifestation, write, compose or > translate an expression, or create a work. So the relationship is other. > > And a person can choose a pseudonym of any sort (even one that evokes a > pet name or is the same as a fictional character), that still doesn't make > the person into a pet. Same as two people having the "same" name doesn't > fuse them into a single human being in some sort of weird siamese twin > situation. > > Anyhow, I just wanted to to point out that there has been a lot of ink > spilled over these issues, to no real result. > > Pat > > Pat Riva > > Associate University Librarian, Collection Services > > Concordia University > > Vanier Library (VL-301-61) > > 7141 Sherbrooke Street West > > Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 > > Canada > > pat.r...@concordia.ca > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Robert Sanderson <azarot...@gmail.com> > *Sent:* October 11, 2021 5:16 PM > *To:* Pat Riva <pat.r...@concordia.ca> > *Cc:* Martin Doerr <mar...@ics.forth.gr>; George Bruseker < > george.bruse...@gmail.com>; crm-sig@ics.forth.gr <Crm-sig@ics.forth.gr> > *Subject:* Re: [Crm-sig] New Issue: Non-human Actors > > > Attention This email originates from outside the concordia.ca domain. // > Ce courriel provient de l'exterieur du domaine de concordia.ca > > > > > Hi Pat, > > While that is certainly true from a model-theoretic perspective, in > practice authorities simply create Persons for them which is, in my > opinion, even worse because there is a demonstrated need which the modeling > is intentionally preventing. > > For example in the Library of Congress: > Real animal/people: > Lassie: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nb2015016669.html > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fid.loc.gov%2Fauthorities%2Fnames%2Fnb2015016669.html&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963964170%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=hdNSl4RqY9oAtWoVxSp3xl9fCc21yLNCKsHF8lEspgs%3D&reserved=0> > > Misha the Dolphin: https://id.loc.gov/rwo/agents/nb2017006372.html > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fid.loc.gov%2Frwo%2Fagents%2Fnb2017006372.html&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963964170%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=0rU8nimUcSQsX0qHQI7H94Hs4w3ssLoOLPIB6fQdwBE%3D&reserved=0> > > And fictitious: > Odie (from Garfield): > https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2017122131.html > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fid.loc.gov%2Fauthorities%2Fnames%2Fno2017122131.html&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963974165%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=QEy5XUWLQMwdpq9prYdI14FzZlkBkHvWmHIUrph%2FeQo%3D&reserved=0> > Grumpy Cat: https://id.loc.gov/rwo/agents/n2013036964.html > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fid.loc.gov%2Frwo%2Fagents%2Fn2013036964.html&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963974165%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=LKk%2BIU6%2B1hjIcYA9lP%2F2cGVSF%2BhegeziH4ifUrOmcz8%3D&reserved=0> > > > In ULAN, here's a racehorse/person: > > https://www.getty.edu/vow/ULANFullDisplay?find=&role=&nation=&subjectid=500353456 > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.getty.edu%2Fvow%2FULANFullDisplay%3Ffind%3D%26role%3D%26nation%3D%26subjectid%3D500353456&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963984159%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=uq7x%2FB9sMhI%2Ba5WIBaE%2FYIZ1JqKCDROMhsE%2FqTHIl34%3D&reserved=0> > > > ISNI has a dog/person called Maggie Mayhem: > https://isni.org/isni/ > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fisni.org%2Fisni%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963984159%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=kA1elOx%2BnZrSK8z8AkvhabyJQfHsRUAY%2FpP53dqgvfI%3D&reserved=0> > 0000000497302960 > > And so on. > > Rob > > > On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 4:50 PM Pat Riva via Crm-sig <crm-sig@ics.forth.gr> > wrote: > > Just to remark that the library world discussed non-human actors for many > years (in the literal sense of actor as in the dogs that portrayed Lassie > in the TV series, or that portrayed Sykes and Paddy from Midsomer Murders, > somehow it is always cute dogs that are brought up in the discussion). > > The desire was to list the named animal actors in the credits for the cast > of a film and provide access via their "real" names the same as for the > rest of the cast, and so using the same mechanisms as for human actors. > > This sounds like it might be fine until you realize that making the dog a > valid LRM-E6 Agent means that it can have the full range of responsibility > relationships to works, expressions, manifestations and items. Which > becomes absurd. > > And while is it understood that one can easily film an individual animal, > it isn't clear that it is behaving as an actor intending to create a > cinematographic work in the same way that the human participants. There was > also no clear consensus on which sorts of animals were individually > interesting enough to merit this treatment, rather than just being viewed > as an instance of their species (as in nature documentaries). > > The animal agent option was rejected in FRBR and again rejected in LRM, > and a LRM-E6 Agent (= E39 Actor) remains restricted to either individual > human beings (LRM-E7 Person) or groups of human beings (LRM-E8 Collective > Agent, or F55 Collective Agent in LRMoo). > > The current compromise is that the animal actors, if it is desired to > provide access points for them, are established as instances of a > subcategory of LRM-E1 Res that is disjoint from LRM-E6 Agent. There was > talk of creating some guidelines for this at one point, but I have not > followed the issue since then. > > Pat > > Pat Riva > > Associate University Librarian, Collection Services > > Concordia University > > Vanier Library (VL-301-61) > > 7141 Sherbrooke Street West > > Montreal, QC H4B 1R6 > > Canada > > pat.r...