Conceptual Group

Minutes 2014-05-21

Attending: Wendy Thomas, Mary Vardigan, Guillaume Duffes, Steve McEchern, Barry Radler, Justin Lynch, Larry Hoyle

AGENDA:

First note that in Drupal Conceptual is found under the old title "Foundational"

• Review of coverage statement at DDI Moving Forward Process Wiki site * Moving Forward Project (DDI4)
• Extent of coverage of GSIM Concepts Group http://www1.unece.org/stat/platform/display/GSIMclick/Concepts+Group
• Reviewing alignment with DDI 3.2 (Concepts, ConceptualVariable, RepresentedVariable, Variable, Representation (Abstract)
• Relationship to XKOS - Classification management - set aside as an application related view

Note: The group started as Foundational changed to Conceptual but is also listed in DDI 4 Process as two boxes under "constructs", Box 1: Universe, concept, category, unit and Box 2: representations, codelists, classifications

I think this means we need to clarify what we are covering and what happened to additional items that were originally in "Foundational" such as widely reused objects (Label, Citation, etc.)

At minimum I would like to come out of this meeting with a clear coverage statement and a game plan for completing this work at the IASSIST (Toronto) Sprint.

MINUTES:

New coverage statement:

Conceptual covers all of the basic components of ISO/IEC 11179 as captured and represented in the GSIM Concepts Group http://www1.unece.org/stat/platform/display/GSIMclick/Concepts+Group

The Conceptual package will review all parts of the GSIM Concepts Group content and determine if and where adjustments need to be made to interact well with the overall mandate of DDI regarding support for work outside of the GSIM sphere and required levels of abstraction.

Issues for further discussion at Sprint:

1. Areas of GSIM that are questionable for addition
   1. Sign - do we need this level of abstraction? Park and discuss further during IASSIST - application - Can we get a statement from Dan
   2. Implemented variable - where to differentiate between logical and physical
   3. Which side of the line does Variable land on - an abstract that has subtypes depended upon
      1. If we include Variable or Instance Variable we will need to clarify the relationship to packages which have or will model this object (i.e. Simple Data Set). Is there a base or core model of a Variable that is shared by all? Should those modeled in views be a use of this base/core structure or should it act as an extension base (simple to specific)?
      2. Data Point - we don't really have this in DDI, we have the physical logical split
         1. Does this measure a specific unit?
         2. See Louise's book on data management - documentation of the unit (case)
         3. Will come up within Big Data, paradata, star schema, etc.
         4. Enter remaining parts of GSIM model
         5. Review contents in terms of required detail or need for adjustments
         6. Review alignment with 3.2
         7. Discussion on sign with Dan
         8. Discussion of Data Point issue
         9. Review and complete documentation of objects
         10. Request information from Dan regarding "sign"
         11. Enter remaining parts of GSIM model

Game Plan for Sprint:

TO DO prior to Sprint:

Note: I added new description to Drupal and changed name of package to Conceptual.