The Information Artifact
Ontology
Barry Smith
presentation tomorrow at 2pm (Session 1B)
IAO-Intel
An Ontology of Information Artifacts
in the Intelligence Domain
Barry Smith Tatiana Malyuta
University at
Buffalo
NY, USA
CUNY, NY, USA
Data Tactics,
McLean, VA
Ron Rudnicki
CUBRC, Buffalo
NY, USA
William Mandrick David Salmen
Data Tactics
McLean, VA, USA
Data Tactics
McLean, VA, USA
Peter Morosoff
Danielle K. Duff
James Schoening
Kesny Parent
E-Maps, Inc.
Washington, DC, USA
I2WD
Aberdeen, MD, USA
I2WD
Aberdeen, MD, USA
I2WD
Aberdeen, MD, USA
describes work being carried out for the US Army’s Distributed Common
Ground System (DCGS-A) Standard Cloud (DSC) initiative; part of a
strategy for the horizontal integration of warfighter intelligence data
IAO
• IAO: The Information Artifact Ontology, developed
by scientific researchers as a vehicle for annotating
data about measurement results, publications,
protocols, databases, consent forms, licenses
in a way that will allow discovery, integration and
analysis
Two kinds of data about data:
– 1. what are the data about  Domain Ontologies
– 2. how the data are packaged (collected, presented,
formatted, stored) 
IAO Ontologies
http://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/IAO
4
IAO-Intel
• IAO-Intel – an extension of IAO and
incorporating features of the AIRS Information
Ontology – to provide common resources for
the consistent description of information
artifacts of relevance to the intelligence
community
IAO: Report / IAO-Intel: Intelligence Report
IAO-Intel terms are
defined by using
terms from the
ontologies in the
yellow box via
relations such as:
• is-about
• created-by
• derives-from
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
7
8
top level
mid-level
(generic hub)
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
Information Artifact Ontology
(IAO)
IAO-Science
domain level
(spokes
populating
downwards)
IAO-Intel
IAO-Computing
IAOLibrary
Science
IAO- IAOIAO- IAO- IAO- IAO- IAO- (~Dublin
The Email
Intel- Intel- Intel- Core) Hard Soft
Ontology
Biology Physics
Navy Army FBI
ware ware
IAO provides the hub for a gradually evolving
set of modular spokes; each module built by
downward population from its parent
9
Strategy of downward population
IAO
IAO-Intel (examples)
Report
Summary
Intelligence Report (FM 6-99.2, 126)
Electronic Warfare Mission Summary (FM 6-99.2, 87)
Diagram
Network Analysis Diagram (from JP 2-01.3, II-51)
Overlay
Combined Information Overlay (JP 2-01.3, II 33)
Assessment Assessment of Impact of Damage (FM 6-99.2, 53)
Estimate
List
Order
Matrix
Adversary Course of Action Estimate
List of High-Value Targets (JP 2-01.3, II 61)
Airspace Control Order (FM 6-99.2, 17)
Target Value Matrix (JP 2-01.3, II-63)
Template
Ground and Air Adversary Template (JP 2-01.3, II-57)
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 can be
the 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
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
Need for controlled vocabulary to
describe data about information artifacts
DoD Directive 8320.02 (version dated August 5,
2013) requires
• 1. all authoritative DoD data sources to be
registered in the DoD Data Services Environment
(DSE)
• 2. that all salient metadata be discoverable,
searchable, retrievable, and understandable
“Data standards and specifications that require
associated semantic and structural metadata,
including vocabularies, taxonomies, and ontologies,
will be published in the DSE, or in a registry that is
