How to Do Things With Documents

How to Do Things With
Documents
Barry Smith
Department of Philosophy
University at Buffalo
http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith
1

What is a document?
Bob Glushko: “A document is a purposeful and self-
contained collection of information.” (Document
Engineering)
• focuses on information content, not on the physical
container
• sees business collaborations – e.g. between on-line
customer credit card authorization service when the
latter verifies and charges the customer’s account – as
‘Internet information exchanges’
• there is more than information here
2

Definition
x is a document=def
x is a permanent record representing or
expressing one or more deontically or
institutionally relevant acts
3

Information Artifact Ontology
http://code.google.com/p/
information-artifact-ontology/
4

The three ages of legal
documentation
• pre-documentary law
• paper document law
• e-law
5

Hernando de Soto
Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Lima, Peru
Bill Clinton:
“The most promising anti-poverty initiative in the world”
6

Common beliefs about the African village
• no individual property rights
• regime of ‘community property’
• land cannot be bought and sold, because it is
sacred …
• no legal and economic institutions
• law is confined to what is legislated (= big-city
top-down, colonial law)
7

What really exists in the African
village ?
8

extralegal cell phone renting
and supply of pre-paid call
time
Massai cell phone User
9

The realm of extra-legal
(spontaneously created) law
• In Tanzania, villages are relatively isolated
from the influences of big-city law
• but this does not mean that they are free of
legal-commercial activities and of associated
institutions
10

adjudication
Elders engaged in dispute resolution in Kisongo (Tanzania)
dealing with conflicts about family matters, parcel boundaries
and other property issues. Evidence is brought from witnesses
and community members.
11

Session of Olasiti
Village Council,
Arusha (northern
Tanzania), led by
the recently elected
Mwenyekiti
adjudication
12

Documentation of the resolution of a dispute over land in the
Arusha area and of the property rights thereby established.
A council of notable elders is selected as judges and they follow
established rules for the hearing, for presenting and processing
evidence before the community. 13

property right
• The difference between a piece of land and
property is that property can be set out in a
written document with determinate meaning.
This document creates and establishes the
right, which ties owner to physical asset in
an enduring way.
• The system of such documents creates a new
abstract order
15

registration
The Mwenyekiti (or
democratically elected
village chairman)
keeps records of births
deaths, contracts ...,
provides written and
unwritten proof of
customary rights of
occupancy, participates
in real estate transactions
as witness
16

registration
• registration makes documents permanently
accessible, providing in one single source
records of the information required to know
who owns what
• without this information, the combination and
mobilization of assets is risky, and it is
impossible to apply legal provisions against
fraud and theft.
17

registration
• the registrar oversees the ways in which
records are subjected to amendments, e.g.
when assets are used as collateral for loans.
• the fact that the people know that documents
are stored in the registry gives them security
even if they never utilize its services
18

The new role of the Mwenyekiti: keeping extralegal records
19

registration
• Paper documents serve as filaments that bind
different elements of social and institutional
reality in a way which leads to the creation of
new types of value.
• A network of social relations is created by
the network of cross-referenced and cross-
attached documents. In this way, the registry
of documents forms a mirror of the network of
legal and property relationships.
20

Record of the transfer of a nine-acre parcel in en Ilkerin Village.
redundancy
24

Anchoring
• a photograph alone is not sufficient to establish your
identity: it must appear in the right place in the right
sort of document that has been marked in the right
sort of way by signatures, counter-signatures, stamps,
ID numbers
25

Anchoring documents to reality
26

fingerprint
official stamp
photograph
bar code
cow brand-mark
car license plate
allow cross-referencing to documents
Anchoring
27

fungibility
when property rights are documented, a
building can be used as
– an address for collecting debts and taxes
– as a locus point for the identification of
individuals for commercial, judicial or civic
purposes
– as a reliable terminal for receiving public utility
services.
29

collateral
A rehani, a type of
guarantee that uses land
as extra-legal collateral
for a money loan. The
debtor transfers to the
creditor a parcel of land
with the condition that it
shall be returned when
the loan has been paid.
30

collateral
Even Tanzanians living in the poorest
areas of the country provide loans secured
with real estate collateral and seek greater
security in their transactions by
incorporating and fixing them into
documents.
31

collateral: documents make property liquid
When a society can make a property document,
and make that document serve as collateral, it has
transformed the document into a representation of
physical assets that can flow into more highly
valued purposes than these assets themselves.
33

Extralegal will filled out
“in the name of the
Republic of Tanzania”
testament
34

testament
• Tanzanians are producing valid testaments accepted
and enforced on the basis of local community
consensus.
• They have found a way to express their individual will
in such a way that it can becomes effective even when
they no longer exist.
• Documents enable them to go beyond the mere
physical control of their assets in the here-and-now.
They are inventing an abstract order which allows
them to transcend time.
35

