Information Artifact Ontology: General Background

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Information Artifact Ontology General Background

• Barry Smith

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Military Doctrine and Standardization of
Terminology

• 3rd Century BC
• Standardized beacon signals used by Chinese
  military along Great Wall
• 1792
• Drill manual for the units of the Continental
  Army to respond uniformly to commands during the
  Revolutionary War
• 1943
• General James Gavins Training Memorandum on the
  Employment of Airborne Forces

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General James Gavin, On to Berlin Battles of an
Airborne Commander 1943-1946

• for success of the D-Day invasion
• one of our most critical needs was to
  standardize the operating practices of our
  forces. even simple terminology had to be
  agreed upon. British flew in what they called
  bomber stream formations, We preferred
  troop-carrier group formations of 36 planes that
  flew in a V ... We referred to landing area as
  the jump area, the British called it drop
  zone,

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Current state

• DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms
  (Joint Publication 1-02)
• New military dictionaries and terminology
  artifacts continue to be developed
• Dominant ethos Library Science (all
  terminologies are equal), Lexicography (logical
  consistency of definitions is not important)

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Two kinds of data

• Data about entities in the world (topics,
  subject-matters)
• standard ontologies
• 2. Data about the information artifacts in which
  these entities are represented ( metadata)
• Information Artifact Ontology and extensions,
  including IAO-Intel

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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.

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Information artifact

• (roughly) an entity created through some
  deliberate act or acts by one or more human
  beings, and which endures through time,
  potentially in multiple (for example digital or
  printed) copies
• Examples a diagram on a sheet of paper, a video
  file, a map on a computer monitor, an article in
  a newspaper, a message on a network, the output
  of some querying process in a computer memory

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What IAO is for

• IAO is not designed to replace existing
  ontological or other standards
• lots of documents exist conforming to lots of
  different standards
• purpose of IAO is to allow generation of the
  needed metadata in a uniform, non-redundant and
  algorithmically processable fashion

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Sample terms in IAO
Report
Summary
Diagram
Overlay
Assessment
Estimate
List
Order
Matrix
Template
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Attributes of Information Artifacts

• Examples
• Purpose
• Lifecycle Stage (draft, finished version,
  revision)
• Language,
• Format
• Provenance
• Source (person, organization)
• These are generic attributes, common to all areas
• IAO will contain a Low-Level Ontology module for
  each dimension

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Generic Purpose Attributes

• 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

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Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions
Role in the Intelligence Process (JP 3-0, III-11) Priority Intelligence Requirement (PIR) Commanders Critical Information Requirement (CCIR) Essential Element of Information (EEI) Essential Element of Friendly Information (EEFI) Role in the Intelligence Process (JP 3-0, III-11) Priority Intelligence Requirement (PIR) Commanders Critical Information Requirement (CCIR) Essential Element of Information (EEI) Essential Element of Friendly Information (EEFI)
Confidence Level (JP 2.0, Appendix A) 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) Intelligence Excellence (JP 2.0, II-6)
Anticipatory Timely Accurate Usable Complete Relevant Objective Available
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Use of IAO-Intel ExampleDigitalizing an MCOO

• IA 1 - Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay (MCOO)
  - a joint intelligence preparation of the
  operational environment product used to portray
  the militarily significant aspects of the
  operational environment, such as obstacles
  restricting military movement, key geography, and
  military objectives.

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Digitalizing an MCOO

• Annotations to the attributes of IA1
• ICE MCOO
• IBE Acetate Sheet
• uses-symbology MIL-STD-2525C
• authored-by person 4644
• Annotations relating to the aboutness of IA1
• Avenue of Approach
• Strategic Defense Belt
• Amphibious Operations
• Objective

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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) Anatomy Ontology (FMA, CARO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Cell Ontology (CL) Cellular Component Ontology (FMA, GO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Cell Ontology (CL) Cellular Component Ontology (FMA, GO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Phenotypic Quality Ontology(PaTO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Phenotypic Quality Ontology(PaTO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Sequence Ontology (SO) Sequence Ontology (SO) Sequence Ontology (SO) Molecular Function (GO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Protein Ontology (PRO) Protein Ontology (PRO) Protein Ontology (PRO) Molecular Function (GO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
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-Science IAO-Intel IAO-Intel IAO-Intel IAO-Computing IAO-Computing
IAO-Biology IAO-Physics IAO-Intel-Navy IAO-Intel-Army IAO-Intel- FBI IAO-Computing IAO-Computing
IAO-Biology IAO-Physics IAO-Intel-Navy IAO-Intel-Army IAO-Intel- FBI IAO-Software EMO- Email Ontology
Each module built by downward population from its
parent
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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
• http//www.ifomis.org/bfo/users

