[Data-modeling] structure2: using the Project schema

[Kirrily Robert]

On 26/02/2009, at 12:06 PM, Ed Laurent wrote:

> Second, I request a start and end date added to the "Project  
> participation" CVT like I modeled here:
> http://www.freebase.com/type/schema/base/conservationaction/participation
> Participation is probably common enough to extend to other bases so  
> it might be better placed as an included type in Project as a  
> "Participation subject" or "Participation activity" property/type of  
> the "Project participation" CVT.

Hmmmm.  Would you say that Heath Ledger "participated" in Dark Knight,  
or that Barack Obama "participated" in the 2008 US Presidential  
Election?  Film performances and election contestants are existing  
"participation" models in Freebase.  While it might be interesting to  
have a general participation schema, it becomes very abstract very  
quickly, and makes it impossible to eg. display Germany's military  
history separately from its involvement in the Olympics -- at least on  
the Freebase.com website.

> Third, project funding often comes in waves so it would be nice to  
> have a CVT property that documents the dated amount as well as a  
> property to store the "Funding source" (e.g., grant ID, foundation  
> name, person, company). This CVT would probably replace "Actual  
> costs" which should be renamed to "Funding" or something similar.  
> See how I've modeled this for consideration: http://www.freebase.com/type/schema/base/conservationaction/program_financial_support

This is true of grant-funded projects, but untrue of most routine  
projects done by companies or governmental agencies.  Consider  
projects such as the construction of a high rise condo building, or  
the release of a popular computer game, or the widening of a street to  
add bike lanes.  None of those require any kind of funding model.   
Instead, the company or government agency simply say, "we expect this  
to cost X", spend the money from their existing funds, and hope it  
comes in around X (though of course it often runs over).

> Fourth, many of the projects I document are part of larger programs.  
> I could see using the "Project focus" property for this if the  
> definition (and possibly the name too) was expanded to be more  
> inclusive of various programs. See my Coordinated program type for  
> some examples of how I modeled this: http://www.freebase.com/type/schema/base/conservationaction/coordinated_program
>>

The terminology for project inclusion in larger programs, or sub- 
projects within a project, varies wildly from field to field and  
industry to industry.  That's why I avoided such terms as "program",  
"phase", "release", etc and just went with a simply parent/child  
phylogeny pattern which should work equally well for projects ranging  
from the Stimulus Package to the release of Firefox 3.0.6.

K.

-- 
Kirrily Robert
Freebase Community Director
kirrily at metaweb.com



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