advocate
Let an agent describe advocates and advocacy as a role, distinguish cause advocacy from legal advocacy and from mere enthusiasm, relay ethical and regulatory frameworks for lobbying and representation, and keep statements about individual advocates sourced and neutral.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Role What an advocate is.
Definition
Definition and senses.
Definition
Definition.
- What is an advocate in the sense of a supporter of a cause, and how does it differ from the legal title? definition
- Is the question about cause advocacy, legal advocacy or enthusiasm for a hobby? boundary
Kinds
Kinds.
Kinds
Kinds.
- What kinds of advocate exist, from activists to professional lobbyists and patient advocates? definition
- Which entry fits the specific kind? action
Practice How advocacy works.
Methods
Methods.
Methods
Methods.
- What methods do advocates use, from campaigning to representation? provenance
- Which entry fits advocacy? action
Ethics
Ethics and disclosure.
Ethics
Ethics.
- What ethical standards and disclosure rules apply to advocates and lobbyists? provenance
- Which entry fits lobbying? action
Assess Assessing advocacy.
Claims
Advocacy claims.
Claims
Claims.
- How should claims made by advocates be assessed and attributed? action
- Is the advocate position presented as a position rather than as fact? boundary
Individuals
Describing individuals.
Individuals
Individuals.
- How are individual advocates described neutrally and with sources? action
- Is the statement about a living person sourced? boundary
Context History and society.
History
History.
History
History.
- How has advocacy developed as a social role, and which references are standard? provenance
- Which entry fits social movements? action
Rights
Rights and protection.
Rights
Rights.
- What protections do advocates and human rights defenders have? provenance
- Which entry fits human rights defenders? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Society, people and institutions
- Entry kind
- noun.person
- Plane
- SOC
- Domain
- SOC.PER
- Facets: substance
- social
- Facets: origin
- conceptual
- Facets: agency
- inert
- Facets: mobility
- not-applicable
- Facets: scale
- not-applicable
- Facets: affordances
- observable
- Other names and narrower kinds
- abiogenist, addict, nut, freak, junkie, junky, advocator, proponent, exponent, aficionado, anglophile, anglophil
What it is Filled
A person who publicly supports and argues for a cause, policy, idea or group, seeking to persuade others and to influence decisions, whether as an activist, a campaigner, a professional advocate for clients or a spokesperson; in some legal systems advocate is also the title of a lawyer who pleads in court, a separate sense.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent describe advocates and advocacy as a role, distinguish cause advocacy from legal advocacy and from mere enthusiasm, relay ethical and regulatory frameworks for lobbying and representation, and keep statements about individual advocates sourced and neutral.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Public support for a cause
- Persuasion and representation
- Voluntary or professional
- Subject to lobbying and ethics rules when professional
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Present an advocate's statements as neutral expert findings.
- Hide an advocate's interests or funding when they are known and relevant.
- Use demeaning labels for advocates or the groups they speak for.
- Impersonate an advocate or speak for a cause without its consent.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing allegations about a named advocate.
May
- Describe the role of advocates and the causes they support, noting their affiliations.
- Distinguish advocacy from neutral expertise.
Moral aspects Filled
- Advocates can face harassment for their views.
- Hidden interests mislead public debate.
Who is affected
- Advocates
- People they represent
- The public
Owners Filled
Steward
The person themselves; organisations they work for answer for their mandate.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- oewn-09786620-n - registry parent class
related
- person - a role a person plays
- advocacy - the activity
- activist - an overlapping role
- lawyer - the legal title advocate
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.advocate
- Open English WordNet: oewn-09794206-n
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane SOC: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Publicly argues for a cause or on behalf of others
- Activists, campaigners, professional and patient advocates
- A lawyer titled advocate and an enthusiast for a hobby are other senses
- A person speaking, writing or organising for a cause; no defining physical form.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- explain kinds of advocate and advocacy
- distinguish cause advocacy from legal advocacy
- relay lobbying and representation rules
- keep descriptions of individuals neutral
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Conflating advocacy with objective expertise
- Undisclosed interests
- Demeaning labels for supporters of ideas
- Unsourced statements about individuals
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Lobbying registration and transparency laws
- Charity and non-profit campaigning rules
- Professional codes for advocacy organisations
- Bar rules for legal advocates in the other sense
Context of use required Filled
- Arguing for a cause or on behalf of others.
- activists and campaigners
- professional lobbyists and public affairs advocates
- patient, consumer and disability advocates
- self-advocates
- advocates for scientific positions
- legal advocates as a separate sense
Sources Filled
- Open English WordNet 2024, synset oewn-09794206-n - sense and gloss of the concept
- Wiktionary: advocate - word senses and usage
Open questions
- Should legal advocate be a separate entry?
- How should lobbying registers be linked?
- The registry entry has merged demeaning aliases such as addict, nut and freak, which are a different sense; they should be removed
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-advocate/spec.json