Help:Reference and provenance data



Statements recorded with Semantic MediaWiki mostly contain untested claims which in general is interpret as an "incomplete claim for which evidence is yet unavailable"CiteRef::auburn.edu.fact.

In some instances it is helpful to record provenanceCiteRef::w3org:prov metadata as reference to improve an understanding and context of a claim.

For example, the statement "Berlin has a population of 3 500 000" is untested in context of a missing reference or axiomatic declaration, yet in spite of lacking evidence the claim is expected to be "true"CiteRef::logical.axiom under the open-world assumption.

Some users CiteRef::gh:smw:985 and in some situations, relying on untested claims maybe challenging therefore introduced the new CiteRef::gh:smw:1812 with which an untested claim can be transformed into a factual claim by recording provenance metadataCiteRef::gh:smw:1808CiteRef::Ram:2009:NPS:2889875.2889882CiteRef::Simmhan:2005:SDP:1084805.1084812 (as to when, how, by whom a claim was made) and hereby allows to state tangible or convergent evidenceCiteRef::auburn.edu.fact.

For an exhaustive description on how to use the data type for provenance recording, please see the CiteRef::gh:smw:1808 as well as the Semantic MediaWiki Sandbox example page on the corresponding pull request #1812.CiteRef::sb:smw:1812

Semantic Cite extension vs. Reference datatype
In where a statement is known as citation resource, a reference represents a "loose" attachment to any text or link without correlation to a specific claim or annotation. On the other hand a typed reference (and hereby its provenance data) is individually linked to its statement and inherently bound to a specific value assignment and only exists in context of that statement and ceases to exist when the statement is removed.