federated with the DSE.” FEAR LINKED OPEN DATA
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
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
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
Consequences
• These issues will
– Prevent acceptance of DC in solving DoD
metadata problems
– Make its future development and
integration with other ontologies difficult
– Not allow for deep data integration
IAO is designed to address the need
for metadata standards, not by
replacing existing standards,
• but rather by providing a single, consistent
framework for tagging (‘semantic
enhancement’) of existing data stores
• Its purpose is to provide a uniform, nonredundant, algorithmically processable and
easily extendible consensus system of tags
Uses of IAO-Intel – Example 1
IA #1: a Modified Combined
Obstacle Overlay (MCOO) –
product of a joint intelligence
preparation of the operational
environment used to portray
militarily significant features
such as obstacles restricting
movement, key geography, and
military objectives
IA #2 – the plan (document) in
accordance with which the IA
#1 was prepared
IAO enables three kinds of discovery
and analysis
• Annotations to the attributes of IA #1
–
–
–
–
has-artifact-kind MCOO
has-physical-kind: Acetate Sheet
uses-symbology MIL-STD-2525C
authored-by person #4644
• Annotations linking IA #1 to other IAS
– IA#1 output of process realizing plan IA#2
• Annotations relating to the aboutness of IA#1
–
–
–
–
Avenue of Approach
Strategic Defense Belt
Amphibious Operations
Objective
Uses of IAO-Intel – Example 2
• A collection of documents prepared according
to FM 6-99.2 of kinds:
– Intelligence Report [INTREP]
– Intelligence Summary [INTSUM]
– Logistics Situation Report [LOGSITREP]
– Operations Summary [OPSUM]
– Patrol Report [PATROLREP]
– Reconnaissance Exploitation Report [RECCEXREP]
– SAEDA Report [SAEDAREP]
Attributes of Information
Artifacts
Attributes of IAs
• Information artifacts have attributes along a
number of distinct dimensions, treated in lowlevel ontology modules
• Terms in these modules will be applied to
explicate information relating to IAs of different
sorts, and to annotate data pertaining to IA
instances
• Attributes of IAs vs. Attributes of subject-matters,
targets, topics, …
Attributes of IAs (cont.)
• Some dimensions of IA attributes are common
to all areas, both military and non-military
– Purpose
– Lifecycle Stage (draft, finished version, revision)
– Language,
– Format
– Provenance
– Source (person, organization)
Generic Attributes of IAs (for IAO)
• Purpose
– 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
• Purposes specific to IAO-Intel
– Informing the commander,
– Providing targeting support
– Intelligence preparation of the battlefield.
Purpose of an Information Artifact
Descriptive purpose
=def. the purpose of describing some portion of
reality
Examples: scientific paper, newspaper article,
diary, experimenter log notebook
Prescriptive purpose
=def. the purpose of prescribing or permitting or
allowing some activity
Examples: a legal code, a license
47
Purpose of an Information Artifact
Directive purpose
=def. the purpose of specifying a plan or method
for achieving something
Examples: instruction, manual, recipe, protocol
Designative purpose
=def. the purpose of uniquely designating some
entity or the members of some class of entities
Examples: a registry of members of an
organization, a phone book, a database linking
proper names of persons with their social
security numbers.