Statutes of Mungano Women, an extralegal
enterprise that makes and commercializes straw
products in Masasi.
Note the organizational chart.
association
36

association
• poor people in Tanzania are increasingly associating to
form business organizations in addition to family, clan, and
tribal groupings. Such association brings together founders,
employees, suppliers, creditors and clients in a single frame
that allows division of labor and specialization.
• the business organization is a new moral entity, which
belongs to an abstract realm and can so outlast the
individuals which go to form it.
• brings the ability to draw on a broader base of employees
by bringing in workers from outside the family or clan
• (defined) positional roles in an organization
37

association
• A business organization is a legal person: it is a
collective put together in a standardized way on
the basis of the determinate meanings captured by
its statutes (as contrasted with the biological
collective whole which is the family).
• The offices of the corporation are positional roles
for human beings, who need to be recognized by
other human beings within the organization as
occupants of those roles and as enjoying the
corresponding authority and responsibility.
39

division of labor
Trading Name Showroom Office
Timber SupplierFabric Supplier
Formally registered
business
Extralegal
Door factory
Extralegal
Wood working
Machine shop
Lumber
supplies
Extralegal beds and
cabinets
manufacturing
The Jaguar enterprise, located
in Dar es Salaam; dedicated
to the production of wooden
goods and furniture.
40

division of labor
• business organization brings the possibility of
breaking up production into more efficient
specialized functions and thereby increasing
productivity
• the specialization of each worker yields a
gradual increase in the quality of the work
and in the quality of the worker
• allows accountability based on measures and
standards, and new kinds of incentives, such
as promotion to a higher grade of work
• creates a separation in time, between personal
life and work life
41

management
Members of the enterprise Amani
Mazingira Group, which provides
trash collection services in a area of
Dodoma. The business is owned by
women (13 partners), who have
divided labor among themselves by
designating a Chairwoman, Treasurer,
Secretary, and Counselor and who
employ men to carry out tasks
requiring physical strength, such as
pushing tricycles.
43

transparency
Mwenyekit making documents
available in his office in ......
44

transparency
• writing down agreements on paper and entering
them into records provides a crucial seed of the rule
of law and of economic development
• agreements written on paper and recorded move
into an enduring realm where they can be located
and accessed by all.
• Their content becomes obvious to sight, and so they
acquire the capacity to enjoy the certainty that
comes with scrutiny and careful reflection.
• Statements and agreements come to be associated
with evidence; they are opened up to tests of
validity which can be carried out by nameless
others.
45

accounting
balance sheet of the
extralegal enterprise Igembe
Sabo
These balance sheets
constitute an incipient
double entry book keeping
system that converts local
practices into written
information about the
enterprise and its assets
46

Collections ledger of the extralegal
enterprise Igembe Sabo, comprised
of 10 women who provide farm
labor in Mwanza. As recorded in
the ledger, 4 of the 10 partners
represent all the rest before third
parties and in collections activities.
Record
Keeper
Group leader
(Kijongosi)
Stock
Keeper
Members of Iringa Furnitures,
Dodoma, indicating delegated
record-keeping tasks 47

accounting
• The business association is a permanent
arrangement, and so documentation is
indispensable in order to attribute responsibilities
between different actors, both inside and outside
the organization, and to track the flow of
activities through the life of the organization.
• The trail that is thereby created allows traceable
liability in case of fraud or error and facilitates
good governance and self-correction within the
organization.
49

identification
Document in which a
Mwenyekiti from the
Kibaha area certifies the
identity of an individual
from his village. Both
photograph and signature
are authenticated with an
official stamp.
51

identification
Marks used to identify
ownership of the cattle at
an auction market in
Dodoma.
The cattle identification by
branding serves as the
basis for a formal pledge
system.
52

identification
• in the village everyone knows who you are; in a larger
market, to determine identity is harder.
• the absence of a national registry system has given rise
to the widespread practice of the Mwenyekiti
becoming attestors of the identities and addresses of
villagers, issuing identity documents with photographs,
fingerprints, stamps, seals, and addresses.
• Tanzanians in the extralegal economy are devising the
mechanisms to facilitate networking among people
who do not belong to the same community.
54

representation (proxy)
The Statutes of Mungano Women
Group specify that four out of the 10
partners are authorized to represent
the others in business negotiations. At
the bottom of the Statutes there
appears a chart that maps their
different positional roles within the
company.
57

representation
A certificate of attendance
at an international trade
fair in Dar es Salaam by a
representative of the
Mungano Women’s Group
58

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.
standardization
62

standardized documents
• improve the flow of communications
• allow standardized transactions
• allow assets to be described using standard categories,
so as to enable comparisons
• allow the transition from ad hoc narratives (as in old
title deeds) to structured representations of reality
• communication is hereby advanced because signals
are abbreviated
• supports the creation of more effective registries
63