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Continuant
BFO
Occurrent
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Continuant
BFO
Occurrent
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
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Continuant
BFO
Occurrent
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant is tied to
just one bearer
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Continuant
BFO
Occurrent
Generically Dependent Continuant can migrate from
one bearer to another
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant is tied to
just one bearer
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Continuant
BFO
Occurrent
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
universals
this gene sequence, this digital image
this man, that book
this excitation pattern, that pattern of piles
of ink
instances
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Continuant
BFO
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Disposition
Quality
Role
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Continuant
BFO
IAO
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Quality
Information Quality Entity
Information Bearing Entity
depends_on
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Continuant
BFO
IAO
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Quality
Information Content Entity
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Continuant
BFO
IAO
Generically Dependent Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Quality
Information Content Entity
Information Quality Entity
Information Bearing Entity
concretized_by
depends_on
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Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Generically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Quality
Information Content Entity
Information Bearing Entity
Information Quality Entity
concretized_by
depends_on
universals
this hard drive, that book
this excitation pattern, that pattern of piles
of ink
this pdf file this digital image
instances
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Universals and Instances (from Bill Mandrick)
Geographic Coordinates Set
designates
Geopolitical Entity
Spatial Region
has location
instance_of
is_a
Village Name
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 in
located near
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IAO and BFO
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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 created to
  serve as a 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

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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 of non-referring information entities
• Problems of information structure entities

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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

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The Dublin Core How not to solve the problem of
creating consistent information artifact metadata
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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
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Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)

• An open organization supporting innovation in
  metadata design and best practices across the
  metadata ecology
• http//dublincore.org/

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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
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1) Whats 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?
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The same resource can be instantiated in
different ways
The Core (cont.)

• 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.

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What describes the content / topic /
subject-matter?
The Core (cont.)

• 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.

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Benefits of Dublin Core

• Available in multiple formats
• W3C recommended
• Mapping to PROV 

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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

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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.

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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

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Does not address the 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

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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-i
  ntro/pdf/5.20Ontology20Design.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

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DC Does Not Conform to Best Practices
Term Name    LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction  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
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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.

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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.

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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?

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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 

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Shimon Edelmans 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?

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Answer
The cheese, of course
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The real cheese
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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 )

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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)

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Types and tokens

• A A A
• One type, three tokens
• A type is a pattern
• Patterns can be complex

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fragment of the War and Peace pattern
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War and Peace is an instance of the universal
novel
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Independent 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
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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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IAO and BFO
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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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IA IBE ISE ICE
MS Word file (.doc, .docx) Hard drive (magnetized sector) MS Word format Varies
KML file Hard drive (magnetized sector) KML Map overlay
JPEG file (.jpg) Hard drive (magnetized sector) JPEG format Image
Email file Hard drive (magnetized sector) Internet Message Format (e.g., RFC 5322 compliant) Message
USMTF Message file A specific government network USMTF Format Message
Passport Paper document (may include photographs, RFID tags) ID formats, security marking formats Name, Personal data, Passport number, Visas
Title Deed Official paper document Varies Varies
Report Varies Varies Varies
Overlay Sheet ( e.g. Map Overlay Sheet) Acetate sheet MIL-STD-2525 Symbols FM 101-1-5 Operational Terms and Graphics Map overlay
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IAO and BFO
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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

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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) Anatomy Ontology (FMA, CARO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Cell Ontology (CL) Cellular Component Ontology (FMA, GO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Infectious Disease Ontology (IDO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Cell Ontology (CL) Cellular Component Ontology (FMA, GO) Environment Ontology (EnvO) Phenotypic Quality Ontology(PaTO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO) Phenotypic Quality Ontology(PaTO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Sequence Ontology (SO) Sequence Ontology (SO) Sequence Ontology (SO) Molecular Function (GO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Protein Ontology (PRO) Protein Ontology (PRO) Protein Ontology (PRO) Molecular Function (GO) Biological Process Ontology (GO)
Extension Strategy Modular
Organization
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OBO Foundry approach extended into other domains
(all populating downwards from BFO)
NIF Standard Neuroscience Information Framework
IDO Consortium Infectious Disease Ontology
cROP Common Reference Ontologies for Plants
MilPortal.org Military Ontology
AIRS Ontology Suite Intelligence Ontology Suite
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Language

Speech acts Writing
Acts of thinking Printing
Document acts Email
Mental Functioning Ontology (MFO)
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Coverage domain of IAO

Speech acts Writing
Acts of thinking Printing
Document acts Email
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Generic Purpose Attributes

• 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

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John Searle start with biology, add speech
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The Searle Thesis

• Through the performance of speech acts (of
  promising, marrying, accusing, exchusing) we
  bring into being
• claims,
• obligations,
• relations of authority,
• relations of membership,
• the entities making up the ontology of the
  social world

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How, on this view, can institutional entities,
endure through time?

• in the local case through beliefs, memories,
  desires planning a weekly coffee morning with
  your friends
• But what about the global case (where there is no
  face-to-face contact, where there are many
  cheaters, where beliefs conflict ontologically)?

