Information Artifact Ontology:
General Background
Barry Smith
1
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 Gavin’s Training Memorandum on the
Employment of Airborne Forces
2
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,” …’
3
4
5
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)
6
Two kinds of data
1. 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
7
Information Content Entities (ICEs)
• ICEs are about something in reality (they have
this something as a subject; they represent, or
mention or describe this something; they
inform us about this something).
• Aboutness may be identifiable from different
perspectives. Thus one analyst may interpret a
given ICE as being about the geography of a
given encampment; another may view it as
providing information about the morale of
those encamped there.
Information 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
9
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
10
Sample terms in IAO
Report
Summary
Diagram
Overlay
Assessment
Estimate
List
Order
Matrix
Template
11
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
12
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
13
Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions
Role in the Intelligence Process (JP 3-0, III-11)
Priority Intelligence Requirement (PIR)
Commander’s Critical Information Requirement (CCIR)
Essential Element of Information (EEI)
Essential Element of Friendly Information (EEFI)
Confidence Level (JP 2.0, Appendix A)
Highly Likely
Likely
Even Chance
Unlikely
Highly Unlikely
Discipline (JP 2.0, I-5)
Legal
Ideology
Religion
Propaganda
Intelligence
Signal
Human
Rumor intelligence
Web intelligence
Intelligence Excellence (JP 2.0, II-6)
Anticipatory
Timely
Accurate
Usable
Complete
Relevant
Objective
Available
Use of IAO-Intel – Example:
Digitalizing 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.
15
Digitalizing an MCOO
• Annotations to the attributes of IA#1
– ICE: MCOO
– IBE: Acetate Sheet
– uses-symbology MIL-STD-2525C
– authored-by person #4644
• Annotations relating to the aboutness of IA#1
–
–
–
–
Avenue of Approach
Strategic Defense Belt
Amphibious Operations
Objective
16
top level
mid-level
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
Anatomy Ontology
(FMA*, CARO)
Cell
Ontology
(CL)
domain
level
Ontology for
Biomedical
Investigations
(OBI)
Information Artifact
Ontology
(IAO)
Cellular
Component
Ontology
(FMA*, GO*)
Environment
Ontology
(EnvO)
Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO)
Sequence Ontology
(SO*)
Protein Ontology
(PRO*)
Spatial Ontology
(BSPO)
Infectious
Disease
Ontology
(IDO*)
Phenotypic
Quality
Ontology
(PaTO)
Biological
Process
Ontology (GO*)
Molecular
Function
(GO*)
Extension Strategy + Modular Organization
17
top level
mid-level
(generic hub)
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
Information Artifact Ontology(IAO)
IAO-Science
domain level
(spokes
populating IAO- IAOdownwards) Biology Physics
IAO-Intel
IAOIntelNavy
IAOIntelArmy
IAO-Computing
IAOIntelFBI
IAOSoftware
EMOEmail
Ontology
Each module built by downward population
from its parent
18
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
19
BFO
Continuant
Occurrent
20
BFO
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Occurrent
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
21
BFO
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
is tied to just
one bearer
Occurrent
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
22
BFO
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
is tied to just
one bearer
Occurrent
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
can migrate from one
bearer to another
23
BFO
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Occurrent
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
universals
this man,
that book
this excitation
pattern,
that pattern
of piles of ink
this gene sequence,
this digital image
instances
24
BFO
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Disposition
Role
25
BFO
Continuant
IAO
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Information
Bearing
Entity
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
depends_on
Information
Quality
Entity
26
BFO
Continuant
IAO
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Content
Entity
27
BFO
Continuant
IAO
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Information
Bearing
Entity
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
depends_on
Information
Quality
Entity
