Social Event, Monday, November 18, 6pm

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Social Event, Monday, November 18, 6pm
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The Information Artifact OntologyRoots in BFO

• Barry Smith
• October 14, 2013

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Continuant
Occurrent
Independent Continuant
Dependent Continuant
Process
Realizable Dependent Continuant
Quality
Disposition
Role
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Types and Instances
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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Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Generically Dependent Continuant
Realizable Dependent Continuant
Quality
Gene Sequence
Information Artifact
Disposition
Role
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Specifically Dependent Continuants
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 Johns smile
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Quality, Pattern
Realizable Dependent Continuant (RDC)
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Generically Dependent Continuants
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
Information Object
Sequence
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Information artifacts

• pdf file
• email
• poem
• symphony
• algorithm
• symbol
• - can migrate from one information bearer to
  another

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Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Generically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Quality
Gene Sequence
Information Artifact
Information Bearing Entity
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Continuant
Independent Continuant
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Generically Dependent Continuant
Material Entity
Quality
Information Artifact
Information Quality Entity
Information Bearing Entity
concretized_by
depends_on
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http//bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/IAO
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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?

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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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War and Peace is an instance
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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The novel War and Peace has many bound copiesThe
quality spherical has many instancesBut 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

• Instances vs Copies

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What is a work of literature?

• 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.

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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 subtypes of the US Declaration of
  Independence
• Hence the US Declaration of Independent is an
  instance and not a type.

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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

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Generically dependent continuants are distinct
from types

• 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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Passport vs. Boarding Pass

• 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

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Terminology of types and tokens, vs. terminology
of types and instances
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Generically dependent continuants

• are concretized in specifically dependent
  continuants
• Beethovens 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 BFOquality of the material (information
  bearing entity) that is the score

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Generically dependent continuants (GDCs)

• can be concretized in multiple different media
  (paper, silicon, neuron )

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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
.... ..... .......
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Type or instance
Continuant
Occurrent (Process)
Independent Continuant human being, protocol
document
Dependent Continuant pattern of ink marks
Applying the protocol
Side-Effect
... .. ..... .... .....
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Continuant
Occurrent
Independent Continuant
Dependent Continuant
Action creating a datum
Information Content Entity
.... ..... .......
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Generically dependent continuants

• do not require specific media (paper, silicon,
  neuron )

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

• are concretized in specifically dependent
  continuants
• Beethovens 9th Symphony is concretized in the
  pattern of ink marks which make up this score in
  my hand

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Steps towards an email ontology

• message has_part header section and body section
• header section has_part a collection of header
  fields
• header 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 emails, etc
• header fields may use MIME to include header
  information in other languages/charsets

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Steps towards an email ontology

• email may have_status draft, sent
• email may addressee may be in to field, cc
  field, bcc field
• email may be forwarded
• email may be read, unread
• email may have priority

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E-mail Header
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Email Address Field

• 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

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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

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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.

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Purpose and kinds of aboutness

• Literary purposedef. a Document whose primary
  purpose is to express products of imagination

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Information Content Entity (science)
protocol database theory ontology gene
list publication result ...
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Information Content Entity (labeling)
serial number batch number grant number person
number name address email address URL ...
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Information Content Entity (Finance)

• Financial Report
• Financial Report in XBRL for submission to GAAP
• Business Report