The Archetypes of Law and Markets Found in the
Extralegal Economy of Tanzania
archetypes of
property
archetypes of
business organization
archetypes of the
expanded market
adjudication
property right
registration
fungibility
collateral
testament
association
division of labor
management
transparency
accounting
identification
redundancy
attestation
representation
rational deliberation
standardization
72

social interaction
claim and obligation
•virtual assets
commitment to process
•adjudication
•recognition
•rational deliberation
•witnessing
accountability
enforceability
delegation
•representation
business organization
•combining factors
•pooling assets
•division of labor within the business
•separation of capital and labor
•separation of management and production
perpetual succession
•offices
•chains of authority
collateral
•credit
documentation
record keeping (private accounts)
•audit trail
•traceable liability
•planning
record keeping (public registry)
•transparency
•certification
•validation
•verification
•amendment
identification
•imprinting
•signatures
•fingerprints
•attachment
standardization
•templates
•filling in standard forms
•heritage of best practices
statute
contract
testament
73

Towards an Ontology of Documents
and of Document Acts
74

We are interested in time-sensitive,
transactional documents
• identification documents
• commercial documents
• legal documents
Thus: not in novels, recipes, diaries ...
75

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
78

Basic distinctions
– document as stand-alone entity vs. document with
all its different types of proximate and remote
attachments
– document template vs. filled-in document
– document vs. the piece of paper upon which it is
written/printed
– authentic documents vs. copies, forgeries
– allographic vs. autographic entities
79

What happens when you sign your passport?
•you initiate the validity of the passport
•you attest to the truth of the assertions it
contains (autographic)
•you provide a sample pattern for
comparison (allographic)
Three document acts for the price of one
82

Passport acts
• I use my passport to prove my identity
• You use my passport to check my identity
• He renews my passport
• They confiscate my passport to initiate my
renunciation of my citizenship
83

Documents belong to the domain of
administrative entities
entities such as organizations, rules, prices,
debts, standardized transactions ..., which we
ourselves create
But what does ‘create’ mean ?
86

Two types of ontology
• natural-science ontology (bio-ontologies)
• administrative ontology (e-commerce
ontologies, legal ontologies)
87

Speech Act Theory
• We tell people how things are (assertives)
• We try to get them to do things (directives)
• We commit ourselves to doing things (commissives)
• We express our feelings and attitudes (expressives)
• We bring about changes in the world through
utterances (declarations) (“I name this ship ...”)
88

The Searle thesis:
the performance of speech acts brings into
being claims and obligations and deontic
powers
89

appointings, marryings, promisings
change the world
... provided certain background conditions are
satisfied:
valid formulation
legitimate authority
acceptance by addressees
We perform a speech act ... the world
changes, instantaneously
90

but speech acts are evanescent entities: they are
events, which exist only in their executions
• we perform a speech act
• a new entity comes into being, which
survives for an extended period of time in
such a way as to contribute to the
coordination of the actions of the human
beings involved.
• what is the physical basis for the temporally
extended existence of its products and for
their enduring power to serve coordination?
91

Answer
In small societies: the memories of those involved
In large societies: documents
92

provided certain background
conditions are satisfied
documents create and sustain
permanent re-usable deontic
powers
93

The Searle thesis:
the performance of speech acts brings into
being claims and obligations and deontic
powers
98

The de Soto thesis:
documents and document systems are
mechanisms for creating the institutional
orders of modern societies
The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in
the West and Fails Everywhere Else,
New York: Basic Books, 2000
99

The creative power of documents
title deeds create property
stock and share certificates create capital
examination documents create PhDs
marriage licenses create bonds of matrimony
bankruptcy certificates create bankrupts
statutes of incorporation create business
organizations
charters create universities, cities, guilds
100

insurance certificates
treaties
patents
licenses
summonses
membership cards
divorce decrees
edicts of parliament
101

Identity documents
• create identity (and thereby create the
possibility of identity theft)
• what is the ontology of identity?
• what is the epistemology of identity (of the
technologies of identification)?
102

documents create authorities
(physicians’ license creates physician)
authorities create documents
(physicians creates sick notes)
documents issued by an authority within the framework
of a valid legal institution
vs.
documents issued by an authority extralegally on its own
behalf (cf. US Declaration of Independence)
103

What can we do with a document?
[DOCUMENT ACTS]
Sign it
Stamp it
Copy it
Witness it
Fill it in
Revise it
Register it
Archive it
Realize (interrupt, abort ...)
the actions mandated by it
Deliver it (de facto, de
jure)
Declare it active/inactive
Display it (price list)
Attest to its validity
Nullify it
Destroy it
108

Who can engage in document acts?
[DOCUMENT ACTORS]
creator of document / of document-template (legislator,
drafter ...)
signer / attestor
filler-in of template
checker (solicitor, notary, administrative official)
recipient
addressee (executor of an estate)
beneficiary (will ...)
registrar, archivist
109

How do documents relate to their
linguistically expressed content?
• What extra features do they have (signing,
counter-signing, registering, validating ...)
which give them their deontic force?
• And how do we recreate these features in the
realm of e-documents?
• How do we anchor e-documents to objects
and processes in physical reality (e.g. to
human beings)?
113

The ontology of (credit card) numbers
• These numbers are not mathematical (not
informational) entities – they are ‘thick’
(historical) numbers, special sorts of cultural
artefacts
– they are information objects with provenance:
abstract keys fitting into a globally distributed lock
115

Similarities between speech acts and
document acts
• Memory and learning play a role in each
• We have to be trained to use and trust
documents (de Soto in Peru)
• Documentary habits are acquired in small
face-to-face societies
119