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Content
Entity
concretized_by
28
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Information
Bearing
Entity
this hard drive,
that book
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
depends_on
Information
Quality
Entity
this excitation
pattern,
that pattern
of piles of ink
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Content
Entity
concretized_by
universals
this pdf file
this digital image
instances
29
Universals and Instances (from Bill Mandrick)
Geographic
Coordinates
Set
instance_
of
has
location
designates
Spatial
Region
Distance
Measurement
Result
Geopolitical
Entity
has
location
is_a
Village
Name
designates
Village
Well
Latrine
instance_of
instance_of
instance_of
instance_
of
instance_of
’16 meters’
‘VT 334
569’
measurement_of
located
near
‘Khanabad
Village’
located
in
30
IAO and BFO
BFO:
Independent
Continuant
Information
Bearing
Entity (IBE)
BFO:
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Content
Entity (ICE)
Information
Structure
Entity (ISE)
BFO:
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Quality Entity
(Pattern)
(IQE)
31
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
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
33
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
The Dublin Core:
How not to solve the problem of
creating consistent information
artifact metadata
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
an open organization supporting innovation in
metadata design and best practices across the
metadata ecology
http://dublincore.org/
Resource (as in ‘RDF’) + 15 basic ‘elements’:
0. RESOURCE
8. TYPE
1. TITLE
9. FORMAT
2. CREATOR
10. IDENTIFIER
3. SUBJECT
11. SOURCE
4. DESCRIPTION
12. LANGUAGE
5. PUBLISHER
13. RELATION
6. CONTRIBUTORS
14. COVERAGE
7. DATE
15. RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI)
An open organization supporting
innovation in metadata design and best
practices across the metadata ecology
http://dublincore.org/
The Core
• Resource (as in ‘RDF’) + 15 basic ‘elements’:
0. RESOURCE
1. TITLE
8. TYPE
9. FORMAT
2. CREATOR
3. SUBJECT
4. DESCRIPTION
5. PUBLISHER
10. IDENTIFIER
11. SOURCE
12. LANGUAGE
13. RELATION
6. CONTRIBUTORS
14. COVERAGE
7. DATE
15. RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
1) What’s a “resource”?
A resource is anything that has identity. Familiar
examples include an electronic document, an
image, a service (e.g., "today's weather report
for Los Angeles"), and a collection of other
resources.
Assumption: resource = information artifact
2) How do “elements” apply to “resources”?
An Element is a characteristic that a resource
may “have”, such as a Title, Publisher, or
Subject.
The Core (cont.)
The same resource can be instantiated in different ways
Format: The file format, physical
medium, or dimensions of the resource.
Examples of dimensions include size and
duration.
Recommended best practice is to use a
controlled vocabulary such as the list of
Internet Media Types [MIME]. Example:
image/jpeg.
The Core (cont.)
What describes the content / topic / subject-matter?
Title: The name given to the resource.
Description: An account of the content of the
resource. Description may include but is not limited
to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a
graphical representation of content or a free-text
account of the content.
Subject: The topic of the content of the resource.
Typically, a subject will be expressed as keywords or
key phrases or classification codes that describe the
topic of the resource.
Benefits of Dublin Core
• Available in multiple formats
• W3C recommended
• Mapping to PROV
Problems with Dublin Core
• Scope not defined (‘anthing that has identity’)
• Does not provide logical definitions, but relies
rather on vague natural language expressions
(including use of “scare” “quotes” to warn the
user that terms are not intended literally)
• Provides only suggestive guidance as to use of
associated standards
• Does not interoperate well with other (topic)
ontologies
Confuses words and things
• Source: A reference to a resource from which
the present resource is derived. The present
resource may be derived from the Source
resource in whole or part.
Engages in sloppy bundling
Type: The nature or genre of the content of the
resource. Type includes terms describing general
categories, functions, genres, or aggregation
levels for content.
What is ‘content of the resource’?
Is the nature of the content distinct from the nature
of the resource?
