Second-Order Provenance
Traceability not of data, but of the normative orderings under which data are taken to matter.
Theory
First-order provenance tracks where data came from. Second-order provenance tracks where the normative orderings that make those data matter came from: how a ranking, threshold, or category was selected, licensed, and sustained.
Systems that satisfy first-order provenance can nevertheless be answerable to no one at the second order — the ordering under which their outputs count as decisive was itself never authored by an addressable party.
The concept links technical audit to institutional answerability: an institution that cannot answer at the second order cannot own the decisions its systems produce.
Key publications
- Second-Order Provenance (working paper).
- Standing Is Not an Ordering (under review).
A continually updated record is available through the publications page.
Current work
- A framework for second-order provenance audits of institutional AI deployments.
- Cross-work with ClaimBuilder.ai on how second-order provenance can be operationalised.