ontology of documents (2005)
DESCRIPTION
Introduces the idea of a theory of document acts, analogous to the theory of social acts advocated in 1913 by Adolf Reinach, and to the theory of speech acts advanced by Austin and Searle.TRANSCRIPT
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The Ontology of Documents (2005)
Barry Smith
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Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, 11
Think of the tools in a tool-box: there is a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screw-driver, a ruler, a glue-pot, glue, nails and screw.
—The functions of words are as diverse as the functions of these objects.
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Speech Act Theory Language as TOOLBOX
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 merely through our utterances (declarations)
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The Searle thesis
claims and obligations and deontic powers are brought into existence by the performance of speech acts
(acts of promising, marrying, accusing ... )
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appointings, marryings, promisings change the worldif certain background conditions are satisfied:
valid formulation
legitimate authority
acceptance by addressees
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A speech act is instantaneous
we perform a speech act
the world changes
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Differences between document acts and speech acts
• Speech acts can normally be classified as one or other of the five types distinguished by Searle; document acts typically involve components deriving from several of these types
• You don’t need to understand a document in order to perform a properly constituted document act
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The need for a trace
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?
The memories of those involved?
Or documents? Writing creates permanent, re-usable meaning
Documents create traceable liability
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Documents provide a reliable way for the social/institutional objects brought into existence by speech acts to endure through time
Such objects can thereby also serve as the basis for new social objects of a higher-order giving rise to what Searle calls a ‘huge invisible ontology’
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Jack Goody, The Logic of Writing and the Organization of Society (1986)
The very fact that laws exist in written form makes a profound difference, first to the nature of its sources, secondly to the ways of changing the rules, thirdly to the judicial process, and fourthly to court organization. Indeed it touches upon the nature of rules themselves.
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The price systemA system of telecommunications which enables individual producers to watch merely the movement of a few pointers, as an engineer might watch the hands of a few dials
(Hayek, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”)
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The Hayek thesis:
the price system is a mechanism for communicating, in the form of abbreviated signals, the most essential information relevant to our economic behaviour
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Hernando De SotoInstitute for Liberty and Democracy
Lima, Peru
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Hernando de Soto
The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else
New York: Basic Books, 2000
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The de Soto Thesis
the invisible infrastructure of asset management upon which the astonishing fecundity of Western capitalism rests
is both created and held together by documents, by property records and titles, which capture what is economically meaningful about the corresponding assets
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The generalized de Soto thesis
The document system is a mechanism
for creating the institutional orders of modern societies
and for making possible the types of abbreviated signals which provide the most essential information relevant to our social behavior
(even price lists are documents)
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Primacy of documents
• are the social institutions which can, as a matter of necessity, only exist because of documents?
• what is the force of ‘necessity’ here – supposing we had perfect memory, for example
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The creative powers of documentsstock and share certificates create capitalidentity documents create identitiesexamination documents create the various levels of the
Chinese civil servicecadastral maps create real estate parcelsmarriage license creates bonds of matrimonybankruptcy certificate creates bankruptstatutes of incorporation create companiestitle deeds create property rights and property ownersinsurance certificate creates insurance coverage
create = create AND sustain
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The creative power of documents
documents create authorities(physicians’ license creates physician)
authorities create documents(physician creates sick note)
Documents issued by an authority (validly, fraudulently ...)
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The source of extralegal law
Documents issued by an authority within the framework of a valid legal institution
vs. issued by an authority extralegally on its own behalf (cf. the US Declaration of Independence –
extralegal law of the Mwenyekiti)
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Problem:If documents create (parts of) social
reality
how cope with the fact that social reality can involve contradictions?