Information Artifact Ontology
http://code.google.com/p/
information-artifact-ontology/
126

– not a mathematical object
– not a contingent object with physical
properties, taking part in causal relations
– but a historical object, with a very
special provenance, relations analogous
to those of ownership, existing only within
a nexus of working financial institutions of
specific kinds
What is a credit card number?
127

Information vs. Information Artifact
‘information’ – mass noun (Shannon and
Weaver)
‘information artifact’ – count noun
(Information Artifact Ontology)
128

Information Artifacts in Science
protocol
database
theory
ontology
gene list
publication
result
...
129

Information Entity (labeling)
serial number
batch number
grant number
person number
name
address
email address
URL
...
130

Blinding Flash of the Obvious
Continuant Occurrent
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... ....... 131

Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
biological
processIndependent
Continuant
cellular
component
Dependent
Continuant
molecular
function
..... ..... ........132

Information artifacts are tied to
provenance and to processors in
a way in which types are not
133

Basic Formal Ontology
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... .......
quality depends
on bearer
134

Blinding Flash of the Obvious
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality, …
.... ..... .......
process depends
on participant
135

Continuant
Occurrent
processIndependent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... .......
process is change
in quality
136

What is a datum?
process
Independent
Continuant
laptop, book
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... .......
datum: a pattern in some
medium with a certain kind
of provenance
137

type or instance
Continuant
Occurrent
(Process)
Independent
Continuant
human being,
protocol
document
Dependent
Continuant
pattern of
ink marks
Applying
the protocol
Side-Effect …
... .. ..... .... .....138

Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant
.... ..... .......
Information
Entity
Action
creating a datum
139

Specific dependence
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... .......
headache depends
on human being
147

Generically Dependent Continuants
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Entity
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
148

are realized through being
concretized in specifically dependent
continuants
(the plan in your head, the protocol
being realized by your research team)
Generically dependent continuants
149

they have a different kind of
provenance
◦ Aspirin as product of Bayer GmbH
◦ aspirin as molecular structure
are distinct from types
151

Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Entity
Sequence
.pdf file .doc file
instances 152

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
153

do not require specific media (paper,
silicon, neuron …)
154

Realizable Dependent Continuants
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality, Pattern
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
inert ert
Occurrent
155

Examples
performance of a symphony
projection of a film
utterance of a sentence
application of a therapy
course of a disease
increase of temperature
Occurrent
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
156

Continuant
Occurrent
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality Disposition
Realization
Role
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
157

A violinist reads the score of Beethoven’s
9th Symphony and a concretization of the
Symphony is created in his mind
(something like a plan)
In playing he realizes this plan, thereby
generating a performance of the
Symphony
Realizable Dependent Continuants are
always specifically dependent
158

Nature Protocols
vs.
The protocol McDoe has been
following in this project since March
159

McDoe reads the protocol as published
and a concretization of the protocol is
created in his mind (something like a
plan)
In his laboratory work he realizes this
plan, thereby generating an experiment
160

standard examples: nurse, student,
patient;
in each case something holds (that a
person plays a role) because of some
socially vehiculated decision.
Functions never exist purely because
people decide that they exist; this is
because functions rest in each case
on some underlying physical
structure with relevant causal powers.
Roles
162

Problem: roles
fist
patient
FDA-approved drug
168

• role: buyer/seller (roles come in analytic
pairs..., can be view dependent)
169

what is a role?
• a realizable independent continuant that is
not the consequence of the nature of the
independent continuant entity which bears
the role (contrast: disposition)
• the role is optional (someone else assigns it,
the entity acquires it by moving it into a
specific context)
170

Continuant
Occurrent
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality Disposition
Realization
Role
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
171

• standard examples: nurse, student, patient;
• in each case something holds (that a person
plays a role) because of some socially
vehiculated decision. Functions never exist
purely because people decide that they exist;
this is
because functions rest in each case on some
underlying physical
Roles
172

• being first (in a queue, a pathway)
• Cf. Searle: status functions = their exercise
does not reflect their physics
More Roles
173

If x plays a role
•there is a tendency for x to realize the role in
certain kinds of actions
174

without license
• protocol
• protocol application
• action1 action2 action3  tendency to
pushback
175

What is a role?
specific context)
176

Having a role vs. realizing a role
Having a function vs. realizing a
function
• a coin can exercise the function of screwing in a
screw but it does not have this function
• a passer by may exercise the function of nurse,
but he does not have this role
177

Continuant
Occurrent
(Process)
Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant

179© 2006 Adam Pease, Articulate Software - apease [at] articulatesoftware [dot] com
Four dichotomies
continuant vs. occurrent
John vs. John’s life
dependent vs. independent
John vs. John’s headache
instance vs. type
John instance_of human
human is_a mammal
type vs. class
{John, Mary, …} extension_of human

BFO
Continuant
Occurrent
(Process)
Independent
Continuant
(molecule,
cell, organ,
organism)
Dependent
Continuant
(quality,
function,
disease)
Functioning
Side-Effect,
Stochastic
Process, ...

