Modification:Sciento-2019-0006

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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.

The modification was suggested to Scientonomy community by Hakob Barseghyan and Jamie Shaw on 22 December 2019.1 The modification was accepted on 25 February 2023.

Preamble

When a modification becomes accepted, it sometimes implies changes to other elements of the scientonomic mosaic - changes, that are not explicitly stated in the suggested modification. For instance, modification Sciento-2018-0005 proposed a new definition of method as a set of criteria for theory evaluation, and a new definition of methodology as a normative discipline that formulates the rules which ought to be employed in theory assessment. Paul Patton pointed out in one of his comments that the acceptance of these new definitions will require a series of changes to other elements of our mosaic, such as the methodology can shape method theorem. In an ideal world, each modification would identify all such required changes to the accepted body of scientonomic knowledge. However, we cannot expect such omniscience from agents with limited epistemic capacity. Thus, it is conceivable that at least at times our authors and editors may fail to identify all the necessary changes to the existing body of knowledge that the modification implies. Consequently, it it quite possible that some implied changes can become evident post publication or even post acceptance (e.g. modification Sciento-2018-0008). Thus, the scientonomic workflow needs a clearly articulated procedure for dealing with such ripple effects.

Modification

Theories To Accept

  • 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.

Questions Answered

This modification attempts to answer the following question(s):

Verdict

The workshop discussion of this modification

The modification was accepted on 25 February 2023. 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.

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References

  1. ^  Shaw, Jamie and Barseghyan, Hakob. (2019) Problems and Prospects with the Scientonomic Workflow. Scientonomy 3, 1-14. Retrieved from https://scientojournal.com/index.php/scientonomy/article/view/33509.