(Problem for Searle’s ontology of social reality – according to which X is Y if X counts as Y in a given social context C)
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Identity documents
• create identity
• and thereby create the possibility of identity theft
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Directions of fit betweenlanguage and reality
from word to world (words must fit world)
assertives (statements, descriptions)
from world to word (world must be made to fit word)
directives (commands, requests, entreaties)
commisives (promises): bind the speaker to
perform a certain action in the future
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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)
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Non-Documentsnoveltextbooknewspaperadvertizing fliertimetablerecipemapprayerbusiness card
LINGUISTIC ARTIFACTS WHICH EXIST PRIMARILY AS TYPES (cf. Ingarden on the work of literature)
Documentslicensebirth certificatedeath certificatedegree certificatedeedcontractwillreceiptpassport
LINGUISTIC ARTIFACTS WHICH EXIST PRIMARILY AS TOKENS
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Non-Documents
Documents
Made of paper Not made of paper
novel
textbook
newspaper
advertizing flier
timetable
recipe
map
business card
Leonardo cartoon
license
degree certificate
deed
contract
will
receipt
road sign
advertizing hoarding
car badging
gravestone
silver hallmark
clay tablet
e-document
electronic health record
movie clapper
credit card
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declarative/descriptive documentsplus something more
title/deed/cadastral map (gives rights)price tag/pricelist (makes commitments)patent (gives rights)license/degree certificate (gives rights)statement of accounts (?)identity card/passport (gives rights)membership card (gives rights)birth certificate (?)death certificate (? connected to other documents/e.g. voting records)marriage license (gives rights and obligations)divorce decree (gives rights and obligations)
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Other kinds of documentspartnership agreement/ statute of incorporation
proxy form/representation agreement
tax form
minutes of a meeting
ballot form
residence permit
census report
stock certificate
insurance claim form
insurance policy
visa/immigration document
insurance card/health insurance card
health certificate
consent form (for medical procedure)
medical record
criminal record
Führungszeugnis
pension book
rent book
accident report/theft report/police report/charge
bankruptcy certificate
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More examples
architects planurban planengineering drawingcity surveycensus formlab notemedical progress notedischarge summaryinsurance certificatemarriage license, letter of credit
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Further distinctions
documents which need to be displayed (e.g. a price list)
documents which need to be filled in vs. documents which are self-contained
documents filled in
completely/partially
correctly/incorrectly
validly/invalidly
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What you can do to and with a document [DOCUMENT EVENTS]
Sign itStamp itWitness itFill it in Revise itNullify itRealize (interrupt, abort ...) actions mandated by it Deliver it (de facto, de jure)Declare it active/inactiveRegister itArchive itDestroy it
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DOCUMENT EVENTS
All the mentioned event-types are independent of the document content and purpose aEasily trasferrable to new applications (e.g. credit approval). They are about human interaction via a document in the abstract. They are essentially several lists of names attached to document portions that are also linked into whole documents.
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Ontology of document registries
• If you have a company registry with 600 names, but only 150 companies actually exist, the registry is useless
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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.
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fingerprintofficial stampphotographbar code, cow brandcar license platenumbered plot for street trader
allow cross-referencing to documentsknowledge by acquaintanceknowledge by descriptionknowledge by comparison
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Anchoring
• How photographs, maps, fingerprints, unique IDs anchor documents to corresponding entities in reality ?
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Epistemological use of documents
• I use my passport to prove my identity
• You use my passport to check my identity– Knowledge by acquaintance– Knowledge by description– Knowledge by comparison
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anchoring documents to reality
how will the ontology of documents look when e-documents are incorporated?
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Attachment
• One document attached to another (documents can talk to each other; they can be filed with each other)
• The relations between documents then map corresponding relations between the realities documented
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Splitting
• documents can be split(hat check, torn dollar bill)
• documents can have a firework style history of initiating new actions ... (Kanban)
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Documents and their addressees
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. Who else?
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Bundling documents to create networks
• One document attached to a copy of another document
• The relations between documents then map corresponding relations between the realities documented
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Good documents vs. bad documents
Problem with Goody and the literature on literacy
They say: massive documentation created the conditions of modern civilization
they neglect the degree to which totalitarian societies, too, were made possible by documentation
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Standardized forms
Template followed by filling in
First step towards standardized products is a plan, a description, a template, which can be filled in (brand identity))
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Document vs. standardized form/template
documents filled in
completely/partially
correctly/incorrectly
validly/invalidly
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Standardized documents
• allow networking
• across time (documents can accumulate through attachment)
• across space (different groups can orientate themselves around the same document forms)
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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)
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Documents which depend on other documents
Car insurance document depends on residence permitdepends on employment contractdepends on health certificate
depends on physician’s license to practicedepends on degree certificatedepends on examination documentdepends on examination script
...
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Documents which depend on other documents
Permission to return damaged goods
depends on delivery confirmation document
depends on shipment document
depends on receipt
depends on bill
depends on order
depends on price-list
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The ontology of names
• a baptism ceremony creates a new sort of cultural object called a name
• 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)
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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
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Countersignatures
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The document system is more than just documents
Here too background conditions must be satisfied
Hence, too, a document –
a baptismal certificate
a marriage license ...
