Provenance

Core Principles

Version-only provenance - Provenance is recorded only for immutable version snapshots (like _v47), not for moving targets like _current or _next.

Meta-flow storage - Semantic Flow-specific provenance lives in meta-flows, referencing version snapshots in other flows. Domain-specific provenance can live in datasets themselves.

Current snapshot duplication - _current meta snapshots contain identical copies of the latest version's provenance with base URI pointing to the version snapshot for stable fragment resolution.

Architecture

Version Snapshot Provenance

# In my-dataset/_meta-flow/_v47/my-dataset_meta.trig
@base <../_v47/> .

# Weave activity with PROV standard properties
:configUpdateActivity a meta:ConfigWeave ;
    prov:startedAtTime "2025-07-20T14:30:00Z" ;
    prov:endedAtTime "2025-07-20T14:30:15Z" ;
    prov:used <../../_config-flow/_v46/config.jsonld> ;
    prov:generated <../../_config-flow/_v47/config.jsonld> ;
    prov:wasAssociatedWith <https://semantic-flow.org/agents/flow-service-bot> .

# Rights and licensing at snapshot level
<../../_config-flow/_v47> dcterms:rightsHolder <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097> ;
                          dcterms:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/> ;
                          prov:has_provenance :configProvenance .

# Delegation chain (step 1 = top authority, gets copyright by default)
:configProvenance a meta:ProvenanceContext ;
    meta:forActivity :configUpdateActivity ;
    meta:forSnapshot <../../_config-flow/_v47> ;
    prov:wasAttributedTo <https://acme-corp.com/org> ; # Primary attribution
    meta:delegationChain :delegationChain_001 .

:delegationChain_001 meta:hasStep :step1, :step2, :step3 .

:step1 a meta:DelegationStep ;
       meta:stepOrder 1 ;
       prov:agent <https://acme-corp.com/org> . # Prime mover, no actedOnBehalfOf

:step2 a meta:DelegationStep ;
       meta:stepOrder 2 ;
       prov:agent <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097> ;
       prov:actedOnBehalfOf <https://acme-corp.com/org> .

:step3 a meta:DelegationStep ;
       meta:stepOrder 3 ;
       prov:agent <https://semantic-flow.org/agents/flow-service-bot> ;
       prov:actedOnBehalfOf <https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097> .

Current Snapshot Copy

# In my-dataset/_meta-flow/_current/my-dataset_meta.trig
@base <../_v47/> .

# Identical content to version snapshot - all URIs resolve to stable version
# (same provenance content as above)

Unversioned Flow Accumulation

For flows without versioning, activities accumulate in _next with unique timestamps:

# In my-dataset/_meta-flow/_next/my-dataset_meta.trig
:dataActivity_2025-07-20_14-30 a meta:DataWeave ;
    prov:startedAtTime "2025-07-20T14:30:00Z" ;
    prov:generated <../../_data-flow/_current/data.trig> .

:dataActivity_2025-07-20_16-45 a meta:DataWeave ;
    prov:startedAtTime "2025-07-20T16:45:00Z" ;
    prov:used <../../_data-flow/_current/data.trig> ;
    prov:generated <../../_data-flow/_current/data.trig> .

Key Components

Activity Types (subclass prov:Activity)

• meta:ConfigWeave, meta:ReferenceWeave, meta:DataWeave, meta:MetaWeave
• meta:NodeWeave (entire node), meta:NodeTreeWeave (recursive)

Provenance Entities (subclass meta:ProvenanceEntity)

• meta:ProvenanceContext - Relator for complex authorship scenarios
• meta:DelegationChain / meta:DelegationStep - Authorization chains
• meta:AgentRoleCollection / meta:AgentRole - Collaborative role assignments

Standard Properties Used

• prov:agent, prov:actedOnBehalfOf, prov:wasAttributedTo (instead of custom properties)
• dcterms:rightsHolder, dcterms:license (rights at snapshot level)
• prov:has_provenance (link snapshots to provenance contexts)

Delegation Chain Pattern

Step ordering: Lower numbers = higher authority

• Step 1: Prime mover (organization) - gets copyright by default, no prov:actedOnBehalfOf
• Step 2+: Each agent acts on behalf of the previous step's agent
• Tools/software agents typically at the end of the chain

Configuration

Copyright assignment: Configurable in node-config-defaults, defaults to first agent in delegation chain (step 1).

External vocabulary tracking: Use SHACL to declare recommended external properties like prov:wasInfluencedBy, dcterms:license.

Implementation Notes

• Fragment URIs: Use <#step1> etc. within version snapshots for stable addressability
• Base URI: All snapshots use @base <../_vN/> pattern for consistent resolution
• Rights inheritance: Capture previous version rights holders in provenance contexts when content is derived
• Static site friendly: Documentation approach for external references since no server-side redirects available

Fragment Identifier Naming Scheme

To ensure that every RDF node within a _meta distribution has a unique and dereferenceable URI, the following naming scheme for fragment identifiers MUST be used. This allows the index.html file for a given snapshot version to correctly link to all provenance entities.

The structure is as follows:

<{flow-slug}-{version}-{entity-type}[-{unique-part}]>

• {flow-slug}: The slug of the flow this provenance describes (e.g., config-flow, data-flow). This provides the primary namespace for the identifier.
• {version}: The version of the snapshot (e.g., v47). This scopes the provenance to a specific point in time.
• {entity-type}: The type of the entity, using a consistent camelCase or kebab-case convention (e.g., activity, context, delegationChain, delegationStep).
• {unique-part}: (Optional) A unique suffix, such as a step number or a timestamp, used when multiple entities of the same type exist for the same flow and version.

Example

For a config-flow at version v47, the identifiers would be:

• Activity: <#config-flow-v47-activity>
• Provenance Context: <#config-flow-v47-context>
• Delegation Chain: <#config-flow-v47-delegationChain>
• Delegation Steps:
  • <#config-flow-v47-delegationStep-1>
  • <#config-flow-v47-delegationStep-2>

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Backlinks

• Metadata
• Concept Summary