@concordia.ca > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Crm-sig <crm-sig-boun...@ics.forth.gr> on behalf of George > Bruseker via Crm-sig <crm-sig@ics.forth.gr> > *Sent:* October 11, 2021 3:02 PM > *To:* Martin Doerr <mar...@ics.forth.gr> > *Cc:* crm-sig@ics.forth.gr <Crm-sig@ics.forth.gr> > *Subject:* Re: [Crm-sig] New Issue: Non-human Actors > > Hi Martin, > > I think Rob listed in the introduction to the issue the use cases of > documentation of individual action of animals. > > It would seem that natural scientists don't only study species but also > individuals. > > Here's a smattering of pieces culled from casual reading in the past few > weeks with nice motivations and examples for these new classes. > > > https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/29/new-zealand-kea-can-use-touchscreens-but-cant-distinguish-between-real-and-virtual-worlds > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2021%2Fsep%2F29%2Fnew-zealand-kea-can-use-touchscreens-but-cant-distinguish-between-real-and-virtual-worlds&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963994155%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=IUWEJ56BvmZ9CUxoqHfOUPH7YMtOJtB4Yq4wTI72LxE%3D&reserved=0> > > > https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-australias-google-delivery-drone-attacked-by-raven-mid-air-2021-9?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=sf-insider-inventions&utm_medium=social > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fwatch-australias-google-delivery-drone-attacked-by-raven-mid-air-2021-9%3Futm_source%3Dfacebook.com%26utm_campaign%3Dsf-insider-inventions%26utm_medium%3Dsocial&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838963994155%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=u7qMs06srq%2BXVgyFkGkEXSEeUXfY29RpAWp%2Fr8Tw%2BWQ%3D&reserved=0> > > > https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/what-the-crow-knows/580726/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fmagazine%2Farchive%2F2019%2F03%2Fwhat-the-crow-knows%2F580726%2F%3Futm_campaign%3Dthe-atlantic%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964004154%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=hZSt7ysLRKBeyeETe%2BRmi6QlK1BQB7oLdbSVT7J6x%2FY%3D&reserved=0> > > > https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/06/anicka-yi-tate-modern-turbine-hall-commission > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fartanddesign%2F2021%2Foct%2F06%2Fanicka-yi-tate-modern-turbine-hall-commission&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964004154%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=WcnY9gdVpszxHSnK9zefRS%2BtFt0yJJrEJEWny8vUqQ8%3D&reserved=0> > > > All best, > > George > > On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 9:44 PM Martin Doerr <mar...@ics.forth.gr> wrote: > > Dear Robert, > > Having collaborated with natural history museum colleagues for some years > and designed a research infrastructure for biodiversity in Greece, I > understand that they normally do not describe the actions of an individual > in a way that information integration on the base of the individual's > animal actions would be needed. They would rather state the fact that an > individual of type A, showed individual behavior pattern B. They would > integrate these data on a type base, and not on an individual base. We have > at FORTH converted Darwin Core data of occurrences of individuals into > CRMsci representations. That had so far covered the needs. > > A colleague in Britain had used, I think, CRM for modelling observations > of Caledonian Crow observations. Since these crows do not travel, the > relevant information access and exchange is still on a categorical level. > > Migratory birds tracking may be an application, but normally they do not > describe other behavior than move, in which case we can use a Presence > construct for the migration paths. > > Our collaboration with NHM showed that they often prefer not to use CRM > for their observation data. In a large European Project, we were forced to > cheat and rename all CRM concepts, so that they appeared under a "BIO" > title. > > So, in short, we need an expert that would show us practice of modelling > animal actions individually, and be willing to consider CRM... > > Cheers, > > Martin > > On 10/11/2021 9:13 PM, Robert Sanderson wrote: > > > Could we clarify what sort of expert we're looking for to move the > discussion forward? In particular, natural history museums seem to be at > the critical intersection between CIDOC and the activities of animals. I > can represent the sorts of documentary evidence from that side, and happy > to reach out to colleagues at other NHMs. So I think the first aspect is > covered, but I question whether we (as modelers of museum knowledge and > documentation) /need/ to understand animal individuality or behavior in > order to take the first step