Things you can do with a document
Sign it
Stamp it
Witness it
Fill it in Revise it
Nullify it
Realize (interrupt, abort ...) actions mandated by it
Deliver it (de facto, de jure)
Declare it active/inactive
Display it (price list)
Register it
Archive it
Anchor it to reality
181

fingerprint
official stamp
photograph
bar code, cow brand-mark
car license plate
allow cross-referencing to documents
knowledge by acquaintance
knowledge by description
knowledge by comparison
• I use my passport to prove my identity
• You use my passport to check my identity
Anchoring
182

Anchoring is different from
aboutness
A clinical laboratory test result is anchored to the
laboratory, the sample, the technician, the
instrument, …
It is about certain chemical qualities of a certain
patient …
183

The ontology of signatures
documents needing signatures
signed/not signed/incorrectly signed/
fraudulently signed/signed and stamped
signed by proxy
with a single/with a plurality of signatories
184

The ontology of names
• a baptism ceremony creates a new sort of cultural
object called a name
• names, too, belong to the domain of administrative (=
created) entities
• this is an abstract yet time-bound object, like a nation
or a club
• it is an object with parts (your first name and your
last name are parts of your name, in something like
the way in which the first movement and the last
movement are parts of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony)
185

How do documents relate to their
linguistically expressed content?
• What extra features do they have (signing,
counter-signing, registering, validating ...)
which give them their deontic force?
• And how do we recreate these features in the
realm of e-documents?
• How do we anchor e-documents to objects and
processes in physical reality (e.g. to human
beings)?
186

How do documents relate to the
underlying physical medium
• A credit card receipt is autographic
• A credit card is allographic
• But the credit card as physical carrier is
dispensable:
– What is important are the credit card numbers
187

The ontology of (credit card) numbers
• These numbers are not mathematical (not
informational) entities – they are ‘thick’
(historical) numbers, special sorts of cultural
artefacts
– they are information objects with provenance:
abstract keys fitting into a globally distributed lock
188

PART FOUR
Standardized Documents
189

Standardized documents
• allow networking
• across time (documents can accumulate
through attachment)
• across space (different groups can orientate
themselves around the same document forms)
• can encapsulate the memory and experience of
an entire profession
190

Example: money
• The latest work on monetary theory has emphasised the potential for
money to solve strategic problems such as trust and memory in social
interactions with a time dimension: Kiyotaki and Moore (2002) show how
money can overcome a lack of trust, while Kocherlakota (1998, 2002)
shows how money smoothes trade when contracts are imperfectly enforced
and memory is limited. The purpose of this very brief survey is to show
that there are many reasons to expect the emergence of money in a social
setting. And it is not a surprise that money emerges so readily in many
societies and under widely different circumstances, even if the form that
money takes may differ dramatically (e.g. gold, or silver, or sea shells, or
cattle, or large stone rings or bits of paper with certain markings on them)
(Friedman, 1992)13.
191

Good documents vs. bad documents
Good documents must be well-designed
1. they must map the corresponding reality in a
perspicuous way – cf. maps as document
2. they must be easy to fill in by members of its
central target audience (need for process of
education?)
3. they must not create new problems (should bow off
the stage once they have been properly filled in and
never be seen again except in those rare cases
where problems arise)
192

standardized documents
• improve the flow of communications
• allow standardized transactions
• allow assets to be described using standard categories,
so as to enable comparisons
• allow the transition from ad hoc narratives (as in old
title deeds) to structured representations of reality
• communication is hereby advanced because signals
are abbreviated
• supports the creation of more effective registries
193

standardized documents embody social
memory• one can more easily check that one has filled in the boxes
— correctly from a syntactical point of view
— truthfully
— by the right person
— with the right authority
• some entries are made self-validating through the presence of
official seals or stamps
• some entries refer to other forms (copies of which may be
required to be attached to this form)
• the form itself can guarantee that it occupies its proper place in a
network of forms
• facilitates checking and enforceability, and thus contributes to
trust and to simplification of transactions
• and (cf. de Soto) makes us all better people
194

Information Entity Ontology
Barry Smith
http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith
196

Blinding Flash of the Obvious (BFO)
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality
197

The Gene Ontology (BFO pre-baked)
biological
processIndependent
Continuant
cellular
component
Dependent
Continuant
molecular
function
198

Types
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... .......Instances 199

Dependence
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality quality depends
on bearer
200

Dependence
Continuant
Occurrent
processIndependent
Continuant
thing
Dependent
Continuant
quality, …
process depends
on participant
201

1. not a mathematical object (Plato)
2. not a contingent, physico-energetic
object
3. but a historical object, with a very special
provenance, standing in relations
analogous to those of ownership, existing
only within a nexus of institutions of specific
kinds with rule-governed procedures for
associating data about the number with
data about people, transactions…
What is a credit card number?
202

The Use-Mention Confusion
The representation of the credit card
number in the bank’s computer is not
identical with the credit card number itself.
The representation of customer McJim
in the bank’s computer is not identical with
customer McJim himself.
The representation of this gene
sequence in my database is not identical
with the gene sequence itself
203