48
Examples of Intel-Specific Purpose Attributes
(IAO-Intel terms created by downward population from
IAO:Purpose)
• Informing the commander
Providing targeting support
Intelligence preparation of the battlefield
• Supporting planning and execution
Defining the operational environment
Describing the impact of the operational environment
Evaluating the adversary
Describing adversary courses of action
• Counter adversary deception
• Assess the effects of operations
Attributes of IAs Specific to Intelligence IAs
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
Unlikely
Likely
Highly Unlikely
Even Chance
Discipline (JP 2.0, I-5)
Intelligence
Legal
Signal
Ideology
Human
Religion
Rumor intelligence
Propaganda
Web intelligence
Intelligence Excellence (JP 2.0, II-6)
Anticipatory
Complete
Timely
Relevant
Accurate
Objective
Usable
Available
IAO-Intel Defined Attributes relating to
source of an IA
• Document Source
– Organization
• Government Agency
– Military Agency
– Intelligence Agency
– Personal source
• Intelligence agent, bystander, witness …
• Two kinds of source relations:
1. between an IA and a source kind
2. between an IA and a source instance (e.g. some
specific intelligence agency, some specific person)
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
Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions
• Classification
– Unclassified, open source
– Secret
– Top Secret
• Level
– Strategic
– Operational
– Tactical
• Encryption Status
• Encryption Strength
Strategy for Building IAO-Intel
• Incremental expansion; the ontology is planned to
include artifacts spanning the entire range of IAs,
from authoritative data sources to unprocessed
reports
• Identify orthogonal dimensions of IA attributes
and create Low-Level Ontology modules (LLOs)
– Small, shallow, and structured following the principle
of single inheritance
– Used to
• Construct more complex terms and define IAO terms
• Explicate the meanings of terms standardly used by
different agencies
• Annotate instance data
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)
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
BFO roots
Basic Formal Ontology (BFO)
Information Artifact Ontology (IAO)
IAO-Intel
Email Ontology
More than 100 Ontology projects using BFO
http://www.ifomis.org/bfo/users
61
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
62
Basic Formal Ontology
universals
Occurrent
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant
thing
(hard drive,
camera, …)
quality
(color,
shape, …)
process
(copying a file to
another computer)
.... ..... .......
instances
Occurrents depend on participants
instances
this bombing on 15 May
that insurgency attack on 5 April
occurrent kinds
bombing
attack
participant kinds
explosive device
terrorist group
Basic Formal Ontology
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant
thing
quality
Occurrent
process
quality depends
on bearer
.... ..... .......
Blinding Flash of the Obvious
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Dependent
Continuant
thing
quality, …
Occurrent
process, event
event depends
on participant
.... ..... .......
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Quality
Occurrent
Dependent
Continuant
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
Disposition
Role
Process
67
Universals and Instances (from Bill Mandrick)
Geographic
Coordinates
Set
designates
Spatial
Region
instance_
of
has
location
Distance
Measurement
Result
Geopolitical
Entity
has
location
designates
Village
Well
Latrin
e
instance_of
is_a
Village
Name
instance_of
instance_of
instance_
of
instance_of
’16 meters’
‘VT 334
569’
measurement_of
located
near
‘Khanabad
Village’
located
in
68
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
if any bearer ceases to exist,
then the quality or function
ceases to exist
the color of my skin
the function of my heart
Quality,
Role, Disposition
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
69
Specifically Dependent Continuant
Red color
of my skin
depends_on
You
Red color
of your skin
depends_on
Accidens non migrat de
subjecto in subjectum.
Accidents do not migrate from
one substance to another
Me
70
Generically Dependent Continuant
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
if one bearer ceases to exist, then
the entity can survive, because
there are other bearers
(copyability)
the pdf file on my laptop
pdf file
jpg file
Gene
Sequence
the DNA (sequence) in this
chromosome
71
Information artifacts
pdf file
email
poem
symphony
algorithm
symbol
– can migrate from one information bearer
to another
72
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Quality
Disposition
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Realizable
Dependent
Continuant
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Gene
Sequence
Information
Artifact
Role
73
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Gene
Sequence
Information
Artifact
Information
Bearing
Entity
74
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Information
Bearing
Entity (your
hard drive
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
depends_on
Information
Quality Entity
(pattern on
your hard drive)
Information
Artifact
75
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Material
Entity
Information
Bearing
Entity
Specifically
Dependent
Continuant
Quality
depends_on
Information
Quality
Entity
Generically
Dependent
Continuant
Information
Artifact
concretized_by
76
IAO: information content entity
=def. an entity that is generically
dependent on some artifact and stands in
the relation of aboutness to some entity
77
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?
78
Answer:
The cheese, of course
79
The real cheese
80
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 …)
81
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)
82
Types and tokens
AAA
One type, three tokens
A type is a pattern
Patterns can be complex
83
fragment of the War and Peace pattern
84
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
85
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.
86
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.
87
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
88
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
89
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 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 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