of describing an animal performing some > action. Conversely, my experience has always been that when there is > something to react to, it is much easier to engage with outside > specialists. It is easier to ask for opinions on something than it is to > ask them to help come up with the interdisciplinary model. > > I also don't think it makes sense to model animal actors in great detail, > down to the same level as the differences between classes in CRMTex for > example. The baseline that we need to start with is much simpler. If there > isn't a fine grained concept of animal individuality, I don't think that > means we can't model an individual animal at a coarser granularity, just > that we shouldn't allow the ontology to describe anything that we don't > understand. Even as a non-biologist, I know without any hesitation that the > bird laid the egg in the nest in the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and > that the herd of dinosaurs created the footprints preserved in Dinosaur > State Park up the road from us. I know that a sheepdog can herd sheep and > makes decisions about which way to run to accomplish the aim of getting > the sheep into the next field (and when I was a little lad played the part > of such a sheepdog for my uncle in New Zealand). How does the sheepdog > know? Does it know that it knows? If we study 100 sheepdogs individually > and in groups, what do we learn about sheepdog behavior? I don't care, and > I don't think any other museum oriented documentation system would either :) > > Rob > > > On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 11:50 AM Martin Doerr <mar...@ics.forth.gr> wrote: > > Dear George, Robert, > > This makes generally sense to me as a discussion starting point. However, > I‘d like to remind you that our methodology requires first a community > practice of doing documentation about such things, and second domain > experts for concepts that are not our primary knowledge. > > To my best knowledge, there does not exist any reliable concept of what > individuality means across the animal kingdom, nor what a collective of > such individuals is. There is an unbelievable complexity to these > questions. We know from experience that any global widening of scope can > blur all distinctions ontology enginerring relies on. Therefore I'd regard > it as most important to find the experts first and let them speak. > > The reasons why we did not model animal actors is precisely the lack of an > experts group to communicate with. > > Best, > > Martin > > > On 10/11/2021 4:28 PM, George Bruseker wrote: > > Dear all, > > In preparation for the discussion of non-human actors as related to use > cases arising in Linked.Art (inter alia), Rob and I have sketched some > ideas back and forth to try to find a monotonic was to add the agency of > animals in the first instance into CRM (proceeding in an empirical bottom > up fashion) and then see where else we might also get added in (searching > for the sibling class that Martin suggests and the generalization that it > would need). > > The linked sketch provides a proposal for discussion. The background is > given already in this issue. > > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RtKBvAH1N0G8yaE_io6hU2Z8MTBmH_8-/view?usp=sharing > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F1RtKBvAH1N0G8yaE_io6hU2Z8MTBmH_8-%2Fview%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964014148%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=oYtVlYXC2%2BlPBV8yCkJrG6Vnf5%2BtKLxKFmd2GqOy7xA%3D&reserved=0> > (draw.io > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fdraw.io%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964024142%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=vFQ2ff%2FsrgoDj9l5wadtrm79xY9tnLjCsYz%2Fzkrmnro%3D&reserved=0> > ) > > > https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aCEBtXjW8M0W7qCGe9ozSMeYAH7tJ3Wr/view?usp=sharing > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdrive.google.com%2Ffile%2Fd%2F1aCEBtXjW8M0W7qCGe9ozSMeYAH7tJ3Wr%2Fview%3Fusp%3Dsharing&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964024142%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=PBU4cmiPCPHIwtRHrFLJPESTKnxyiT6BNUnAxl2RCvU%3D&reserved=0> > (png) > > > Here is some argumentation. > > Up to now, CRM takes its scope as related to documenting intentional acts > of human beings. Its top level class then has been E39 Actor which gives > properties which allow the assigning of responsibility for an intentional > activity. It has two subclasses, E21 Person and E74 Group. These two kinds > of being have different behaviour, therefore properties, therefore classes. > > If we expand the scope (in base or in sci or wherever) to include animal > agency in the first instance, then we must have a way to monotonically > generate this extension (we don't want to just expand the scope of E39 > Actor because then we will end up with rabbits being responsible for > financial crises and murders and all sorts of nonsense). > > So we want to introduce a sibling class for E39 Actor. Call this > biological agent. Instances can be anything biological. This would > obviously be some sort of a superclass of E21 Person, since all persons are > biological actors as well. It would be a subclass of biological object > since all biological agents must be biological. (but not all things > biological are biological agents) > > Then we would want a general class that subsumes the agency