Metadata glossary team reviewed definition and explanatory text of GSIM (v1.2) information objects and made following comments for next GSIM revision team to consider.

Some writing convention applied to definition include:  

  • Spelling : UK English will be used (example: organisation instead of organization)
  • No leading articles in definitions : All starting "A", "An", "The", etc. will be removed. Definition of term should be able to substitute grammatically; starting with article/using sentence will not allow this
  • Definitions will not start with the concept to be defined (e.g. "A Classification Family is...")
  • Definitions will start with lowercase and have no ending dot

Exchange Group

  • Exchange Channel (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed a new definition: "means or vehicle of exchanging information" ("means" seems vague)
  • Information Consumer (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed a new definition: "Agent that consumes disseminated data"
  • Information Provider (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed a new definition: "Agent that provides collected information"
  • Instance Question (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): To consider adding concrete examples. Explanation is esoteric. To be added to the proposal to the GSIM group : Definition reads “use of a Question in a particular Questionnaire” while explanatory text says “The Instance Question is the use of a Question in a particular Questionnaire Component”. Is it logical ? 
  • Instance Question Block (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): To consider adding concrete examples. Explanation is esoteric.
  • Instance Statement (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): To consider adding concrete examples. Explanation is esoteric.
  • Output Specification (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed a new definition: "outline or description of how Information Sets are presented and arranged in Products for Information Consumers" (definition should not start with verb) 
  • Presentation (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed a new definition: "manner through which data and referential metadata are arranged in a Product" (That way we don’t use presented in the definition of Presentation) 
  • Protocol (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed 1) a new definition: "method defining how information is communicated through an Exchange Channel" (word "mechanism" does not convey much information); 2) to replace "mechanism" in the explanatory text with "method"
  • Question (Meeting 17 Dec. 2019): Proposed a new definition: "text used to elicit a response for the Concept to be measured" (Question does not describe the text, it IS the text)
  • Question Block (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): To change the first sentence of explanatory text from "A Question Block should be designed for reuse, as it can be used in multiple Questionnaires." to "A Question Block should ideally be designed for reuse"
  • Questionnaire (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): 1) To add what CAPI stands for, namely “Computer-assisted personal interviewing” in the explanatory note; 2) The definitions of Questionnaire and Questionnaire Specification are very similar. It’s not clear where designing of questionnaire and implementation of questionnaire are. Also, Questionnaire Specification cannot exist without Questionnaire (composition black diamond) - is it correct? If Questionnaire was a design, it means you cannot design without an instrument - is this correct?
  • Questionnaire Component (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): 1) To start explanatory text with "A Questionnaire Component defines…"; 2) General comment about set of GSIM objects: include a real/concrete examples in the explanatory text, not just about GSIM modeling perspective (Questionnaire, Questionnaire Component, Questionnaire Specification, Question Block, Statement, and Questionnaire Logic; see examples given under Question Block explanatory text - something like this would be very helpful for readers; also see concrete examples given about Variable/Represented Variable/Instance Variable in GSIM e-training)
  • Questionnaire Logic (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): Definition should not start with a verb. To change to "management/control of the sequence of Questions, Question Blocks and Statements based on factors such as the current location, the response to the previous questions etc., invoking navigation and validation rules to apply" 
  • Questionnaire Specification (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): See comment #2 under Questionnaire Component
  • Statement (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): “Statement” in the model specifically refers to instruction to the respondents, but the word “statement” can appear other parts in the question (e.g. Please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each of these statements…: a) I like to go to work every day; b) I hate going to work everyday). When it is used that way, it means what dictionary normally means. This distinction should also ben explained in the explanatory not
  • Statistical Register (Meeting 9 Jan. 2020): To change the definition to "regularly updated database of units and their properties that is designed for statistical purposes” (list is too colloquial) 


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1 Comment

  1. InKyung Choi

    Feedback from Linking GSBPM and GSIM task team

    Exchange Channel (Meeting 1 June 2021)

    • "Abstract object" in the explanatory text is confusing because it gives impression that EC is at the abstract level, this should be changed (e.g. "generic object"). 

    Information Consumer / Information Provider (Meeting 11 May 2021)

    • Who is Information Consumer, is it individual / organisation or a persona (class of individuals such as public, journalists, scientific community)? In many cases, we disseminate to anonymous users that we know some characteristics but don't have details. → when we pre-release, we have a certain set of individuals that we release Product with embargo, Information Consumer as its current form can handle this case. But indeed, GSIM doesn't have the notion of persona. We could add a note to Information Consumer (on the input side) that it is consumer in a broad sense including the persona 
    • Do Information Consumers need to agree Provision Agreement? Anonymous users (e.g. accessing data from website) do not agree on anything → Explanatory text of Provision Agreement says it can be also implicit. Perhaps the relationship between Information Consumer and Provision Agreement should be "subscribes" not "agrees to".

     Presentation / Product / Information Resource (Meeting 11 May 2021)

    • What is really Presentation? Is it an abstract format? If so, it is not tangible, how do we output it? 
    • Do we want Presentation always associated with Information Set? If it is a format, a certain way of presenting data (e.g. graph, table), then Presentation can exist independently from Information Set, we re-use it and pass different Information Sets. Current cardinality ("1..*") between Information Set and Presentation implies Presentation needs Information to present. We want Presentation to be managed independently but Product is connected to Information Set. The solution can be fixing the cardinality from "1..*" to "0..*" and add association between Product and Information Set saying that it is required for Product.