{ "model": { "rank": 4542, "code": "thing-q183481", "model_id": "vr.tr.desertification", "name": "desertification", "purpose": "Enable an agent to recognise desertification, assess evidence of dryland degradation and identify context-appropriate prevention, restoration and adaptation options.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q183481/", "tier": 2, "score": 74, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Desertification in Africa", "Desertification in Lebanon" ], "aliasCount": 2, "merged": 2, "knownIn": 74, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.desertification", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q183481", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q183481", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-09T20:28:31Z", "providers": [ "Codex" ], "breadth": "recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read", "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "seconds": 23.8, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a087da-8c55-7841-87ca-c338e543620f\n--------\nuser\nDescribe what is already known about one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: desertification\nSense to describe: (none recorded)\nDomain code: ACT.ACT\nAlso known as: (none)\n\n\nContext for this batch of 1001 things:\n# Batch 005: 1001", "usd": 0, "recall": true }, "codex": { "seconds": 69.5, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a087da-8c57-7f30-8f0c-58533568e94f\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: desertification\nRegistry id: vr.tr.desertification\nPlane / domain: ACT / ACT.ACT\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q183481", "registryId": "vr.tr.desertification", "name": "desertification", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q183481/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.desertification", "name": "desertification", "purpose": "Enable an agent to recognise desertification, assess evidence of dryland degradation and identify context-appropriate prevention, restoration and adaptation options.", "definition": "Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from climatic variations, human activities and their interactions, involving loss of biological or economic productivity or ecological complexity.", "scope_statement": "This model owns desertification as a process of land degradation in drylands, including its contested operational boundaries, interacting climatic and human drivers, ecological and livelihood consequences, and evidence for intervention; it preserves the registry's ACT / ACT.ACT placement without treating the process as necessarily intentional.", "in_scope": [ "Definitions of desertification and criteria for identifying eligible dryland areas.", "Changes in soil, vegetation, water functioning and biological or economic productivity.", "Interactions among climatic variability, land use and management pressures.", "Spatial extent, severity, persistence, vulnerability and reversibility of degradation.", "Effects on dryland livelihoods and evaluation of prevention, restoration and adaptation." ], "out_of_scope": [ "Land degradation outside the adopted dryland boundary, owned by a broader land-degradation model.", "Desert ecosystems and their natural dynamics where degradation is not demonstrated.", "Drought as a climatic event independent of persistent land degradation.", "Climate change and aridification as broader climatic processes.", "Individual agricultural practices, water infrastructure and land-tenure systems except for their role in desertification." ], "distinguishing_features": [ "A candidate instance must satisfy an explicitly adopted dryland definition; degradation alone does not establish desertification.", "Low vegetation cover or low productivity alone is insufficient: evidence must distinguish degradation from a naturally sparse or low-productivity ecosystem.", "A drought-associated decline requires assessment of recovery and lasting functional loss before it is treated as evidence of desertification.", "Desertification does not require advancing sand dunes or conversion into a visually recognisable desert.", "An ACT classification does not establish deliberate human action; climatic and human contributions require separate assessment." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Definition and assessment convention", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Named authority, definition version, included functions and decision rules.", "why_it_matters": "Determines what qualifies and makes disagreements between assessments interpretable." }, { "name": "Dryland eligibility", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Aridity class; precipitation-to-potential-evapotranspiration ratio, dimensionless; reference period and adopted thresholds.", "why_it_matters": "Separates desertification from degradation outside the selected dryland boundary." }, { "name": "Affected extent", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Hectares or square kilometres, percentage of assessment area, mapping resolution and observation date.", "why_it_matters": "Locates the process and exposes scale-dependent differences in reported extent." }, { "name": "Productivity trajectory", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "Trend in a specified productivity indicator, its native units, assessment period and climate-adjustment method.", "why_it_matters": "Supports detection while distinguishing climatic fluctuations and management inputs from lasting functional change." }, { "name": "Soil and water functional condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Improving, stable, declining or uncertain for separately assessed erosion, salinity, soil carbon, infiltration and water retention.", "why_it_matters": "Prevents a vegetation-only assessment from overlooking degradation mechanisms." }, { "name": "Driver contribution", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Links to climatic and human pressures, with mechanism, timing, supporting evidence and attribution confidence.", "why_it_matters": "Connects observed degradation to plausible causes without equating correlation with responsibility." }, { "name": "Recovery condition", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Recovering, persistently degraded, potentially reversible, suspected threshold crossing or unresolved.", "why_it_matters": "Guides intervention expectations and separates observed recovery from assumptions about reversibility." }, { "name": "Livelihood dependence and exposure", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Affected