Date post: | 27-Mar-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | kaitlyn-mcdonald |
View: | 228 times |
Download: | 1 times |
http://ontologist.com1
The Ontology of Documents
Barry Smith
http://ontologist.com2
PART ONE: Beyond Information Objects
PART TWO: What Documents Wreak
PART THREE: What you can Wreak with Documents
PART FOUR: Standardized Documents
http://ontologist.com3
PART ONE
Beyond information objects
http://ontologist.com4
Much valuable work on ‘documents’ in the context of XML, etc., standardization
e.g. Bob Glushko: “A document is a purposeful and self-contained collection of information.”
• 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’
• but there is more than information here
http://ontologist.com5
(Much bad stuff too)
HL7 Clinical Document Architecture
• is an XML-based document markup standard that specifies the structure and semantics of clinical documents for the purpose of information exchange
• all CDA documents derive their meaning from the HL7 Reference Information Model (RIM)
http://ontologist.com6
HL7-RIM
Document:Definition: Specialization of Act to add the characteristics unique
to document management services. (3.7.1)
Act:Definition: An Act is an action of interest that has happened, can
happen, is happening, is intended to happen, or is requested/demanded to happen. (1.5.1)
Act:Definition: A record of something that is being done, has been
done, can be done, or is intended or requested to be done. (3.1.1)
http://ontologist.com7
HL7-RIM (Ballot September 2004)
Logical nonsenseAct = record of an Act (1.5.1)Act = intentional action (3.1.1)
Ontological nonsense“there is no distinction between an activity and its
documentation” (3.1.1)
Sheer nonsensedocument is a subclass (?!) of structured document (2.2.3)(Compare: number is a special type of prime number)
http://ontologist.com8
HL7-RIM• draws no clear distinctions between
– documents (as entities which endure, can be stored, etc.)
– those acts of recording information which create documents
– acts of ordering or requesting or signing documents
– the information recorded in documents– the activities described in documentsetc.
http://ontologist.com9
We are interested here in the class of (roughly: time-sensitive) documents
of importance e.g. • in homeland security (identification
documents)
• in commerce
• in law
• in healthcare
Thus: not novels ...
http://ontologist.com10
Some examples
Made of paper Not made of paper
novel
textbook
newspaper
advertising flier
recipe
map
business card
license
degree certificate
deed
contract
will
receipt
statement of accounts
medical consent form
advertising hoarding
gravestone
hallmarked silver plate
film credits
exterior signage on buildings
clay tablet recording outcome of litigation
e-document
electronic health record
movie clapper
credit card receipt
stock market ticker
car license plate
http://ontologist.com11
OED
1., 2. Teaching, lesson learned (cf. doctor, docile, docent)
3. That which serves to show, point out, or prove something; evidence, proof.
4. Something written, inscribed, etc., which furnishes evidence or information upon any subject, as a manuscript, title-deed,
tomb-stone, coin, picture, etc.
http://ontologist.com12
What is missing from existing document ontologies:
• the social and institutional (deontic, quasi-legal) powers of documents
• the social interactions in which documents play an essential role (how documents bind people together)
• the sorts of things which we can do with documents• the different types of institutional systems to which
documents belong• the provenance of documents (on what distinguishes
original, authentic documents from copies, forgeries ...)
http://ontologist.com13
What is missing from existing document ontologies:
– 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 (or other physical
carrier) upon which a document is written/printed, – etc.
Focusing on information alone will not suffice; it is a hard problem to simulate some of these features in the case of documents which exist only in a digital medium
http://ontologist.com14
Allographic vs. Autographic• A work of art is “autographic if and only if the
distinction between the original and the copy has meaning; or rather, if even its most exact reproduction does not have the status of authenticity.” (Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art)
• painting is autographic• music is allographic• It follows that a musical forgery is ontologically
impossible (R. Pouivet, “The ontology of forgery”)• How simulate the autographic in a digital medium?
Not via any pure information object, but only via provenance (history).
http://ontologist.com15
Allographic = identity is notationalvs. Autographic = identity is historical
• A signature is autographic
• A fingerprint left at the scene of the crime is autographic
• A fingerprint taken for identification purposes is allographic
http://ontologist.com16
PART TWO
What documents wreak
http://ontologist.com17
Two types of ontology
• natural-science ontology (bio-ontologies)
• administrative ontology (e-commerce ontologies)
Healthcare ontologies span the two
http://ontologist.com18
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 ?
http://ontologist.com19
Austin/Searle Speech Act Theory
1. We tell people how things are (assertives)
2. We try to get them to do things (directives)
3. We commit ourselves to doing things (commissives)
4. We express our feelings and attitudes (expressives)
5. We bring about changes in the world through utterances (declarations) (“I name this ship ...”)
http://ontologist.com20
The Searle thesis
claims and obligations and deontic powers* are brought into existence by the performance of speech acts
(acts of promising, marrying, accusing ... )
The Construction of Social Reality (1989)
* rights, relations of authority, debts, property-relations, permissions, ...
http://ontologist.com21
HL7-RIM
claims to be based on speech act theory, but ignores completely the deontic features of speech acts
http://ontologist.com22
appointings, marryings, promisings ...change the worldbut only if certain background conditions are satisfied:
valid formulationlegitimate authorityacceptance by addressees
We perform a speech act ... the world changes, instantaneously
http://ontologist.com23
A new entity comes into being
– a claim, obligation, right, power, name, office –
which survives for an extended period of time
What is the physical basis for this extended existence?
In small societies: the memories of those involved
In large societies: documents
Writing creates and sustains permanent, re-usable meaning and permanent re-usable deontic powers
http://ontologist.com24
Differences between document acts and speech acts
• you don’t need to understand a document in order to perform a properly constituted document act
• paper documents are continuants, which means that they can change over time (be filled in, copied, stamped, etc.)