– is more than just a piece of paper
– may need to be registered, archived, stamped
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Each document has a jurisdiction
issue of enforceability
documents create actionable liability
collections
expense of resort to district courts ...
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How to define documents
• First: create a list of types: car license plates
novels
birth certificates
certificate of correctness of a translation
...
Now specify which items on this list are types of documents in the sense relevant here:
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Definition
x is a document =def
x is a (potentially permanent) record of time-sensitive information*,
and is of a type instances of which are reliably used as constituents of instances of
corresponding types of complex social actions
*true or false?
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END
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Definition
x is a document=def
(1) x is a permanent record representing or expressing one or more deontically or
institutionally relevant acts
and (2) is of a type instances of which are reliably used (and produced to be used?) to
achieve deontic ends in complex social actions
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What Do We Mean by Authentic? What's the Real McCoy? By H.M. Gladney and J.L. Bennett
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What Do We Mean by Authentic? What's the Real McCoy? By H.M. Gladney and J.L. Bennett
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What Do We Mean by Authentic? What's the Real McCoy? By H.M. Gladney and J.L. Bennett
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Pre-history and history
• History = since documents
• Imagine applying the methods of social science to the entire corpus of credit card transactions
• Imagine doing something similar to the entire corpus of human history
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Different types of legality
legality through and throughlegality which incorporates (good) extralegality on the sidelegality solely for the purposes of allowing (good)
extralegality legality which masks (bad) illegality (again in various
ways) (corruption)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: WHAT DOCUMENTS ARE MISSING?
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Groupware (from Robert Johnson)Factory system to authorise new product developments, which went to about 20 peaple sequentially (R&D, production costing etc.). – a system that allowed creation, viewing and updating a digital document by multiple parties.
Aspects of authorship which we had to build inOwner of documentCurrent ownerViewersUpdatersApproversSigners (who signed off parts eg. a costing)Parts of a documentUpdatable parts vs. parts now unchangeable (for audit reasons – you should not be able to retrospectively unapprove something you previously approved)Closure
Lotus Notes does this?
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•
• >• >Activities are extended episodes of action. Routines are a special case • >of activities in general. A routine is an activity where in each • >situation there is no choice between possible actions (there is a • >single affordance relevent to the activity). So we can formulate an • >information system that support routine activity as that set of • >resources that eliminate the need for choices at each stage of the • >activity. That is, it converts and choiceful activity into a routine • >activity. One possibility is to structure the environment - to engineer • >constraints and affordances that reduce choice. The other is to provide • >information resources that provide the extra information cues that • >resolve the choice.• >
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• >For instance if we are faced with two doorways that afford exit, a sign • >with an arrow would resolve the choice (given the actor has suitable • >enculturatyion). Alternatively, a rule such as "always take the left • >door" would resolce the choice. Again a list of the choices to be • >encoutered and the correct choice could be prepared before the journey. • >Finally, blocking one doorway physically would resolve the choice. All • >of these things would be information resources. As in Shannon • >information theory their information content is their ability to reduce • >choice (in this case choice for actions).• >
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• >So in relation to your question, you can view stereotyped documents • >this way. They express resolutions to choices (perhaps for the • >institutional receiver). The simplest case is when in an activity there • >is one choice with two options. Then only one bit of information is • >required, and this can be provided by a single sign such as a kanban • >card or a stop light or an arrow or a door handle. We can build from • >this case to sequences of simple signs for multi-situation activities, • >or to more complex sign structure requiring deeper cultural embedding • >(perhaps language).• >
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• >The signs are themselves affordances but they work in a more subtle way • >than the blocked doorway. It is our cultural practices that atune us to • >the sign whereas it is out innate perceptual abilities that atune us to • >the opening as an affordance for exit.• >• >There is another difference which I cannot quite articulate. In a • >natural affordance the pattern that can be perceived that gives away • >the oportunity for action provided by some physical structure is • >actually part of the "surface" of that structure. For instance, for the • >climbing affordance of steps, the physical part is the vertical and • >horozontal surfaces that recur in different settings. We percive them • >through an invariant pattern of parallel lines in the visual field that • >invariably accompanies the physical structure.• >• >For signs we seem to have abstracted way the signifier of the presence • >of an affording structure from the structure itself. So a sign saying • >pull does not "enable" you to pull to gain exit in that same way that a • >handle both signifies the pullability and also allows it to be effected • >at the same time.• >• >I think the idea that signs (and more complex styalised physical• >communications) are just affordances is an exciting one. What do you • >think?• >