Information Entity: Copyability
Information entities are: artifacts (products of human/sentient
agency) in the realm of qualities (patterns), …
which enjoy perfect copyability,
reproducibility (they are in this sense digital
artifacts)
204

Information Entity: Syntax
Information entities are: copyable artifacts (products of human
agency) in the realm of qualities (patterns),
the examples we treat have a syntax = they are
patterns embedded within a rule-governed reference
frame that is itself digitally based (need a treatment
of these frames)
are photographs information entities (?)
pixellated images (?)
205

Information Entity: Semantics
agency) in the realm of qualities (patterns with syntax),
and with semantics (reference, intentionality)
so: not music
not molecules
not trademarks
(… information entities are carriers of content, they
are associated with an aim to point beyond
themselves)
206

Information Entity: ±Pragmatics
agency) in the realm of qualities (patterns with syntax and
semantics),
and potentially also pragmatics (some of them
specify and create rights, obligations)
so: licenses
contracts
property titles
…
207

Information Entity (labeling)
serial number
batch number
grant number
person number
name
address
email address
URL
...
208

Information Entity (science)
protocol
lab notes
database
ontology
gene list
publication
result
...
209

Information Entity (science)
theory
1. not a set of abstract propositions (Plato)
2. not a physico-energetic entity
3. but: a historical entity with a certain
provenance
210

Information entities are dependent
upon provenance and upon
processors (humans working within
frames of reference)
Information entities ≠ Universals
211

Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Entity
Action
creating a datum
212

What is a datum?
process
Independent
Continuant
laptop, book
Dependent
Continuant
quality
datum: a pattern in some
medium with a certain kind
of provenance
213

What is a datum?
Independent
Continuant
laptop, book
Dependent
Continuant
quality
.... ..... .......
datum: … and with
intended reference to some
target entity
target entity
214

datum (OED)
1. A thing given or granted; something
known or assumed as fact, and made the
basis of reasoning or calculation; an
assumption or premiss from which
inferences are drawn.
2. The quantities, characters, or symbols
on which operations are performed by
computers …
215

What is a datum?
.....  inside computer
target entity,
referent
 external reality
 arrow of intentionality / aboutness
216

arrow of intentionality (reference)
compare: correspondence theory of truth
asserted sentence, scientific theory
fact in reality, scientific domain
217

Datum: Universal or instance?
Continuant
Occurrent
(Process)
Independent
Continuant
human being,
protocol
document
Dependent
Continuant
pattern of
ink marks
Applying
the protocol
Side-Effect …
218

Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Entity
Action
creating a datum
219

universal: human being
instance: Leon Tolstoy
universal: novel
instance: War and Peace
universal: book
instance: this copy of War and Peace
Universals and instances
220

universal: religious text
instances:
The Bible
The King James Bible
The Hebrew Bible
(different versions)
221

Is UniProt a universal or an instance?
If UniProt were a universal, and the copy
of UniProt on my laptop were an instance
of this universal, then
there would be many UniProts and many
War(s) and Peaces.
Hence UniProt is an instance.
What is a database?
222

Is War and Peace a universal or an
instance?
If War and Peace were a universal, 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?
223

There can be two copies of the
Declaration of Independence
There cannot be two Declarations of
Independence
There are not two Declarations of
Independence
224

universal: religious text
instances:
The Bible
The King James Bible
The Hebrew Bible
(different versions)
225

Rule for Universals
Their names are pluralizable
There can be three people
There cannot be three Condoleezza Rices
There are three bibles on the shelf
(three copies, instances of the universal
book)
226

Specific dependence
process
Independent
Continuant
thing
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
quality
headache depends
on human being
227

Generic dependence
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
thing
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
quality
pdf file depends
on hard drive
228

Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Entity
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
229

Realizable dependent continuants
functions
plans
roles
dispositions
230

Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality, Pattern
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
inert ert
Occurrent
231

they have a different kind of
provenance
Aspirin as product of Bayer GmbH
aspirin as molecular structure
are distinct from types
232

Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Entity
Sequence
.pdf file .doc file
instances 233

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
234

do not require specific media (paper,
silicon, neuron …)
235

Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality, Pattern
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
inert ert
Occurrent
236

Examples
performance of a symphony
projection of a film
utterance of a sentence
application of a therapy
course of a disease
increase of temperature
Occurrent
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
237

Continuant
Occurrent
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality Disposition
Realization
Role
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
238

are realized by being concretized in
specifically dependent continuants
(the plan in your head, the protocol
being realized by your research team)
239

A violinist reads the score of Beethoven’s
9th Symphony and a concretization of the
Symphony is created in his mind
(something like a plan)
In playing he realizes this plan, thereby
generating a performance of the
Symphony
240

Nature Protocols
vs.
The protocol McDoe has been
following in this project since March
241

McDoe reads the protocoll as published
and a concretization of the protocoll is
created in his mind (something like a
plan)
In his laboratory work he realizes this
plan, thereby generating an experiment
242