of purely > human actors and biological agents. This would be our top class. Here we > come up with a more general notion of agency. Whereas E39 Actor was > declared in order to account for a 'legal persons notion' of agency common > to Western legal systems etc. (and is perfectly adequate for the scope of > CRM Base), this would be a broader notion of agency. > > In order to avoid impossible philosophical arguments around self > consciousness, we can give a more externalist scope note / intension to > this class. Agency has to do with those entities which display self > organization and action towards an end from an external perspective. This > way we avoid having to know if the other really has a self. If it looks > like it is acting intentionally and people document it as such, then so it > is. > > This now gives us a super class (and eventually super properties) for all > agents. > > But wait... we need more. > > CRMBase distinguishes between persons and groups. Whereas persons must > have both agency and be individuated corporeal beings, groups do not. > Persons are atomic and irreducible (can't be made up of more persons, can't > be spread over multiple bodies / time zones). Groups are composed of > persons and groups. Groups are inherently collective. > > If we wish then to have this same distinction reflected into the > biological domain we would need a class for individual biological agents > parallel / sibling to person and a class for collective biological agents, > parallel / sibling to group. > > Doing this one would then need the superclasses to subsume these > divisions. Hence: > > Individual Agent: subclass of Agent, superclass of individual biological > agent > > Collective Agent: subclass of Agent, superclass of collective biological > agent and human group > > This finally allows us to have: > > Individual Biological Agent: subclass of Biological Agent and Individual > Agent: used for individual birds, trees, and other biological actors > > Collective Biological Agent: subclass of Biological Agent and Collective > Agent: used for flocks, forests and other group biological actors (unlike > human groups, such groups are inherently corporeal) > > And at that point we might consider renaming our existing classes to > 'human' xxx > > So > > E39 Human Agent: subclass of agent, no real change in intension, the kind > of entity that can take action for which legal responsibility can be > attributed within human cultures societies > > E21 Human Person: no real change in intension but its superclass becomes > individual biological agent and human agent (ie an animal that can be held > legallly responsible for its actions) > > E74 Group no real change in intension, but it gains a super class > Collective Agent so it can be queried together with other agent groups. > > This analysis does not get into the properties which are, of course, > fundamental but sketches a possible path for creating the structure > necessary to create this extension of scope in such a way that it would > respect the principle of monotonicity in revising the model while allowing > the growth of the model to handle the many use cases of documented animal > agency that fall within CH institution's documentary scope. > > Hope this is a good starting point for a constructive discussion! > > Best, > > George > > > > > > > -- > ------------------------------------ > Dr. Martin Doerr > > Honorary Head of the > Center for Cultural Informatics > > Information Systems Laboratory > Institute of Computer Science > Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) > > N.Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, > GR70013 Heraklion,Crete,Greece > > Vox:+30(2810)391625 > Email: mar...@ics.forth.gr > Web-site: http://www.ics.forth.gr/isl > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ics.forth.gr%2Fisl&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964034138%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=o0ecAyLDntcn6tU3%2B%2F4DgFq50GBAzGW1291wi9QhdwE%3D&reserved=0> > > > > -- > Rob Sanderson > Director for Cultural Heritage Metadata > Yale University > > > > -- > ------------------------------------ > Dr. Martin Doerr > > Honorary Head of the > Center for Cultural Informatics > > Information Systems Laboratory > Institute of Computer Science > Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) > > N.Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, > GR70013 Heraklion,Crete,Greece > > Vox:+30(2810)391625 > Email: mar...@ics.forth.gr > Web-site: http://www.ics.forth.gr/isl > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ics.forth.gr%2Fisl&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964034138%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=o0ecAyLDntcn6tU3%2B%2F4DgFq50GBAzGW1291wi9QhdwE%3D&reserved=0> > > _______________________________________________ > Crm-sig mailing list > Crm-sig@ics.forth.gr > http://lists.ics.forth.gr/mailman/listinfo/crm-sig > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.ics.forth.gr%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fcrm-sig&data=04%7C01%7Cpat.riva%40concordia.ca%7Cc79309f39b794e1f071208d98cfc5da8%7C5569f185d22f4e139850ce5b1abcd2e8%7C0%7C0%7C637695838964044131%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=SHxfxsqdh5weZGetloicBmguvo1oTGPu3iJyDtjxIhc%3D&reserved=0> > > > > -- > Rob Sanderson > Director for Cultural Heritage Metadata > Yale University >
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