paperspec/spec/18-layers.md

18. Layers and annotations

Everything people and models add to a document is an annotation, and annotations are grouped in layers. scienting-layer/1 is the W3C Web Annotation Data Model with the anchor as a selector, so any Web Annotation tool can read it. The JSON-LD context is context/scienting-1.jsonld, published at https://scient.ing/ns/scienting/1.jsonld.

18.1 One rule decides what is a claim and what is a layer

If a statement is true independently of this paper, it belongs in Lode as a claim, where it is checked and leveled. If it is about reading this paper, it belongs in a layer, where it is attributed and signed but not checked.

18.2 The layer

A layer is a folder with layer.json and annotations.jsonl. layer.json is an AnnotationCollection with the two contexts, format, an id of the form urn:scienting:layer:<store>/<record id>, a label, a purpose, an audience (novice, student, expert or mixed), a visibility (private, team or public), a license (CC BY 4.0 by default when public), its creator, created, its project, the docs it annotates and its total. A reader turns layers on and off, and the audience dial picks the level of glosses.

18.3 The annotation

Each line of annotations.jsonl is a W3C Annotation:

Property	Holds
@context	["http://www.w3.org/ns/anno.jsonld", "https://scient.ing/ns/scienting/1.jsonld"].
id	urn:scienting:annotation:<store>/<record id> (4.6).
type, layer	Annotation, and the layer's ID.
motivation	A W3C motivation: commenting, describing, linking, questioning, assessing, replying and the others.
creator, created, modified	An agent {id, type, name}, with type Person or Software, and times.
body	One body (18.4).
target	A SpecificResource whose source is urn:scienting:doc:<store>/<key> and whose selector lists an AnchorSelector holding a scienting-anchor/1, optionally followed by a W3C TextQuoteSelector for tools that do not know ours; or, for a reply, a SpecificResource whose source is another annotation.
status	proposed, confirmed, rejected or withdrawn. A model's annotation is proposed until a person confirms it.
receipt	For a confirmed annotation, the receipt that covers it.

An annotation's content hash is SHA-256 of the canonical JSON of the annotation without status, receipt and modified. A confirmed annotation is covered by its confirmer's receipt, which lists ["annotation", <record id>, <content hash>]. Replies are annotations that target annotations, so discussions are threads anchored to sentences.

18.4 Bodies

kind	W3C type	Adds	Says
gloss	TextualBody	audience	An explanation at novice, student or expert level.
claim-link	SpecificResource	source (lode:<tag>), pin, role	That the span states, uses or disputes a Lode claim.
symbol	SpecificResource	source, pin, symbol	That this occurrence of a symbol is a Lode symbol claim.
comment	TextualBody		A remark, opinion or interpretation.
caveat	TextualBody		A warning a reader should see.
question	TextualBody	for	A question for a reader, a group or the authors.
exercise	TextualBody	exercise	A task with a key and a rule (19).
citation-context	TextualBody	reference, verdict, reason	Why a sentence cites a reference, and whether it supports it.
prerequisite	SpecificResource	source	What to read or know first.
crosslink	SpecificResource	source, selector	That the span corresponds to a span in another document.
translation	TextualBody	language	The span in another language.
generated	TextualBody	generator	Text a model wrote about the span; never mistaken for source.

A textual body has a value, and optionally a format (text/plain or text/markdown) and a language. Nothing a model writes is ever stored as source text: figure descriptions and drafted alt text are generated annotations. fixtures/records/layer/ holds a layer with one annotation of each common kind and the receipt that confirms some of them.