No taxonomic organization, but rather a tangled
hierarchy
No distinction between things (continuants) and
processes (occurrents) – consider performance
of a work
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
Requirements to Achieve These Goals
• Conformance to ontology best practices
– http://ncorwiki.buffalo.edu/index.php/Distributed_Deve
lopment_of_a_Shared_Semantic_Resource
– http://techwiki.openstructs.org/index.php/Ontology_Be
st_Practices
– http://kmi.open.ac.uk/events/iswc07-semantic-webintro/pdf/5.%20Ontology%20Design.pdf
• Conformance to an upper level ontology as starting
point for coherent definitions
• Separation of aspects of an information artifact
such as physical bearer, content, content
organization
DC Does Not Conform to Best Practices
Term Name: LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction
http://purl.org/dc/terms/LocationPeriodOrJurisdiction
URI:
Location, Period, or Jurisdiction
Label:
Definition: A location, period of time, or jurisdiction.
LOCATION PERIOD OR JURISDICTION is defined in
the DC hierarchy as a subclass of LOCATION
Problems with verbal definitions
– PROVENANCE – “A statement of any changes in
ownership and custody of the resource since its
creation that are significant for its authenticity,
integrity, and interpretation.”
– The same definition is applied to the class and the
property: PROVENANCE STATEMENT that is the
Range of PROVENANCE is defined in exactly the
same way.
Does Not Conform to an ULO
• DC does not conform to an upper level ontology and
does not show signs of downward development
from more general to more specific terms.
• As a result
– Generic element associations are absent or arbitrary or
informal.
– If such associations were established, they would need to
be established manually instead of being inherited. For
example, there are such classes as AGENT and AGENT
CLASS where AGENT CLASS is defined as “A group of
agents” but no formal relation with the class AGENT is
asserted.
Does Not Conform to an ULO (cont.)
• In the absence of a high-level single hierarchy,
the relations between classes are not clear. For
example
• PROVENANCE is defined as “A statement of any
changes in ownership and custody of the
resource since its creation that are significant for
its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation”
seems to overlap with CREATOR, CONTRIBUTOR,
and IS VERSION OF.
• But how?
Limited Usability of DC
• DC does not try to separately address such aspects
of an information artifact as its physical bearer,
content, and content organization
• Will not allow for rich explications and annotations
of document repositories, in particular repositories
of military documents, and for various
classifications of documents that are based on the
content or bearer
Shimon Edelman’s
Riddle of Representation
two humans, a monkey, and a robot
are looking at a piece of cheese;
what is common to the
representational processes in their
visual systems?
54
Answer:
The cheese, of course
55
The real cheese
56
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 …)
57
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)
58
Types and tokens
AAA
One type, three tokens
A type is a pattern
Patterns can be complex
59
fragment of the War and Peace pattern
60
War and Peace is an instance of the
universal novel
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
instance_of
This bound
copy of
War and Peace
instance_of
War and Peace
depends_on
quality
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
instance_of
The novel
War and Peace
61
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.
62
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.
63
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
64
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
65
IAO and BFO
BFO:
Independent
Continuant
Information
Bearing
Entity (IBE)
BFO:
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Content
Entity (ICE)
Information
Structure
Entity (ISE)
BFO:
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Quality Entity
(Pattern)
(IQE)
Information Bearing Entities – IBEs
• An IBE is a material entity that has been
created to serve as a bearer of information.
IBEs are either (1) self-sufficient material
wholes, or (2) proper material parts of such
wholes.
• Examples under (1): a hard drive, a paper
printout (e.g., a report)
• Examples under (2): a specific sector on a hard
drive, a single page of a paper printout.
Information Quality Entities (IQEs)
• An IQE is the pattern on an IBE in virtue of
which it is a bearer of some information
• An IQE exists in a given IBE because of a
certain patterned arrangement for example of
ink or other chemicals, or of electromagnetic
excitations.
• Every ICE is concretized by at least one IQE
Information Structure Entities (ISEs)
• Information Structure Entity (ISE) is a
structural part of an ICE, for example an
empty cell in a spreadsheet; or a blank
Microsoft Word file. ISEs thus capture part of
what is involved when we talk about the
‘format’ of an IA.
Organization of IAO-Intel – IA
‘IA’ refers either
– to some combination of ICEs and ISEs (roughly:
the IA as body of copyable information
content); or
– to some concretization of ICEs and ISEs in some
IBE in which some IQE inheres (the information
artifact is: this content here and now, on this
specific computer screen or this printed page).
Different information artifact kinds will differ in
different ways along these dimensions, as
illustrated in Table 2.
IA
IBE
ISE
ICE
MS Word file
(.doc, .docx)
Hard drive (magnetized
sector)
MS Word format
Varies
KML file
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)
Name, Personal
ID formats, security marking
data, Passport
formats …
number, Visas
Title Deed
Official paper document
Varies
Varies
Report
Varies
Varies
Varies
Overlay Sheet
( e.g. Map
Acetate sheet
Overlay Sheet)
MIL-STD-2525 Symbols; FM
101-1-5 Operational Terms Map overlay
and Graphics
IAO and BFO
BFO:
Independent
Continuant
Information
Bearing
Entity (IBE)
BFO:
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Content
Entity (ICE)
Information
Structure
Entity (ISE)
BFO:
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Quality Entity
(Pattern)
(IQE)
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
top level
mid-level
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
Anatomy Ontology
(FMA*, CARO)
Cell
Ontology
(CL)
domain
level
Ontology for
Biomedical
Investigations
(OBI)
Information Artifact
Ontology
(IAO)
Cellular
Component
Ontology
(FMA*, GO*)
Environment
Ontology
(EnvO)
Subcellular Anatomy Ontology (SAO)
Sequence Ontology
(SO*)
Protein Ontology
(PRO*)
Spatial Ontology
(BSPO)
Infectious
Disease
Ontology
(IDO*)
Phenotypic
Quality
Ontology
(PaTO)
Biological
Process
Ontology (GO*)
Molecular
Function
(GO*)
Extension Strategy + Modular Organization
74
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
75
76
Language
Speech acts
Acts of thinking*
Document acts
Writing
Printing
Email …
*Mental Functioning Ontology (MFO)
77
Coverage domain of IAO
Speech acts
Acts of thinking
Document acts
Writing
Printing
Email …
78
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
79
80
81
John Searle: start with biology, add speech
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
83
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)?
84
Hernando de Soto
Institute for Liberty and Democracy, Lima, Peru
Bill Clinton:
“The most promising anti-poverty initiative in the world”
85
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
86
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
87
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
88
Identity
89
Standardization
An extralegal standardized
sales contract for a oneacre 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.
90
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
91
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.
92
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 …
93
Scope of document act theory
• the social and institutional (deontic, quasilegal) 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
94
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
95
How to do things with words
(speech act theory)
1. We represent how things are:
record, report, description, assertion …
2. We try to get people to do things:
request, order, command …
3. We commit ourselves to doing things
promise, agreement, …
4. 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)
1. We represent how things are:
map, chemical diagram, x-ray image, …
2. We try to get people to do things:
blueprint, musical score, plan of battle …
3. We commit ourselves to doing things
contract, planning agreement, flow chart …
4. 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
…)
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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-tomind: I say “I promise to pay you $100
dollars” and thereby make it true that I
promise to pay you $100 dollars
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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-tomind: Act of Parliament is published
declaring that such-and-such is the law and
such-and-such is the law
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(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-toscore: Berlioz completes the score and
thereby brings into being a work that is
precisely in conformance to the score
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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
103
what begins as a plan,
ends as a record
104
Blueprint
what begins as a
plan
ends as a record
• of process
• of product
105
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?”
“Let’s lift this table”
“Shall we cook dinner together?”
“Waiter, bring me a beer!”
…
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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.’
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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 Shapiro’s theory of the nature of law
108
Conclusion
Documents, 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
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