groups linked to grazing, cropping, water access or other land functions, with seasonal dependence and access rights.", "why_it_matters": "Shows who experiences losses and who may bear the costs of intervention." } ], "affordances": [ "Assess whether a reported case meets a declared desertification definition and identify missing evidence.", "Compare degradation assessments while exposing differences in baselines, indicators and spatial resolution.", "Trace plausible climatic and land-management drivers and prioritise investigations that distinguish them.", "Identify locations and land functions requiring prevention, restoration or adaptation.", "Evaluate intervention options against ecological suitability, water constraints, land rights and livelihood effects.", "Monitor recovery and revise an assessment when field observations contradict remote indicators." ] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "definition-and-dryland-boundary", "name": "Definition and dryland boundary", "description": "Establishes the sense of desertification and the geographic and functional conditions required for an instance.", "rationale": "Assessments cannot be compared when they silently use different definitions of drylands or degradation.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition-and-authority", "name": "Definition and authority", "description": "Records the adopted definition and meaningful alternatives.", "findings": [ { "id": "adopted-desertification-concept", "name": "Adopted desertification concept", "description": "Capture whose definition applies, what constitutes degradation and where alternative frameworks would classify the same case differently.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which authority and version define desertification for this assessment, and which land functions does that definition include?", "kind": "definition", "id": "adopted-desertification-concept-q01" }, { "text": "Would another relevant scientific, policy or local interpretation include or exclude this case, and why?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "adopted-desertification-concept-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "dryland-eligibility", "name": "Dryland eligibility", "description": "Determines whether the assessed land falls inside the adopted climatic boundary.", "findings": [ { "id": "aridity-classification", "name": "Aridity classification", "description": "Record the aridity calculation, reference period and treatment of locations near or moving across a dryland boundary.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which precipitation and potential-evapotranspiration data, reference period and thresholds establish dryland eligibility?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "aridity-classification-q01" }, { "text": "How are hyper-arid areas, irrigated land and locations crossing the selected climatic boundary treated?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "aridity-classification-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "degradation-evidence-and-trajectory", "name": "Degradation evidence and trajectory", "description": "Tests whether dryland functions have declined and how confidently that decline can be distinguished from variability.", "rationale": "Sparse vegetation, drought and indicator noise can otherwise be mistaken for desertification.", "layers": [ { "id": "baseline-and-persistence", "name": "Baseline and persistence", "description": "Establishes an ecologically appropriate comparison and the duration of observed change.", "findings": [ { "id": "change-relative-to-reference", "name": "Change relative to reference", "description": "Document the reference condition and evidence separating degradation from seasonal variation, drought response or a naturally sparse ecosystem.", "questions": [ { "text": "What historical period or comparable reference site establishes expected condition for this soil, vegetation and land-use setting?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "change-relative-to-reference-q01" }, { "text": "Does functional loss persist after favourable rainfall returns, and what observation period supports that judgement?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "change-relative-to-reference-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "converging-indicators", "name": "Converging indicators", "description": "Combines vegetation, soil and water evidence without assuming that one proxy represents all land functions.", "findings": [ { "id": "indicator-agreement-and-ground-checks", "name": "Indicator agreement and ground checks", "description": "Record agreement, contradictions and independent checks among productivity trends, vegetation composition and soil-water measurements.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which observed changes in productivity, vegetation composition, erosion, salinity or infiltration support the degradation assessment?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "indicator-agreement-and-ground-checks-q01" }, { "text": "Which field observations validate the mapped trends, and where could greening conceal declining soil or water function?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "indicator-agreement-and-ground-checks-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "drivers-and-degradation-mechanisms", "name": "Drivers and degradation mechanisms", "description": "Connects pressures to the processes that reduce dryland function.", "rationale": "Effective responses depend on distinguishing the mechanism of damage from a list of coincident pressures.", "layers": [ { "id": "climate-and-management-interactions", "name": "Climate and management interactions", "description": "Assesses climatic exposure alongside grazing, cultivation, vegetation removal and water management.", "findings": [ { "id": "supported-driver-attribution", "name": "Supported driver attribution", "description": "Represent candidate drivers as evidence-backed causal hypotheses with explicit alternatives and uncertainty.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did rainfall, heat and drought timing interact with grazing pressure, cultivation, vegetation removal or irrigation before the observed decline?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "supported-driver-attribution-q01" }, { "text": "What comparison or causal analysis distinguishes management effects from climatic variability and their interaction?