Rationale
To explain and achieve the objectives set by programmes and projects in which stakeholders (institutions, governments, economic operators, companies and persons) engage to improve their livelihoods and habitats, these stakeholders need high-quality mapping, design, and dialogue instruments which provide them with a set of harmonised and easy-to-communicate content by means of which situations and changes can be captured and explained to stakeholders.
Actants are involved in the operations and mechanisms that actors [1] use to plan and perform their roles in interactions [2].
The large variety of actors identified in the Actor Atlas interact in myriad situations. The interactions give rise to an even larger variety of actants. One list of such actants are the message types of UN/EDIFACT (
http://www.unece.org/trade/untdid/d09a/trmd/trmdi2.htm ) or UNeDocs Workbase 2.0 (http://www.unece.org/cefact/forum_grps/tbg/tbg2_edocs/Release/NDRelease/html/docs/001.htm).
A list of common document names is found at http://www.unece.org/trade/untdid/d09a/tred/tred1001.htm .
Scope
Only durable content actants for use by multiple stakeholders in a geographic area or a development sector are considered.
For some ontological considerations regarding, and examples of content actants, see Content Chapter of the Ens Dictionary.
Actants that are related to specific programmes and projects are not included, as they belong in the Initiative Atlas, or other more specialized content solutions.
In this dictionary durable actants are grouped in accordance with the actor maps in the Actor Atlas. Their names will get the same headers as the actors in the geographic area or development sector. For instance, the name of an actant to be used by inhabitants and organisations of Nairobi, Kenya, will start with "KE-Nairobi-".
Actants may have a current realization (AS-IS), and a "desirable" realization (TO-BE).
In the case that an actant is implemented in a manner that can be improved significantly (for instance, by using content commons), some improvement options are indicated in the TO-BE chapter.
The description of an actant typically includes data elements identifying and describing various entities and the interactions in which they are involved.
Best Practice Sharing and Benchmarking
Especially for actants that are under the control of international organizations, national governments and local governments, it is possible to compare among peers actant quality and performance, rank the actants, and provide links to best practices for the actant.
Such information may be included for actants of the same kind.
Coping with Actant Proliferation
Actant proliferation is more problematic for information actants then for other actants. As collections of actants violate the Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) principle (see http://www.pragmetaknowledgeclout.be/kc:initiative-atlas ), a MECE Violation page can be created at MECE violations.
On a MECE violation page the violation is explained, as well as its consequences, and what to do about it.
Dictionary Maintenance
This dictionary's purpose is to be a prototype, to demonstrate a service concept in support of an effective sustainable development strategy.
Actant descriptions are included as initiatives involving them and their social contexts (which actors are involved? what agreements do already exist among these actors?) are codified as content commons.
As the actant dictionary service will be adopted by a growing user community, it will be important to enact formal maintenance procedures and comply to certain principles as explained at Global Agreement - Maintenance Procedures.
Disclaimer
In its current version, the actant dictionary is offered as a prototype. The main purpose is to illustrate the benefits of systematized content commons, as explained at http://www.pragmetaknowledgeclout.be/systematized
Therefore, the actant dictionary does not aim to be exhaustive.
Inclusion Criteria
Actants that are included play a role in some of the cases for which the systematized content commons are being elaborated, as listed at http://www.pragmetaknowledgeclout.be/application-cases
