Action, Joint Action, Activity (lessons from RM-ODP definition of "Activity" - AI from last meeting)

[Peter F Brown <peter@peterfbrown.com>]

Hi,

The RM-ODP defines Activity as

“A single-headed directed acyclic graph of actions, where occurrence of each action in the graph is made possible by the occurrence of all immediately preceding actions (i.e. by all adjacent actions which are closer to the head).

 

If we accept the premise that each (atomic) action has an agent responsible for its execution (the entity “intent” on causing an effect); and that an Activity is an interaction of discrete actions working together to achieve some determined outcome; then in SOA, an “interaction across ownership boundaries” is simply a type of Activity across ownership boundaries.

Q: is the definition of Joint Action redundant if we introduce the concept Activity, as defined in ODP? Or, do we keep “Joint Action” as a specifically SOA-ish brand of Activity (2…n Actors; across ownership boundaries)?

 

Proposal

1.       Re-word definition of Joint Action from:

“Joint action is the coordinated set of actions involving the efforts of two or more actors to achieve an effect”

to:

“Joint action is an Activity involving the efforts of two or more Actors across ownership boundaries”

2.       Add the ODP definition of Activity.

 

 

 

	Peter F Brown Independent Consultant
	Using Information Technologies to Empower and Transform

 

www.peterfbrown.com

P.O. Box 49719, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA

Tel: +1.310.694.2278

Member of:
Follow me: