The Information Artifact Ontology Barry Smith
presentation tomorrow at 2pm (Session 1B) IAO-Intel An Ontology of Information Artifacts in the Intelligence Domain Barry Smith University at Buffalo NY, USA Tatiana Malyuta CUNY, NY, USA Data Tactics, McLean, VA Ron Rudnicki CUBRC, Buffalo William Mandrick Data Tactics McLean, VA, USA David Salmen Peter Morosoff E-Maps, Inc. Washington, DC, USA Danielle K. Duff I2WD Aberdeen, MD, USA James Schoening Kesny Parent describes work being carried out for the US Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) Standard Cloud (DSC) initiative; part of a strategy for the horizontal integration of warfighter intelligence data
IAO IAO: The Information Artifact Ontology, developed by scientific researchers as a vehicle for annotating data about measurement results, publications, protocols, databases, consent forms, licenses in a way that will allow discovery, integration and analysis Two kinds of data about data: 1. what are the data about Domain Ontologies 2. how the data are packaged (collected, presented, formatted, stored) IAO Ontologies
http://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/IAO http://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/IAO/?p=classes&conceptid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifomis.org%2Fbfo%2F1.1%23Entity
IAO-Intel IAO-Intel – an extension of IAO and incorporating features of the AIRS Information Ontology – to provide common resources for the consistent description of information artifacts of relevance to the intelligence community
IAO: Report / IAO-Intel: Intelligence Report IAO-Intel terms are defined by using terms from the ontologies in the yellow box via relations such as: is-about created-by derives-from and so forth
Extension Strategy + Modular Organization top level mid-level domain level Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) Information Artifact Ontology (IAO) Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI) Spatial Ontology (BSPO) Anatomy Ontology (FMA*, CARO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO*) Biological Process Ontology (GO*) Cell Ontology (CL) Cellular Component (FMA*, GO*) Phenotypic Quality Ontology (PaTO) Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Sequence Ontology (SO*) Molecular Function (GO*) Protein Ontology (PRO*) * = dedicated NIH funding Extension Strategy + Modular Organization
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top level mid-level (generic hub) domain level (spokes populating downwards) Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) Information Artifact Ontology (IAO) IAO-Science IAO-Intel IAO-Library Science (~Dublin Core) IAO-Computing IAO-Biology IAO-Physics IAO-Intel-Navy IAO-Intel-Army IAO-Intel-FBI IAO-Hardware IAO-Software The Email Ontology * = dedicated NIH funding IAO provides the hub for a gradually evolving set of modular spokes; each module built by downward population from its parent
Strategy of downward population IAO IAO-Intel (examples) Report Intelligence Report (FM 6-99.2, 126) Summary Electronic Warfare Mission Summary (FM 6-99.2, 87) Diagram Network Analysis Diagram (from JP 2-01.3, II-51) Overlay Combined Information Overlay (JP 2-01.3, II 33) Assessment Assessment of Impact of Damage (FM 6-99.2, 53) Estimate Adversary Course of Action Estimate List List of High-Value Targets (JP 2-01.3, II 61) Order Airspace Control Order (FM 6-99.2, 17) Matrix Target Value Matrix (JP 2-01.3, II-63) Template Ground and Air Adversary Template (JP 2-01.3, II-57)
Information Artifacts artifact =def. an entity created through some deliberate act or acts by one or more human beings and which endures through time information artifact: an artifact that can be the bearer of information (a) information bearing entity (IBE) – a hard drive, a passport, a piece of paper with a drawing of a map (b) information content entity (ICE) – an entity which is about something and which can potentially exist in multiple (for example digital or printed) copies – a jpg file, a pdf file
Types and tokens Copyable information artifacts can exist both as tokensPeirce and as typesPeirce Token = the particular information artifact of interest, tied to some particular physical information bearer: the photographic image on this piece of paper retrieved from this enemy combatant Type = The copyable information content that is carried by the artifact in question. The same photographic image type may be printed out in multiple paper tokens Warning: this is not the same as the instance-class distinction
Need for controlled vocabulary to describe data about information artifacts DoD Directive 8320.02 (version dated August 5, 2013) requires 1. all authoritative DoD data sources to be registered in the DoD Data Services Environment (DSE) 2. that all salient metadata be discoverable, searchable, retrievable, and understandable “Data standards and specifications that require associated semantic and structural metadata, including vocabularies, taxonomies, and ontologies, will be published in the DSE, or in a registry that is federated with the DSE.” FEAR LINKED OPEN DATA
The Dublin Core: How not to solve the problem of creating consistent information artifact metadata
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) an open organization supporting innovation in metadata design and best practices across the metadata ecology http://dublincore.org/ Resource (as in ‘RDF’) + 15 basic ‘elements’: 0. RESOURCE 8. TYPE 1. TITLE 9. FORMAT 2. CREATOR 10. IDENTIFIER 3. SUBJECT 11. SOURCE 4. DESCRIPTION 12. LANGUAGE 5. PUBLISHER 13. RELATION 6. CONTRIBUTORS 14. COVERAGE 7. DATE 15. RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) An open organization supporting innovation in metadata design and best practices across the metadata ecology http://dublincore.org/
The Core Resource (as in ‘RDF’) + 15 basic ‘elements’: 0. RESOURCE 8. TYPE 1. TITLE 9. FORMAT 2. CREATOR 10. IDENTIFIER 3. SUBJECT 11. SOURCE 4. DESCRIPTION 12. LANGUAGE 5. PUBLISHER 13. RELATION 6. CONTRIBUTORS 14. COVERAGE 7. DATE 15. RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
2) How do “elements” apply to “resources”? 1) What’s a “resource”? A resource is anything that has identity. Familiar examples include an electronic document, an image, a service (e.g., "today's weather report for Los Angeles"), and a collection of other resources. Assumption: resource = information artifact An Element is a characteristic that a resource may “have”, such as a Title, Publisher, or Subject. 2) How do “elements” apply to “resources”?
The same resource can be instantiated in different ways The Core (cont.) The same resource can be instantiated in different ways Format: The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the list of Internet Media Types [MIME]. Example: image/jpeg.
What describes the content / topic / subject-matter? The Core (cont.) What describes the content / topic / subject-matter? Title: The name given to the resource. Description: An account of the content of the resource. Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content or a free-text account of the content. Subject: The topic of the content of the resource. Typically, a subject will be expressed as keywords or key phrases or classification codes that describe the topic of the resource.
Benefits of Dublin Core Available in multiple formats W3C recommended Mapping to PROV
Problems with Dublin Core Scope not defined (‘anthing that has identity’) Does not provide logical definitions, but relies rather on vague natural language expressions (including use of “scare” “quotes” to warn the user that terms are not intended literally) Provides only suggestive guidance as to use of associated standards Does not interoperate well with other (topic) ontologies
Confuses words and things Source: A reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived. The present resource may be derived from the Source resource in whole or part.
Engages in sloppy bundling Type: The nature or genre of the content of the resource. Type includes terms describing general categories, functions, genres, or aggregation levels for content. What is ‘content of the resource’? Is the nature of the content distinct from the nature of the resource? No taxonomic organization, but rather a tangled hierarchy No distinction between things (continuants) and processes (occurrents) – consider performance of a work
Goals of a Metadata Ontology Ability to expand consistently to new application areas Ability to gracefully integrate with domain ontologies and with other IA-related ontologies Ability to represent metadata of different categories Complex application-specific content specific ways in which one IA relates to another IA Content vs. Bearers of content
Requirements to Achieve These Goals Conformance to ontology best practices http://ncorwiki.buffalo.edu/index.php/Distributed_Development_of_a_Shared_Semantic_Resource http://techwiki.openstructs.org/index.php/Ontology_Best_Practices http://kmi.open.ac.uk/events/iswc07-semantic-web-intro/pdf/5.%20Ontology%20Design.pdf Conformance to an upper level ontology as starting point for coherent definitions Separation of aspects of an information artifact such as physical bearer, content, content organization
DC Does Not Conform to Best Practices Does not follow naming conventions and is inconsistent in its naming approach, e.g. Property names: ABSTRACT, COVERAGE, LANGUAGE or CREATED or AVAILABLE (instead of has-abstract, is-created) Class names: Location Period Or Jurisdiction Term Name: LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction Label: Location, Period, or Jurisdiction Definition: A location, period of time, or jurisdiction.