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Hernando de SotoInstitute for Liberty and
Democracy, Lima, PeruBill Clinton The most
promising anti-poverty initiative in the world
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The de Soto thesis

• documents and document systems are the
  mechanisms for creating the institutional orders
  of Western capitalism

The Mystery of Capital Why Capitalism Triumphs
in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, New York
Basic Books, 2000
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With the invention of documented claims and
obligations

• a new dimension of socio-economic reality comes
  into existence
• bank accounts, stocks, shares, bonds, mortgages,
  credit cards
• these form enduring social networks document
  systems of entirely new types
• debts become information entities analogous to
  digital artifacts

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From speech act theory to document act theory
Generalizing the de Soto thesis documents and
document systems are the mechanisms for creating
all institutional orders of modern civilization
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Identity
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Standardization
An extralegal standardized sales contract for a
one-acre parcel in the outskirts of Arusha,
including the involvement of witnesses in the
preparation of the document and the use of
fingerprints to ensure the authenticity of the
document.
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Standardized documents

• allow standardized transactions
• improve the flow of communications
• allow assets to be described using standard
  categories, so as to enable comparisons
• allow the transition from ad hoc narratives (as
  in ancient title deeds) to structured
  representations
• communication is advanced because signals are
  abbreviated
• supports the creation of more effective registries

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A. N. Whitehead

• It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by
  all copy-books and by eminent people when they
  are making speeches, that we should cultivate the
  habit of thinking what we are doing. The precise
  opposite is the case. Civilization advances by
  extending the number of important operations
  which we can perform without thinking about them. 

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Standardized documents

• enable
• new types of distributed ownership through
  stocks, shares, pensions,
• currency notes
• new types of legal accountability
• new types of business organization
• new types of massively planned social agency
• democracy
• the state
• law

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Scope of document act theory

• the social and institutional (deontic,
  quasi-legal) powers of documents
• the sorts of things we can do with documents
• the social interactions in which documents play
  an essential role
• the enduring institutional systems to which
  documents belong

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The ontology not only of

• capital, bankruptcy, stock market
• but also of
• the Holy Roman Empire
• the Swedish language
• the United Nations
• the internet
• a symphony concert
• urban planning
• mathematicians
• is to be understood in terms of the different
  sorts of documents which these phenomena involve

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How to do things with words (speech act theory)

• We represent how things are
• record, report, description, assertion
• We try to get people to do things
• request, order, command
• We commit ourselves to doing things promise,
  agreement,
• We bring about changes in the world through
  utterances
• congratulating, blessing, forgiving

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How to do things with documents(document act
theory)

• We represent how things are
• map, chemical diagram, x-ray image,
• We try to get people to do things
• blueprint, musical score, plan of battle
• We commit ourselves to doing things contract,
  planning agreement, flow chart
• We bring about changes in the world through
  document acts
• organigram, act of parliament, license, diploma

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How to do things with diagrams
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From speech acts to document acts

• Documents can be copied, modified, stored
• Documents can be aggregated (attachment of liens
  )
• Documents can be meshed together (for example
  into plans and sub-plans as in a musical score,
  plans for a military operation)
• Documents can be algorithmically executable
  (Turbotax )

100
John Searle Directions of fit

• world-to-mind I promise I will mow your lawn
  tomorrow
• mind-to-world I see that my lawn has been mowed
• automatic mind-to-world-and-world-to-mind I say
  I promise to pay you 100 dollars and thereby
  make it true that I promise to pay you 100
  dollars

101
Directions of fit for documents

• world-to-mind a plan is formulated to change the
  world (to make it conform to the mind of the
  planner )
• mind-to-world a report is published evaluating
  the success of the execution of the plan
• automatic mind-to-world-and-world-to-mind Act of
  Parliament is published declaring that
  such-and-such is the law and such-and-such is the
  law

102
(musical) directions of fit

• world-to-score the score tells the world how to
  shape itself to create a performance that is in
  conformance with the score
• score-to-world the score, when the performance
  is completed, serves as a record of the
  performance
• automatic score-to-world-and-world-to-score
  Berlioz completes the score and thereby brings
  into being a work that is precisely in
  conformance to the score

103
Individual performers may use their scores in
different ways

1. they may mark up their copies of the score to add
   specific instructions for their own use
2. they may mark up their copy of the score to
   record errors in their own performance

104
what begins as a plan, ends as a record
105
Blueprint

• what begins as a plan
• ends as a record
• of process
• of product

106
From speech acts to document acts
Searle, Tuomela, Gilbert, Bratman deal with
simple local interaction of cooperative agents
communicating by speech Would you like to
dance? Lets lift this table Shall we cook
dinner together? Waiter, bring me a beer!
107
Scott J. Shapiro, Massively Shared Agency, 2013

• Bratman, Searle are unable to account for
  the existence of massively shared agency.
• they have largely concentrated on analyzing
  shared activities among highly committed
  participants. The working assumption has been
  that those who sing duets or paint houses
  together are all committed to the success of the
  activity.

108
Shapiro To adapt standard theory of collective
agency to deal with massively shared actions we
need to add authority

• Authorities are mesh creating mechanisms.
  When disputes between participants break out with
  respect to the proper way to proceed, authorities
  can create a mesh between the subplans of the
  participants by demanding that both sides accept
  a certain solution.
• Basic for Shapiros theory of the nature of law

109
ConclusionDocuments, as much as authority, are
what make possible the sorts of massively shared
agency we find in business corporations,
universities, organized religions, governments,
legal systems, standing armies