Workflow - Handling Ripple Effects
How should the scientonomic workflow handle the ripple effect of additional minor changes to the body of scientonomic knowledge caused by the acceptance of a certain modification?
As modifications to the body of scientonomic knowledge are introduced, they often affect not only those elements that are explicitly mentioned in the suggested modification but also other elements. For instance, there appear to be cases where a change in the definition of a certain term may have a ripple effect on other accepted theories which use that concept. Whenever a new theory is accepted it is typically the case that at least small modifications need to be made to some old theories, and to the discussions of them in the encyclopedia, for the sake of consistency and clarity. In an ideal world, the modification that suggests the acceptance of this new theory should identify all instances where old theories and old encyclopedia entries need to be modified for the sake of maintaining consistency. However, since scientonomists are not omniscient, it is sometimes difficult to identify all of the necessary changes to old theories at the moment of the publication of the modification. Thus, some of these required changes surface only after the publication or even after the acceptance of the respective modification (e.g. modification Sciento-2018-0005 and modification Sciento-2018-0008). The question is how such situations are to be handled in the workflow. Specifically, should the editors be granted a permission to make small changes to old theories for the sake of maintaining consistency, without the need for explicit review and acceptance? Or should any such changes go through the regular scientonomic route, i.e. should these minor changes also be presented as new suggested modifications?
In the scientonomic context, this question was first formulated by Paul Patton in 2019. The question is currently accepted as a legitimate topic for discussion by Scientonomy community. There is currently no accepted answer to this question in Scientonomy.
Contents
Scientonomic History
Acceptance Record
| Community | Accepted From | Acceptance Indicators | Still Accepted | Accepted Until | Rejection Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scientonomy | 1 September 2019 | The question became accepted as a legitimate topic of scientonomic inquiry as a result of the acceptance of modification Sciento-2018-0008. | Yes |
All Theories
| Theory | Formulation | Formulated In |
|---|---|---|
| Handling Ripple Effects - Editorial House Keeping (Shaw-Barseghyan-2019) | The encyclopedia editors should be granted official housekeeping rights to handle the ripple effects. If the additional required changes are implicit in the suggested modification, the editors should create and alter encyclopedia pages to ensure that the accepted body of scientonomic knowledge is properly documented; if it is conceivable to accept the modification without accepting the ripple effect change in question, the editors should register these changes as new suggested modifications so that the community can discuss and evaluate them in an orderly fashion. | 2019 |
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Accepted Theories
| Community | Theory | Accepted From | Accepted Until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scientonomy | Handling Ripple Effects - Editorial House Keeping (Shaw-Barseghyan-2019) | 25 February 2023 |
Suggested Modifications
| Modification | Community | Date Suggested | Summary | Date Assessed | Verdict | Verdict Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sciento-2019-0006 | Scientonomy | 22 December 2019 | Accept that the encyclopedia editors are to be granted official housekeeping rights to handle the ripple effects. Also accept that if the additional required changes are implicit in the suggested modification, the editors should create and alter encyclopedia pages to ensure that the accepted body of scientonomic knowledge is properly documented; if it is conceivable to accept the modification without accepting the ripple effect change in question, the editors should register these changes as new suggested modifications so that the community can discuss and evaluate them in an orderly fashion. | 25 February 2023 | Accepted | The decision was made during the 2023 workshop. Hakob Barseghyan emphasized that this modification does not grant permission to alter the body of scientonomic knowledge but simply to ensure that the pages of the encyclopedia reflect the actual state of scientonomic knowledge and that the scientonomic knowledge is stored in the most appropriate manner. Among other things, this is to handle the so-called ripple effect. Barseghyan mentioned that, while working on the encyclopedia with Paul Patton and Izzy Friesen, they had discovered several instances of ripple effect that resulted from our human lack of omniscience (e.g. a theory was supposed to be listed under Theories to Accept of a modification but wasn’t; a theory was actually accepted by the community but there was no record of it in the encyclopedia, etc.). Hence, according to Barseghyan, it would make sense to grant the editors the necessary right to adjust the respective pages to handle its consequences. Deivide Garcia wondered how such very small modifications can be tracked. Barseghyan responded that the changes in question are not meant to concern the body of scientonomic knowledge (thus, these are not modifications in the standard scientonomic sense), but are only to ensure that the encyclopedia reflects the current state of scientonomic knowledge and organizes that knowledge efficiently. Kye Palider highlighted the issue of transparency: how will the community be notified about such changes? Barseghyan suggested that an annual housekeeping paper is to be published in the Scientonomy journal as a collective report on changes to the encyclopedia. The modification was accepted. |
Current View
At the moment, the question has no accepted answer in Scientonomy.
Related Topics
This question is a subquestion of Scientonomic Workflow.
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