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "supported-driver-attribution-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "soil-water-vegetation-feedbacks", "name": "Soil-water-vegetation feedbacks", "description": "Identifies mechanisms that propagate damage or constrain recovery.", "findings": [ { "id": "mechanisms-and-recovery-barriers", "name": "Mechanisms and recovery barriers", "description": "Capture locally supported pathways such as erosion, crusting, salinisation or vegetation loss, together with evidence for feedbacks.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which measured process links the identified pressure to reduced soil, water or vegetation function at this site?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "mechanisms-and-recovery-barriers-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence shows that degradation sustains itself after the initiating pressure is removed, rather than merely recovering slowly?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "mechanisms-and-recovery-barriers-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "extent-exposure-and-consequences", "name": "Extent, exposure and consequences", "description": "Locates degradation and traces its ecological and livelihood effects across connected places.", "rationale": "A single severity score can hide fragmented hotspots, downstream effects and unequal losses.", "layers": [ { "id": "spatial-pattern-and-connectivity", "name": "Spatial pattern and connectivity", "description": "Records affected patches, their confidence limits and connections through wind, runoff or land use.", "findings": [ { "id": "mapped-footprint-and-spillovers", "name": "Mapped footprint and spillovers", "description": "Separate directly observed degradation from inferred spread and effects beyond the degraded area.", "questions": [ { "text": "What area is demonstrably degraded at the stated resolution, and how sensitive is that estimate to classification thresholds?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "mapped-footprint-and-spillovers-q01" }, { "text": "Which dust, sediment, runoff or displaced land-use effects connect degraded patches to other locations?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "mapped-footprint-and-spillovers-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "land-functions-and-livelihoods", "name": "Land functions and livelihoods", "description": "Assesses changes in ecological function and consequences for groups using the land.", "findings": [ { "id": "distributed-functional-losses", "name": "Distributed functional losses", "description": "Record whose forage, harvest, water access or other benefits have changed and the evidence connecting those changes to degradation.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which land functions have declined, by how much and during which seasons?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "distributed-functional-losses-q01" }, { "text": "Which groups experience those losses, and what evidence separates degradation effects from changes in markets, access rights or conflict?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "distributed-functional-losses-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "response-and-recovery", "name": "Response and recovery", "description": "Links intervention choices to degradation mechanisms and verifies their ecological and social outcomes.", "rationale": "An intervention can improve one visible indicator while worsening water stress or restricting essential land access.", "layers": [ { "id": "intervention-fit-and-feasibility", "name": "Intervention fit and feasibility", "description": "Assesses prevention, restoration and adaptation against local ecological conditions and decision rights.", "findings": [ { "id": "mechanism-matched-response", "name": "Mechanism-matched response", "description": "Evaluate candidate responses using the diagnosed process, expected water demand, land rights and livelihood constraints.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which response addresses the demonstrated mechanism, and what local evidence supports its feasibility under expected rainfall and water availability?", "kind": "action", "id": "mechanism-matched-response-q01" }, { "text": "Who can authorise and maintain the response, and how would it affect grazing mobility, customary access or downstream water users?", "kind": "action", "id": "mechanism-matched-response-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "recovery-verification-and-adjustment", "name": "Recovery verification and adjustment", "description": "Defines success and tests whether observed improvements are durable and attributable to intervention.", "findings": [ { "id": "durable-functional-recovery", "name": "Durable functional recovery", "description": "Track soil, water, vegetation and livelihood outcomes against explicit expectations and climate variability.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which functional outcomes, comparison areas and monitoring duration would distinguish intervention success from a favourable rainfall period?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "durable-functional-recovery-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence of continued degradation, water depletion or displaced pressure would trigger adjustment, cessation or a shift toward adaptation?", "kind": "action", "id": "durable-functional-recovery-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes", "name": "Check these first", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "This describes the environmental process; the supplied ACT.ACT domain code does not establish a narrower sense.", "The listed kinds are overlapping degradation mechanisms, not a universally standardized taxonomy.", "Attribution, baseline selection and thresholds remain assessment-dependent; SDG indicator 15.3.1 covers all land degradation and is not specific to desertification." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes-q01", "text": "Which of these check these first hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Vegetation degradation", "Wind-erosion-dominated degradation", "Water-erosion-dominated degradation", "Salinization-driven degradation", "Soil physical degradation, including compaction and crusting" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD): international treaty defining desertification and establishing obligations to combat it and mitigate drought effects.", "UNCCD Science-Policy Interface: Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality.", "United Nations Sustainable Development Goal indicator 15.3.1, with UNCCD as custodian: proportion of land that is degraded over total land area." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Planning sustainable grazing, cropping and soil conservation in drylands.", "Identifying priorities for land restoration and monitoring restoration outcomes.", "Supporting national UNCCD reporting and land degradation neutrality targets.", "Assessing threats to agricultural livelihoods, ecosystem services and food security.", "Combining satellite observations with field measurements and local knowledge to assess degradation." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-measurements", "name": "Typical measurements", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "quantity": "Aridity index: annual precipitation divided by potential evapotranspiration", "typical_range": "Approximately 0.05-0.65 delineates the dryland climatic scope used by UNCCD; it does not measure degradation severity.", "unit": "dimensionless" }, { "quantity": "Proportion of assessed dryland area classified as degraded", "typical_range": "0-100; results depend on the assessment period, baseline and classification method.", "unit": "%" }, { "quantity": "Soil organic carbon stock", "typical_range": "No universal range; comparisons require a specified soil depth and consistent sampling.", "unit": "tonnes of carbon per hectare" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-measurements-q01", "text": "Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Loss of productive topsoil, vegetation cover and agricultural productivity.", "Reduced infiltration and water retention, potentially increasing runoff and erosion.", "Salinization that limits plant growth and the usability of irrigated land.", "Dust emissions, habitat degradation and biodiversity loss.", "Misdiagnosis when temporary drought effects or rainfall-driven vegetation changes are treated as evidence of persistent land degradation." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "In the Sahel, rainfall variability interacts with grazing, cultivation and land management; regional greening can coexist with local degradation.", "In irrigated drylands, inadequate drainage and salt accumulation can be major degradation mechanisms.", "In Mediterranean drylands, erosion, vegetation disturbance, fire and water pressures interact in locally variable ways." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "name": "Land degradation", "difference": "Land degradation can occur in any climatic zone; desertification denotes its occurrence within specified dryland zones." }, { "name": "Drought", "difference": "Drought is an episode of abnormal water shortage; desertification is degradation of land condition and productivity, which may persist beyond the episode." }, { "name": "Aridification", "difference": "Aridification is a shift toward a drier climate; desertification concerns degraded land and can occur without a long-term decrease in rainfall." }, { "name": "Desert", "difference": "A desert is an environmental or climatic region that may be naturally functioning; desertification neither requires sand dunes nor means simply the expansion of existing deserts." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of desertification this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which authoritative definitions and assessment frameworks should anchor this registry entry, and where do their classifications materially diverge?", "Does an existing Vercy world model already cover desertification or own the relevant dryland-degradation concept?", "What persistence criteria and reference conditions are defensible across different dryland ecosystems and observation histories?", "How should conflicting productivity, vegetation, soil and water indicators be combined without concealing functional losses?", "Which degradation thresholds and intervention outcomes have sufficiently strong local evidence to support claims about reversibility?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 28 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a desertification, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an agent to recognise desertification, assess evidence of dryland degradation and identify context-appropriate prevention, restoration and adaptation options.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Desertification in Africa, Desertification in Lebanon.", "2 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 74 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a desertification, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Desertification in Africa", "Desertification in Lebanon" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 74 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 2 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one desertification from another, and a desertification from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a desertification sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a desertification from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a desertification passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a desertification between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a desertification, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a desertification is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a desertification proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a desertification, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a desertification and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a desertification consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a desertification takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What desertification is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of desertification are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is desertification operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of desertification and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of desertification?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as desertification?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a desertification came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a desertification and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a desertification is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a desertification, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a desertification, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a desertification is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }