Provenance

Core Principles

Version-only provenance - Provenance reference in default snapshot should reference its corresponding stable version;

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

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

Fragment Identifier Naming Scheme

To ensure that every RDF node used in a metadata flow distribution has a unique and dereferenceable URI, the following naming scheme for fragment identifiers MUST be used. This allows the metadata snapshot's mesh resource page to correctly provide anchors for 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., [[folder._cfg-inh]], data-flow). This provides the primary namespace for the identifier.
{version}: The version of the target flow's snapshot (e.g., v47). This scopes the provenance to a specific point in time.
{entity-type}: The class of the entity, using a consistent UpperCamelCase (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.

Provenance Fragment Identifier Examples

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>

Architecture

snapshot Provenance

# In my-dataset/_meta/2025-07-20_1430_00_v47/my-dataset_meta.trig
@base <../2025-07-20_1430_00_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/2025-07-20_1429_30_v46/config.jsonld> ;
    prov:generated <../../_config-flow/2025-07-20_1430_00_v47/config.jsonld> ;
    prov:wasAssociatedWith <https://semantic-flow.org/agents/flow-service-bot> .

# Rights and licensing at snapshot level
<../../_config-flow/2025-07-20_1430_00_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/2025-07-20_1430_00_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> .

default snapshot Copy

# In my-dataset/_meta/_default/my-dataset_meta.trig
@base <../2025-07-20_1430_00_v47/> .

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

Unversioned Flow Accumulation

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

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

:dataActivity_2025-07-20_16-45 a meta:DataWeave ;
    prov:startedAtTime "2025-07-20T16:45:00Z" ;
    prov:used <../../_payload/_default/data.trig> ;
    prov:generated <../../_payload/_default/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 snapshots for stable addressability
Base URI: All snapshots use @base <../YYYY-MM-DD_HHMM_SS_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

Backlinks