DC Does Not Conform to Best Practices Term Name: LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction URI: http://purl.org/dc/terms/LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction Label: Location, Period, or Jurisdiction Definition: A location, period of time, or jurisdiction. Location Period Or Jurisdiction is defined in the DC hierarchy as a subclass of Location
Problems with verbal definitions PROVENANCE – “A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation.” The same definition is applied to the class and the property: PROVENANCE STATEMENT that is the Range of PROVENANCE is defined in exactly the same way.
DC Does Not Conform to Best Practices (cont.) Formal definitions are insufficient, and will inevitably lead to inconsistent annotations Ranges of data properties are defined as Literals, e.g. Range for properties Available and Created that refine (i.e. are subclasses of) http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date (here they could have used a standardized XML Schema data type DATE) Ranges of object properties do not have predefined sets of individuals, e.g. the property LANGUAGE has Range LINGUISTIC SYSTEM that is not connected in any way to the lists of country codes that are mentioned in Encoding Schemes
Does Not Conform to an ULO DC does not conform to an upper level ontology and does not show signs of downward development from more general to more specific terms. As a result Generic element associations are absent or arbitrary or informal. If such associations were established, they would need to be established manually instead of being inherited. For example, there are such classes as AGENT and AGENT CLASS where AGENT CLASS is defined as “A group of agents” but no formal relation with the class AGENT is asserted.
Does Not Conform to an ULO (cont.) In the absence of a high-level single hierarchy, the relations between classes are not clear. For example PROVENANCE is defined as “A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation” seems to overlap with CREATOR, CONTRIBUTOR, and IS VERSION OF. But how?
Limited Usability of DC DC does not try to separately address such aspects of an information artifact as its physical bearer, content, and content organization Will not allow for rich explications and annotations of document repositories, in particular repositories of military documents, and for various classifications of documents that are based on the content or bearer
Limited Use of DC (cont.) DC in the EUROPEANA project
Consequences These issues will Prevent acceptance of DC in solving DoD metadata problems Make its future development and integration with other ontologies difficult Not allow for deep data integration
IAO is designed to address the need for metadata standards, not by replacing existing standards, but rather by providing a single, consistent framework for tagging (‘semantic enhancement’) of existing data stores Its purpose is to provide a uniform, non-redundant, algorithmically processable and easily extendible consensus system of tags
Uses of IAO-Intel – Example 1 IA #1: a Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay (MCOO) –product of a joint intelligence preparation of the operational environment used to portray militarily significant features such as obstacles restricting movement, key geography, and military objectives IA #2 – the plan (document) in accordance with which the IA #1 was prepared
IAO enables three kinds of discovery and analysis Annotations to the attributes of IA #1 has-artifact-kind MCOO has-physical-kind: Acetate Sheet uses-symbology MIL-STD-2525C authored-by person #4644 Annotations linking IA #1 to other IAS – IA#1 output of process realizing plan IA#2 Annotations relating to the aboutness of IA#1 Avenue of Approach Strategic Defense Belt Amphibious Operations Objective
Uses of IAO-Intel – Example 2 A collection of documents prepared according to FM 6-99.2 of kinds: Intelligence Report [INTREP] Intelligence Summary [INTSUM] Logistics Situation Report [LOGSITREP] Operations Summary [OPSUM] Patrol Report [PATROLREP] Reconnaissance Exploitation Report [RECCEXREP] SAEDA Report [SAEDAREP]
IAO enables document metadata from different sources of to be combined together We need to computationally cross-reference these with comparable sets of documents prepared by other commands. FM 6-99.2 provides definitions of the mentioned report kinds, but does not take the step of formulating these definitions computationally. IAO-Intel provides the needed common, algorithmically useful, set of terms that can allow consistent explication of these and related kinds as they appear in different doctrinal resources. The results can then be used for computer-aided aggregation of the data represented using corresponding IA types
Attributes of Information Artifacts
Attributes of IAs Information artifacts have attributes along a number of distinct dimensions, treated in low-level ontology modules Terms in these modules will be applied to explicate information relating to IAs of different sorts, and to annotate data pertaining to IA instances Attributes of IAs vs. Attributes of subject-matters, targets, topics, …
Attributes of IAs (cont.) Some dimensions of IA attributes are common to all areas, both military and non-military Purpose Lifecycle Stage (draft, finished version, revision) Language, Format Provenance Source (person, organization)
Generic Attributes of IAs (for IAO) Purpose Descriptive purpose: scientific paper, newspaper article, after-action report Prescriptive purpose: legal code, license, statement of rules of engagement Directive purpose (of specifying a plan or method for achieving something): instruction, manual, protocol Designative purpose: a registry of members of an organization, a phone book, a database linking proper names of persons with their social security numbers Purposes specific to IAO-Intel Informing the commander, Providing targeting support Intelligence preparation of the battlefield.
