Principles of Provenance (Dagstuhl Seminar 12091)

Abstract

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12091 ``Principles of Provenance''.  The term ``provenance'' refers to information about the origin, context, derivation, ownership or history of some artifact. In both art and science, provenance information is crucial for establishing the value of a real-world artifact, guaranteeing for example that the artifact is an original work produced by an important artist, or that a stated scientific conclusion is reproducible.

Since it is much easier to copy or alter digital information than it is to copy or alter real-world artifacts, the need for tracking and management of provenance information to testify the value and correctness of digital information has been firmly established in the last few years.

As a result, provenance tracking and management has been studied in many settings, ranging from databases, scientific workflows, business process modeling, and security to social networking and the Semantic Web, but with relatively few interaction between these areas.  

This Dagstuhl seminar has focused on bringing together researchers from the above and other areas to identify the commonalities and differences of dealing with provenance; improve the mutual understanding of these communities; and identify main areas for further foundational provenance research.