A motion is “a formal step to introduce a matter for consideration by a group.”1

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_%28democracy%29

1. Use cases & requirements

The Motion class should have properties for:

  1. the organization in which the motion is proposed

    House of Commons

  2. the legislative session in which the motion is proposed

    2nd Session of the 41st Parliament

  3. the person who proposed the motion

    John Doe

  4. the transcript or text of the motion

    That the House do now proceed to the Orders of the Day.

  5. identifier

    2014/556

  6. classification

    e.g. adjournment, allocation of time, business, carry-over, closure, dilatory, programme, etc.

    Bob distinguishes routine from non-routine motions.

  7. the date on which the motion was proposed

    January 1, 2013

  8. the requirement for the motion to be agreed to

    two-thirds majority

  9. the result of the motion

    The motion was agreed to.

2. Standard reuse

Few specifications exist for motions, and few legislatures publish motions in a machine-readable format. In many, the only specified or recorded motions are those with a single vote event. However, a single motion may have multiple vote events; for example, a voice vote followed by a recorded vote. Dublin Core, Schema.org, and Parliamentary Metadata Language terms are retained from the inventory of terms.

2.1. Range restrictions

Either a person or an organization can create a CreativeWork. A Motion is a subclass of CreativeWork, and only a person can create a Motion.

3. Classes and properties

Term Mapping Definition
Motion opengov:Motion A formal step to introduce a matter for consideration by an organization
organization schema:publisher The organization in which the motion is proposed
legislative session opengov:legislativeSession The legislative session in which the motion is proposed
creator schema:creator The person who proposed the motion
text schema:text The transcript or text of the motion
identifier dcterms:identifier An issued identifier
classification schema:additionalType A motion category, e.g. adjournment
proposal date dcterms:dateSubmitted The date on which the motion was proposed
requirement opengov:requirement The requirement for the motion to be adopted
result opengov:result The result of the motion
vote event opengov:voteEvent An event at which people vote on the motion

4. Serialization

JSON differences from other RDF serializations:

  • The term organization is used instead of publisher, to be consistent with the Membership class.
  • The term classification is used instead of additionalType, to be consistent with the Organization class.
  • The value of the classification property is a string, instead of a skos:Concept.
  • The term date is used instead of dateSubmitted, for clarity.

5. Code lists

Result

Implementations may use values from outside this list.

  • pass
  • fail