Planning layer resources
This is for discussion around an issue we have been discussing in the "demo app" dev group, where we are working on creating a plan without a recipe.
When ResourceSpecifications are very specific (i.e. all you need to identify what a resource is), there is not a problem. So for most material manufacturing, where resource specifications are considered "substitutable", this is fine. (That means one resource with this specification can be substituted for another with this specification.)
But in creation of digital resources, art, and other non-substitutable resources, where each is one of a kind, there can be a problem. Often for these resources, a specific ResourceSpecification for each EconomicResource is not appropriate, and just creates clutter. In addition, often recipes will be created at a more general level, and apply to all the one-of-a-kind resources.
So, we have wanted to create more general ResourceSpecifications, such as "XYZ Monthly Event" or "Blog Post". Then for the processes to hold together in a value flow, more is needed. It is a start that a series of connected processes are in the scope of one Agent, or part of one Plan. But we also need something "resourcey".
Ideas so far:
- Put a text field in an output Commitment that can give a resource name and referenced in an input Commitment that uses or consumes or cites what was produced or modified in the output.
- This could be pre-populated with concatenated existing data as a starting point.
- Create a new planned resource entity that mirrors RecipeResource and EconomicResource on the knowledge and observation layers respectively.
- Use EconomicResource as a bridge between planning and observation, like Process, allowing initial population of the resource during planning. (It would have to know not to show up in inventory.)