Social Event, Monday, November 18, 6pm

The Information Artifact Ontology: Roots in BFO Barry Smith October 14, 2013

Continuant Occurrent Independent Continuant Dependent Continuant Quality Disposition Process Role Realizable Dependent Continuant 3

locate d near Latrin e Well ‘VT ’ Distance Measurement Result Village Name ‘Khanabad Village’ Village is_a instance_ of Geopolitical Entity Spatial Region Geographic Coordinate s Set designate s instance_of located in instance_ of has location designates has location instance_o f ’16 meters’ instance_of measurement_of 4 Types and Instances

Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Quality Disposition Information Artifact Role Realizable Dependent Continuant 5 Generically Dependent Continuant Gene Sequence

Specifically Dependent Continuants Specifically Dependent Continuant Quality, Pattern Realizable Dependent Continuant (RDC) has unique bearer; if this bearer ceases to exist, then the quality or RDC ceases to exist the color of my skin the function of my heart John’s smile 6

Generically Dependent Continuants Generically Dependent Continuant Information Object Sequence if one bearer ceases to exist, then the entity can survive, because there are other bearers (copyability) the pdf file on my laptop the DNA (sequence) in this chromosome 7

Information artifacts pdf file poem symphony algorithm symbol - can migrate from one information bearer to another 8

Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Quality Information Artifact 9 Generically Dependent Continuant Gene Sequence Material Entity Information Bearing Entity

Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Quality Information Artifact 10 Generically Dependent Continuant Material Entity Information Bearing Entity Information Quality Entity depends_on concretized_by

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IAO: information content entity =def. an entity that is generically dependent on some artifact and stands in the relation of aboutness to some entity Problems Is a work of fiction about something? Is a fake cover story for a fake terrorist about something? Is an erroneous entry in a database about something? 12

Generically dependent continuants such as plans, laws … are concretized in specifically dependent continuants (the plan in your head, the protocol being realized by your research team, the law being implemented by this government agency) 13

War and Peace is an instance Specifically Dependent Continuant War and Peace quality 14 Independent Continuant This bound copy of War and Peace Generically Dependent Continuant The novel War and Peace instance_of depends_on concretized_by

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The novel War and Peace has many bound copies The quality spherical has many instances But having copies and having instances are two different things Information entities exist in a way which makes them dependent on provenance, and on processors, in a way in which types are not 16 Instances vs Copies

Is War and Peace a type or an instance? If War and Peace were a type, and the copies of War and Peace in my library and in your library were instances, then there would be many War(s) and Peaces. Hence War and Peace is an instance. What is a work of literature? 17

There can be two copies of the US Declaration of Independence There cannot be two US Declarations of Independence There cannot be subtypes of the US Declaration of Independence Hence the US Declaration of Independent is an instance and not a type. There are not two Declarations of Independence 18

Rule for types Their names are pluralizable There can be three people There cannot be three Michelle Obamas. Information Content Entities are GDCs = entities which can exist in many copies 19

they have a different kind of provenance ◦ Aspirin as product of Bayer GmbH ◦ aspirin as molecular structure ◦ This Financial Report is submitted to the SEC Generically dependent continuants are distinct from types 20

Your passport can be copied, but a copy of your passport cannot be your passport Boarding pass can be copied, and a copy of your boarding pass can be your boarding pass Passport vs. Boarding Pass 21

Terminology of types and tokens, vs. terminology of types and instances 22

Generically dependent continuants are concretized in specifically dependent continuants Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is concretized in the pattern of ink marks which make up this score in my hand – this is an information quality entity: a BFO:quality of the material (information bearing entity) that is the score 23

Generically dependent continuants (GDCs) can be concretized in multiple different media (paper, silicon, neuron …) 24

What is a datum? Continuant Occurrent process Independent Continuant laptop, book Dependent Continuant quality datum: a pattern in some medium with a certain kind of provenance 25

Type or instance Continuant Occurrent (Process) Independent Continuant human being, protocol document Dependent Continuant pattern of ink marks Applying the protocol Side-Effect …

Continuant Occurrent Independent Continuant Dependent Continuant Information Content Entity Action creating a datum 27

do not require specific media (paper, silicon, neuron …) Generically dependent continuants 28

Generically Dependent Continuants Generically Dependent Continuant Information Content Entity Gene Sequence.pdf file.doc file instances 29

are concretized in specifically dependent continuants Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is concretized in the pattern of ink marks which make up this score in my hand Generically dependent continuants 30

Steps towards an ontology message has_part header section and body section header section has_part a collection of header fields h eader field contains a header name and a header body header body may have additional structure based on the header in question body may have nested structure and attachments based on MIME the body may contain a text version, an HTML version, or both the body may contain attachments (files such as images, documents, other s, etc header fields may use MIME to include header information in other languages/charsets

may have_status draft, sent may addressee may be in to: field, cc: field, bcc: field may be forwarded may be read, unread may have priority … Steps towards an ontology 32

Header 33

A field is an information structure entity (comparable to cell, margin, space between words, period, comma, etc.) This means it is not about anything. Nearly all information content entities have fields as parts Address field is an information content entity which has a field as part But address field is about (in some very attenuated sense) the type: address Similarly the field in a spreadsheet where you fill in the measurement unit used is an ICE, because it is (in this same attenuated sense) the type: measurement unit. When you fill in the actual address then the resultant field is an ICE which is about that actual address BS Address Field 34

Good. Well sort of. What is the type "address" here? Below it is another information content entity. Sometimes the address means the "mailbox", i.e. an entity on the other side of a future communication, rather than an entity on the form. Sometimes it is about the target/owner of the address, for instance when it is used as a user name in an online authentication form. address 35

Sometimes, even the idea that the address is of an addressee fails. For example can be used as a request for a service. An example is when we send mail to where it is known that software will intercept such s, extract the string after "From:", and remove from the mailing list any address with that form. In that case the address seems more to be about some kind of role, where the realization of that role is the action taken by the 36

Descriptive purpose =def. the purpose of describing some portion of reality Examples: scientific paper, newspaper article, diary, experimenter log notebook Prescriptive purpose =def. the purpose of prescribing or permitting or allowing some activity Examples: a legal code, a license Purpose of an Information Artifact 37

Directive purpose =def. the purpose of specifying a plan or method for achieving something Examples: instruction, manual, recipe, protocol Designative purpose =def. the purpose of uniquely designating some entity or the members of some class of entities Examples: a registry of members of an organization, a phone book, a database linking proper names of persons with their social security numbers. Purpose of an Information Artifact 38

Literary purpose =def. a Document whose primary purpose is to express products of imagination Purpose and kinds of aboutness 39

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Information Content Entity (science) protocol database theory ontology gene list publication result... 41

Information Content Entity (labeling) serial number batch number grant number person number name address address URL... 42

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Financial Report Financial Report in XBRL for submission to GAAP Business Report Information Content Entity (Finance) 45