How to understand restrictions on use
of data?
What is a license? What does
‘permission’ mean?
Towards an ontology of licenses
and contracts
243

Informational Entity (law)
license
permission
prohibition
contract
regulation
debt
office (role)
...
244

Open Source Licenses
Open source licenses define the privileges and restrictions a
licensor must follow in order to use, modify or redistribute
the open source software.
Examples include Apache License, BSD license,
GNU General Public License, ...
The proliferation of open source licenses is one of the few
negative aspects of the open source movement because it is
often difficult to understand the legal implications of the
differences between licenses.
(Wikipedia)
245

By following the strategy of the OBO Foundry
Examine the instances in reality – laptops,
labels, actions of signing contracts – and their
interrelations
e.g. distinguish license template from license
(correctly) filled-in
How to create a common representation
of the entities in the domain of
contracts and licensing?
246

All terms in an ontology must have instances
in reality
Ontologies must be anchored to reality
through these instances
We anchor the ontology of information entities
through human acts of using language,
through documents, through acts of entering
data into a registry ...
Basic rule of evidence-based
ontology
247

Open Source Licenses
Open source license as generically dependent
continuant (compare: protocol in Nature Protocols)
The license signed by John and Jim, a specifically
dependent continuant whose bearer is (say) a
specific piece of paper
The former is a concretization of the latter
248

two dimensions of
concretization
contract template contract
paper copy of
contract template
paper copy of filled
in contract
249

requesting, questioning, answering,
ordering, imparting information,
promising, commanding, baptising
Social acts which “are performed in
the very act of speaking”
The Ontology of Speech Acts
250

envy
forgiveness
waiving a claim
Some social acts can be purely
internal
251

they must be not only directed towards
other people
but also registered by their addressees
Some social acts depend on uptake
252

For example commands, marryings,
baptisings
depend on
relations of authority
Some social acts depend on external
circumstances
253

Promising gives rise to claims and
obligations (e.g. to debts)
Marrying gives rise to marital bond
Promoting gives rise to new role on the
part of the promotee
Some social acts give rise to
successor entities
254

Promising, commands, requests
gives rise to tendencies to realization
of their content
Tendencies can be blocked …
Some social acts give rise to
tendencies
255

The Structure of the Promise
promiser promiseepromise
relations of one-sided
dependence
256

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
three-sided mutual
dependence
257

oblig-
ation
claim
promiser promisee
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
two-sided
mutual
dependence
258

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
tendency
towards
realization
259

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background
(Environment)
Trust, common language, …
sincere
intention
260

Sham promises
Lies as sham assertions (cf. a forged
signature); rhetorical questions
Social acts performed in someone
else’s name (representation,
delegation)
Social acts with multiple addresses
Conditional social acts
Modifications of Social Acts
261

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background
(Environment)
sincere
intention
How modifications occur
262

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background
(Environment)
sincere
intention
263

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background
(Environment)
sincere
intention
264

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background
(Environment)
sincere
intention
How modific-ations
occur
265

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background
(Environment)
sincere
intention
266

promis
er
promise
e
act of
speaking
act of
registeri
ngcontent
F
oblig-
ation
claim
action: do F
The Background (Environment, External Memory,
Frame of Reference)
sincere
intention
Lack of trust, lack of authority, lack of clear rules 267

Assurance form is a promise
NHGRI SAMPLE REPOSITORY FOR HUMAN GENETIC
RESEARCH ASSURANCE FORM FOR HUMAN CELL LINES
AND DNA SAMPLES
To ensure compliance with the (DHSS / 45 CFR Part 46)
regulations for the protection of human subjects … the principal
investigator must provide the Repository with a written
description of the research project to be done using the cell
cultures or DNA samples [and] sign this statement agreeing to
adhere to the following conditions:
1) … to report any proposed changes to the research
project
2) … not to try to identity or contact the donor subjects from
whom the cell cultures or DNA samples were derived.
…
http://svn.neurocommons.org/svn/trunk/mta/Coriell/NHGRI/assurance.pdf 268

Assurance form is a promise
The PI promises to do X, Y and Z and not to do
U, V and W.
If he contravenes this promise then such and
such steps (… punishment …) will follow
The PI is subject to a restriction
269

What is a restriction?
We have a class P of processes involving as
agent some member of some class H of
human subjects (or of groups of human
subjects) and as patient some member of a
class of [biosamples, data entities, …]
Restriction =def. assignment to the
processes in P by some competent authority
a of the role of being restricted to members
of H
270

What does ‘prohibit’ mean?
a prohibits members of H from performing
process p =def. if a member h of H performs
p then there is a tendency for a to punish h
for performing p [or: for a to undertake
proceedings with a tendency to lead to a
punishment of h for performing p]
271

What is a license?
The documentation of the assignment to the
members of P by competent authority a of the
role of being restricted to members of H.
The relevant document will include a
specification of P and of H.
The relevant document will likely take the
form of a reusable template in which these
specifications are filled in.
272

standard examples: nurse, student,
patient;
in each case something holds (that a
person plays a role) because of some
socially vehiculated decision. Functions
never exist purely because people decide
that they exist; this is
because functions rest in each case on
some underlying physical
Roles
273

being first (in a queue, a pathway)
Cf. Searle: status functions = their
exercise does not reflect their physics
More Roles
274