Purpose of an Information Artifact 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 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.
Lowest Level Ontologies Low Level Ontologies (LLOs) represent the simplest one-dimensional domains, e.g. eyeColor, securityClassification, etc. LLOs are orthogonal (do not have terms in common) LLOs are small and shallow It is relatively easy to agree on LLOs Facilitate maintenance and surveyability of the ontology
LLOs for IA attributes Each LLO corresponds to a single dimension of attributes Provide a set simple components to be used In construction and definitions of more complex terms of IAO, e.g. an Intelligence Report is-a Report that has-discipline Intelligence In explications of terms used by different agencies, in different data sources, etc. In annotations of instance data, e.g. analysts’ reports; harvested emails; signals data
Examples of Generic Attributes of IAs Purpose Lifecycle Stage (draft, finished version, revision) Language Format Provenance Source (person, organization) These terms will be included in IAO Each corresponds to a specific low level ontology
Generic (IAO) purpose taxonomy (based on speech act taxonomy) Descriptive purpose (scientific paper, newspaper article, after-action report) Prescriptive purpose (legal code, license, statement of rules of engagement) Directive purpose – of specifying a plan or method for achieving something (instruction, manual, protocol) Designative purpose (registry of members of an organization, phone book, database linking proper names of persons with their social security numbers) … a given IA can have multiple purposes in a given context (Communicative, Forensic, Deceptive, …)
Examples of Intel-Specific Purpose Attributes (IAO-Intel terms created by downward population from IAO:Purpose) Informing the commander Providing targeting support Intelligence preparation of the battlefield Supporting planning and execution Defining the operational environment Describing the impact of the operational environment Evaluating the adversary Describing adversary courses of action Counter adversary deception Assess the effects of operations
Attributes of IAs Specific to Intelligence IAs Role in the Intelligence Process (JP 3-0, III-11) Priority Intelligence Requirement (PIR) Commander’s Critical Information Requirement (CCIR) Essential Element of Information (EEI) Essential Element of Friendly Information (EEFI) Confidence Level (JP 2.0, Appendix A) Highly Likely Likely Even Chance Unlikely Highly Unlikely Discipline (JP 2.0, I-5) Legal Ideology Religion Propaganda Intelligence Signal Human Rumor intelligence Web intelligence Intelligence Excellence (JP 2.0, II-6) Anticipatory Timely Accurate Usable Complete Relevant Objective Available
IAO-Intel Defined Attributes relating to source of an IA Document Source Organization Government Agency Military Agency Intelligence Agency Personal source Intelligence agent, bystander, witness … Two kinds of source relations: between an IA and a source kind between an IA and a source instance (e.g. some specific intelligence agency, some specific person)
Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions Role in the Intelligence Process (JP 3-0, III-11) Priority Intelligence Requirement (PIR) Commander’s Critical Information Requirement (CCIR) Essential Element of Information (EEI) Essential Element of Friendly Information (EEFI) Confidence Level (JP 2.0, Appendix A) Highly Likely Likely Even Chance Unlikely Highly Unlikely Discipline (JP 2.0, I-5) Legal Ideology Religion Propaganda Intelligence Signal Human Rumor intelligence Web intelligence Intelligence Excellence (JP 2.0, II-6) Anticipatory Timely Accurate Usable Complete Relevant Objective Available
Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions Classification Unclassified, open source Secret Top Secret Level Strategic Operational Tactical Encryption Status Encryption Strength
Strategy for Building IAO-Intel Incremental expansion; the ontology is planned to include artifacts spanning the entire range of IAs, from authoritative data sources to unprocessed reports Identify orthogonal dimensions of IA attributes and create Low-Level Ontology modules (LLOs) Small, shallow, and structured following the principle of single inheritance Used to Construct more complex terms and define IAO terms Explicate the meanings of terms standardly used by different agencies Annotate instance data
