Occurrences

Paper

../papers/03-04-06/03-04-06.html

Date of Presentation

Wednesday, 22 May

Time of Presentation

14.45

Presentation Level

In-The-Middle

Abstract

Developing an XML-based transaction model has required creating some basic transformations which manipulate dissimilar (but XML marked-up) data structures to discover, first of all, what common ground there is on which transactions might be executed. It is now clear that these same techniques can expose the net transactional effects of complex multiple-step, multi-party dealings, even where that complexity may have been intended to conceal precisely that simple reality. The need to pierce such intentional obfuscation has become newsworthy through coverage of the investigation of the Enron collapse. This presentation will examine three complex transactions as described in the New York Times coverage of Enron, in order to demonstrate how 1) applying a certain style of markup to the apparently unrelated components of such complex deals, and then 2) subjecting those marked-up documents to some straightforward, simple transformations quickly reveals the underlying simple transactional reality.