• they can also create traceable liability (form an audit trial)
• they can be attached together, creating new document-complexes whose structure mirrors relations (e.g. of debtor to creditor) among humans
http://ontologist.com25
Differences between document acts and speech acts
• document acts typically involve components deriving from several of Searle’s five types– dual role of a delivery note:
• to guide those involved in delivering an object• to allow the recipient to attest to its receipt
• and also components of other types–dual role of your signature in your passport:
• to attest to the truth of a certain assertion• to provide a sample pattern for comparison
http://ontologist.com26
Differences between document acts and speech acts
• speech acts are normally self-validating (they wear their provenance on their face)
• documents need technological devices (official stamps, special watermarks, signatures, countersignatures, seals, ...)
http://ontologist.com27
http://ontologist.com28
Countersignatures
http://ontologist.com29
The Searle thesis:
claims and obligations and deontic powers are brought into existence by the
performance of speech acts
http://ontologist.com30
The de Soto thesis:documents and document systems are
mechanisms for creating the institutional orders of modern societies
Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital, New York: Basic Books, 2000
http://ontologist.com31
The creative powers of documents
stock and share certificates create capital
examination documents create PhDs
title deed/cadastral map creates real estate parcels
marriage licenses create bonds of matrimony
bankruptcy certificates create bankrupts
statutes of incorporation create companies
title deeds create property rights and property owners
http://ontologist.com32
The creative powers of documents
insurance certificates create insurance coverage
price tag/pricelist (creates commitments)
patent (creates rights)
license/degree certificate (creates rights)
statement of accounts (creates obligations)
membership card (creates rights)
divorce decree (creates rights and obligations)
http://ontologist.com33
Identity documents
• create identity
• and thereby create the possibility of identity theft
• what is the ontology of identity?
• what is the epistemology of identity (the technologies of identification)?
http://ontologist.com34
The creative power of documents
documents create authorities(physicians’ license creates physician)
authorities create documents(physician creates sick note)
Documents issued by an authority within the framework of a valid legal institutionvs. issued by an authority extralegally on its own behalf (cf. US Declaration of Independence)
http://ontologist.com35
Organizational chart
a map of the organization and of its flows of authority (a system of positional roles in the document represents [creates?] the system of positional roles which is the organization)
http://ontologist.com36
Homework: How classify these kinds of documents
partnership agreement/ statute of incorporation
proxy form/representation agreement
ballot form
residence permit
census report
stock certificate
insurance claim form
insurance policy
visa/immigration document
bankruptcy certificate
insurance card/health insurance card
health certificate
consent form (for medical procedure)
medical record
criminal record
pension book
rent book
accident report/theft report/police report/charge
architects plan (vs. template for an architects plan)
http://ontologist.com37
What kinds of documents have creative power in social reality?
not novels – which exist in many identical copies (tokens of the same type)
not watercolors in a gallery – which do not contain time-sensitive information
http://ontologist.com38
Non-Creative
noveltextbooknewspaperrecipemapbusiness card
CreativeA
LL
OG
RA
PH
ICA
UT
OG
RA
PH
IC
advertizing fliertimetableguaranteetax form (filled in)minutes of a meeting
licensebirth certificatedegree certificatedeedcontractwillreceiptbanknote
paintingstatuebuilding
http://ontologist.com39
PART THREE
What you can wreak with documents
http://ontologist.com40
What you can do with a document [DOCUMENT ACTS]
Sign itStamp itWitness itFill it in Revise itNullify itRealize (interrupt, abort ...) actions mandated by it Deliver it (de facto, de jure)Declare it active/inactiveDisplay it (price list)Register itArchive it
http://ontologist.com41
Addressees(documents point also forward in time)
Each kind of document has an associated kind of public
1. the creators of the document-template (legislators, drafters ...)
2. the guardians of the document (solicitors, notaries ...)
3. the fillers-in of the document (this is the central target audience)
4. the recipients of the document (registrars, ...)
5. the beneficiaries of the document (wills)
http://ontologist.com42
Registration
storing of documents in a way which makes them – permanently accessible (checkable, verifiable)– amendable (e.g. where property is used as
collateral for loans)– combinable (attachment): social relations are
created via cross-referenced and cross-attached documents
– more easily authenticated
http://ontologist.com43
Redundancy• Safety procedures for mission-critical
technology involve multiple layers of redundancy to ensure against catastrophe.
• 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
• these elements serve to anchor the document to the reality beyond and to the history of its production
http://ontologist.com44
anchoring documents to reality
http://ontologist.com45
fingerprintofficial stampphotographbar code, cow brand-markcar license plateallow cross-referencing to documents
knowledge by acquaintanceknowledge by descriptionknowledge by comparison
• I use my passport to prove my identity• You use my passport to check my identity
Anchoring
http://ontologist.com46
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
http://ontologist.com47
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)
http://ontologist.com48
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)?
http://ontologist.com49
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
http://ontologist.com50
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
http://ontologist.com51
PART FOUR
Standardized Documents
http://ontologist.com52
Standardized documents
Template, followed by act of filling in
First step towards standardized products is a plan, a description, a template, which can be filled in (brand identity))
documents filled in
completely/partially
correctly/incorrectly
validly/invalidly
http://ontologist.com53
from the Shiprock Navajo fair
New Mexico, September 30-October 1, 2005
http://ontologist.com54
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
http://ontologist.com55
Good documents vs. bad documents
Good documents must be well-designed1. they must map the corresponding reality in a
perspicuous way – cf. maps as document2. 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)
http://ontologist.com56
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
http://ontologist.com57
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
http://ontologist.com58
END