IAO and BFO BFO: Generically Dependent Continuant BFO: Independent Continuant BFO: Specifically Dependent Continuant Information Content Entity (ICE) Information Quality Entity (Pattern) (IQE) Information Structure Entity (ISE) Information Bearing Entity (IBE)
IA IBE ISE ICE MS Word file (.doc, .docx) Hard drive (magnetized sector) MS Word format Varies KML file KML Map overlay JPEG file (.jpg) JPEG format Image Email file Internet Message Format (e.g., RFC 5322 compliant) Message USMTF Message file A specific government network USMTF Format Passport Paper document; (may include photographs, RFID tags) ID formats, security marking formats … Name, Personal data, Passport number, Visas Title Deed Official paper document Report Overlay Sheet ( e.g. Map Overlay Sheet) Acetate sheet MIL-STD-2525 Symbols; FM 101-1-5 Operational Terms and Graphics
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) BFO roots Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) Information Artifact Ontology (IAO) IAO-Intel Email Ontology * = dedicated NIH funding More than 100 Ontology projects using BFO http://www.ifomis.org/bfo/users
Users of BFO Examples AIRS Ontologies cROP Ontologies MilPortal Ontologies NIF Standard Ontologies OBO Foundry Ontologies OAE Ontology of Adverse Events EnvO Emotion Ontology IDO Infectious Disease Ontology (NIAID) US Army Biometrics Ontology
.... ..... ....... Basic Formal Ontology universals instances Continuant Occurrent process (copying a file to another computer) Independent Continuant thing (hard drive, camera, …) Dependent Continuant quality (color, shape, …) .... ..... ....... instances
Occurrents depend on participants instances this bombing on 15 May that insurgency attack on 5 April occurrent kinds bombing attack participant kinds explosive device terrorist group
.... ..... ....... Basic Formal Ontology quality depends on bearer Continuant Occurrent process Independent Continuant thing Dependent Continuant quality quality depends on bearer .... ..... .......
Blinding Flash of the Obvious Continuant Occurrent process, event Independent Continuant thing Dependent Continuant quality, … event depends on participant .... ..... .......
Continuant Occurrent Independent Continuant Dependent Continuant Realizable Dependent Continuant Quality Process Disposition Role
Distance Measurement Result Universals and Instances (from Bill Mandrick) Geographic Coordinates Set designates Geopolitical Entity instance_of Spatial Region has location Village Name is_a has location Distance Measurement Result designates Village Well Latrine instance_of instance_of instance_of instance_of instance_of ’16 meters’ ‘VT 334 569’ ‘Khanabad Village’ measurement_of located near located in
Specifically Dependent Continuant if any bearer ceases to exist, then the quality or function ceases to exist the color of my skin the function of my heart Quality, Role, Disposition Realizable Dependent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant Red color of my skin Red color of your skin Accidens non migrat de subjecto in subjectum. Accidents do not migrate from one substance to another depends_on depends_on http://www.catholicapologetics.info/catholicteaching/philosophy/axiomata.htm; see also http://x.co/2oDWp You Me
Generically Dependent Continuant 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 pdf file jpg file Gene Sequence
Information artifacts pdf file email poem symphony algorithm symbol – can migrate from one information bearer to another
Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Generically Dependent Continuant Realizable Dependent Continuant Quality Gene Sequence Information Artifact Disposition Role
Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Generically Dependent Continuant Material Entity Quality Gene Sequence Information Artifact Information Bearing Entity
Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Generically Dependent Continuant Material Entity Quality Information Artifact Information Bearing Entity (your hard drive Information Quality Entity (pattern on your hard drive) depends_on
Continuant Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Generically Dependent Continuant Material Entity Quality Information Artifact Information Bearing Entity Information Quality Entity depends_on concretized_by
IAO: information content entity =def. an entity that is generically dependent on some artifact and stands in the relation of aboutness to some entity
Shimon Edelman’s Riddle of Representation two humans, a monkey, and a robot are looking at a piece of cheese; what is common to the representational processes in their visual systems?