Liability
if x has a liability to be Led, there is a
tendency for some other entity to do L to x
x has license z to do S = something
which does S has a liability to be Led, being
Led is bad, x can do S without being Led.
275

Debts
Offices, roles
Licenses
Prohibitions
Rights
Laws
The Ontology of Claims and
Obligations
276

1. Necessary Objects (intelligible;
timeless) – e.g. the number 7 (Plato)
2. Contingent Objects (knowable only
through observation; historical;
causal) – e.g. Bill Clinton (positivists)
3. Objects of the third kind (intelligible,
but have a starting point in time) –
e.g. claims, obligations …
Three sorts of objects
277

role: buyer/seller (roles come in
analytic pairs..., can be view
dependent)
278

4. Roles
One grain of truth in Shragerian fictionalism:
Networks and pathways involve entities playing
roles
Roles are always optional
– roles are played by other entities, which are
what they are independent of whether they
play the roles
279

The GO is not a catalog of roles
being a cell is not a role
being a cell membrane is not a role
being second nightwatchman is a role
280

pathways can be represented at
different levels of granularity
281

need for contextualization
P1 P1
282

need for contextualization
the same protein type appears twice in the same
pathway – need to contextualize types (via
something like roles)
compare 2 + 2 = 4 (the first ‘2’ and the second ‘2’
refer to different entities)
P1 P1
283

Which general terms designate
types?
Roughly: terms used by scientists to designate
entities about which we have a plurality of
different kinds of testable proposition
(cell, electron ...)
a type is such that its name can play a role in
the statement of a natural law
284

Language has the power to create
general terms
which go beyond the domain of types studied by
science
285

Problem: fiat demarcations
male over 30 years of age with family history of
diabetes
abnormal curvature of spine
participant in trial #2030
286

Problem: roles
fist
patient
FDA-approved drug
287

Administrative ontologies often need
to go beyond universals
Fall on stairs or ladders in water transport injuring
occupant of small boat, unpowered
Railway accident involving collision with rolling stock
and injuring pedal cyclist
Nontraffic accident involving motor-driven snow
vehicle injuring pedestrian
288

• role: buyer/seller (roles come in analytic
pairs..., can be view dependent)
289

what is a role?
specific context)
290

• standard examples: nurse, student, patient;
• in each case something holds (that a person
plays a role) because of some socially
vehiculated decision. Functions never exist
purely because people decide that they exist;
this is because functions rest in each case on
some underlying physical structure with
relevant causal powers.
Roles
291

• being first (in a queue, a pathway)
• Cf. Searle: status functions = their exercise
does not reflect their physics
More Roles
292

If x plays a role
certain kinds of actions
293

What is a role?
specific context)
294

If x plays a role
certain kinds of processes
•in canonical circumstances the role is realized
295

Army UCORE 2.0 Conceptual Data Model
WHO
WHERE
WHAT
WHEN
Army UCORE 2.0 Conceptual Data Model
Situational Awareness - 'WHO' was 'WHERE' doing 'WHAT' 'WHEN'
UCORE OBJECT
object-identifier
owner-producer-text
originators-classification-text
created-datetime
PERSON
person-identifier (FK)
person-name
person-name-type-text
person-role-text
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
ORGANIZATION
organisation-identifier (FK)
organization-name
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
GEOSPATIAL LOCATION
geospatial-location-identifier (FK)
event-identifier (FK)
activity-identifier (FK)
ISO-8601-start-datetime (FK)
geospacial-location-type-text
coordinate-system-name
altitude
latitude
longitude
ISO-8601-end-datetime (FK)
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
AFFILIATION TYPE
affiliation-type-code-text
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
PERSON AFFILIATION
affiliation-type-code-text (FK)
affiliation-create-datetime
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
PERSON ORGANIZATION
organization-identifier (FK)
person-organization-create-datetime
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
EVENT
event-identifier
event-name
event-type-text
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
ACTIVITY
activity-identifier
event-identifier (FK)
activity-name
activity-type-text
owner-producer-text
created-datetime
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL START TIME
ISO-8601-start-datetime
COORDINATED UNIVERSAL END TIME
ISO-8601-end-datetime
(CDM)
296

BiometricsOntology
JC3IEDM-SL
C2 Core-SL
Finance
Acquisition
HumanResources
Logistics
Installations
Semantic Framework
BMA
Upper
Ontology
Glossary
Data Dictionary
Schemas
IESS
BMA
Master Data
Model - SL
Glossary
Data Dictionary
Schemas
IESS
Glossary
Data Dictionary
Schemas
IESS
Glossary
Data Dictionary
Schemas
IESS
Traditional
Data Model
Artifacts
Intel MA TBD
UCor
e
(who-what-when-where)
UCore-SL
(who-what-when-where)
Glossary
Data Dictionary
Schemas
IESS
UCore-SLX (SUMO + BFO + DOLCE)
297

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