We first introduce the common sense definition of the word �provenance�.
Its etymology is the French verb �provenir�, which means to come forth, originate. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, provenance is defined as (i) the fact of coming from some particular source or quarter; origin, derivation. (ii) the history or pedigree of a work of art, manuscript, rare book, etc.; concr., a record of the ultimate derivation and passage of an item through its various owners.
Likewise, the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines provenance as (i) the origin, source; (ii) the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature.
From such definitions, we can distinguish two meanings for provenance: first, as a concept, it denotes the source or derivation of an object; second, more concretely, it is used to refer to a record of such a derivation. We will come back to such a distinction when we define the notion of provenance we adopt in this project.
The provenance of a piece of data is the process that led to the data.
Referring to the two common sense definitions of provenance, we note that such a definition is concerned with provenance as a concept. Ultimately, our aim is to conceive a computer-based representation of provenance that allows us to perform
useful analysis and reasoning to support our use cases. The provenance of a piece of data will be represented in a computer system by some suitable documentation of the process that led to the data. While our applications will specify the form that such a documentation should take, we can identify several of its general properties. Documentation can be complete or partial (for instance, when the computation has not terminated yet); it can be accurate or inaccurate; it can present conflicting or consensual views of the actors involved; it can be detailed or not.
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