Answer: The cheese, of course With thanks to Shimon Edelman. See http://kybele.psych.cornell.edu/~edelman/
The real cheese With thanks to Shimon Edelman. See http://www.ai.mit.edu/~edelman/archive.html
Concretization Each IA is concretized_by at least one IQE (Information Quality Entity) The same IA can be concretized in multiple different media (paper, silicon, neuron …)
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)
Patterns can be complex Types and tokens A A A One type, three tokens A type is a pattern Patterns can be complex
fragment of the War and Peace pattern
War and Peace is an instance of the universal novel Independent Continuant Specifically Dependent Continuant Generically Dependent Continuant instance_of instance_of instance_of This bound copy of War and Peace War and Peace quality The novel War and Peace depends_on concretized_by
What is a work of literature? Is War and Peace a kind or an instance? If War and Peace were a kind, 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.
There are not two Declarations of Independence There can be two copies of the US Declaration of Independence There cannot be two US Declarations of Independence There cannot be subkinds of the US Declaration of Independence Hence the US Declaration of Independent is an instance and not a kind.
Rule for universals 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
Generically dependent continuants are distinct from universals 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
IAO and BFO BFO: Generically Dependent Continuant BFO: Independent Continuant BFO: Specifically Dependent Continuant Information Content Entity (ICE) Information Quality Entity (Pattern) (IQE) Information Structure Entity (ISE) Information Bearing Entity (IBE)
Information Content Entities (ICEs) ICEs are about something in reality (they have this something as a subject; they represent, or mention or describe this something; they inform us about this something). Aboutness may be identifiable from different perspectives. Thus one analyst may interpret a given ICE as being about the geography of a given encampment; another may view it as providing information about the morale of those encamped there.
Information Bearing Entities – IBEs An IBE is a material entity that has been created to serve as a bearer of information. IBEs are either (1) self-sufficient material wholes, or (2) proper material parts of such wholes. Examples under (1): a hard drive, a paper printout (e.g., a report) Examples under (2): a specific sector on a hard drive, a single page of a paper printout.
Information Quality Entities (IQEs) An IQE is the pattern on an IBE in virtue of which it is a bearer of some information An IQE exists in a given IBE because of a certain patterned arrangement for example of ink or other chemicals, or of electromagnetic excitations. Every ICE is concretized by at least one IQE
Information Structure Entities (ISEs) Information Structure Entity (ISE) is a structural part of an ICE, for example an empty cell in a spreadsheet; or a blank Microsoft Word file. ISEs thus capture part of what is involved when we talk about the ‘format’ of an IA.
Organization of IAO-Intel – IA ‘IA’ refers either to some combination of ICEs and ISEs (roughly: the IA as body of copyable information content); or to some concretization of ICEs and ISEs in some IBE in which some IQE inheres (the information artifact is: this content here and now, on this specific computer screen or this printed page). Different information artifact kinds will differ in different ways along these dimensions, as illustrated in Table 2.
IA IBE ISE ICE MS Word file (.doc, .docx) Hard drive (magnetized sector) MS Word format Varies KML file KML Map overlay JPEG file (.jpg) JPEG format Image Email file Internet Message Format (e.g., RFC 5322 compliant) Message USMTF Message file A specific government network USMTF Format Passport Paper document; (may include photographs, RFID tags) ID formats, security marking formats … Name, Personal data, Passport number, Visas Title Deed Official paper document Report Overlay Sheet ( e.g. Map Overlay Sheet) Acetate sheet MIL-STD-2525 Symbols; FM 101-1-5 Operational Terms and Graphics
IAO and BFO BFO: Generically Dependent Continuant BFO: Independent Continuant BFO: Specifically Dependent Continuant Information Content Entity (ICE) Information Quality Entity (Pattern) (IQE) Information Structure Entity (ISE) Information Bearing Entity (IBE)
IAO and BFO (cont.) BFO relations between ICEs, ISEs, IQEs and IBEs can be set forth as follows: ICE generically-depends-on IBE ISE generically-depends-on IBE IQE specifically-depends-on IBE ICE concretized-by IQE ISE concretized-by IQE IAO contains in addition relations which allow to formulate metadata concerning attributes of IAs such as author, creation date, classification status, and so forth