{ "model": { "rank": 7586, "code": "thing-q184759", "model_id": "vr.tr.character-encoding", "name": "character encoding", "purpose": "Let an agent explain character encodings and how they work, relay the major standards and legacy code pages from official sources, describe Unicode and UTF-8, and help diagnose encoding problems in general terms.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q184759/", "tier": 2, "score": 54, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "coded character set", "Mac Icelandic encoding", "MacGreek encoding", "code page", "DOS OEM code page", "APL code page", "EBCDIC code page", "Polish code pages", "Windows code page", "XJP", "DBCS", "Unicode encoding", "precomposed hangul encoding", "decomposed hangul encoding", "KOI character encodings", "Armenian Standard Code for Information Interchange", "Telegraph code", "character encoding in HTML", "SBCS", "Extended ASCII", "BCD character encoding", "Binary Ordered Compression for Unicode", "RISC OS character set", "six-bit character code", "Brahmic scripts in Unicode", "variable-width character encoding", "dingbat typeface", "GOST 10859", "character code", "standard character set", "JIS encoding", "Shannon–Fano–Elias coding", "Extended Unix Code" ], "aliasCount": 33, "merged": 33, "knownIn": 54, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q184759", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q184759", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T02:58:53Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q184759", "registryId": "vr.tr.character-encoding", "name": "character encoding", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q184759/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.character-encoding", "name": "character encoding", "purpose": "Let an agent explain character encodings and how they work, relay the major standards and legacy code pages from official sources, describe Unicode and UTF-8, and help diagnose encoding problems in general terms.", "definition": "A system that assigns numeric codes to characters so text can be stored and transmitted digitally, comprising a coded character set that maps characters to code points and an encoding form that represents those code points as bytes, from ASCII and the many national and vendor code pages such as DOS OEM code pages, Mac Icelandic, MacGreek and APL code pages, through ISO 8859 to Unicode with UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32; mismatched encodings produce garbled text known as mojibake.", "what_it_is_for": "Representing text in computers.", "affordances": [ "explain the concept", "relay standards and code pages", "describe Unicode", "help diagnose encoding problems" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Character to code mapping", "Legacy fragmentation", "Unicode unification", "Byte-level encoding forms" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; tables mapping characters to numbers.", "visual_identification": [ "Mapping of characters to codes", "ASCII, code pages, ISO 8859, Unicode, UTF-8, UTF-16", "Fonts render characters; keyboard layouts input them; ciphers encode for secrecy" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "ASCII characters", "typical_range": "128", "unit": "count", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Unicode code points", "typical_range": "1114112", "unit": "count", "note": "maximum" }, { "quantity": "UTF-8 share of web pages", "typical_range": "about 98", "unit": "percent", "note": "W3Techs" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "ASCII and its extensions", "IBM and DOS OEM code pages", "Windows code pages", "Macintosh encodings such as Mac Icelandic and MacGreek", "APL code pages", "ISO 8859 series", "East Asian encodings such as Shift JIS, GB 2312 and Big5", "Unicode encoding forms UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "technical standard", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "code", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "data type", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is unified by", "target": "Unicode", "why": "the universal character set" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "ISO/IEC 10646", "value_or_pattern": "Universal Coded Character Set", "note": "" }, { "scheme": "RFC 3629", "value_or_pattern": "UTF-8", "note": "" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Unicode Standard and ISO/IEC 10646", "IANA charset registry", "ISO 8859 and national standards", "Web standards requiring UTF-8" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Mojibake from mismatched encodings", "Data loss in lossy conversions", "Security issues from encoding confusion", "Legacy code page ambiguity" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What character encoding is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is a character encoding, and how do coded character sets and encoding forms differ?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about encoding, fonts, keyboards or ciphers?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "From ASCII to Unicode.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did encodings develop from ASCII through code pages such as DOS OEM, Mac and APL code pages to Unicode?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific encoding?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "unicode", "name": "Unicode", "description": "Unicode.", "rationale": "Standards.", "layers": [ { "id": "model", "name": "Model", "description": "Unicode model.", "findings": [ { "id": "model-finding", "name": "Model", "description": "Model.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do code points, planes, normalisation and encoding forms work in Unicode?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "utf8", "name": "UTF-8", "description": "UTF-8 and friends.", "findings": [ { "id": "utf8-finding", "name": "UTF-8", "description": "UTF-8.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do UTF-8, UTF-16 and UTF-32 encode code points, and why is UTF-8 dominant?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits UTF-8?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "practice", "name": "Practice", "description": "Practice.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "diagnose", "name": "Diagnose", "description": "Diagnosing problems.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnose-finding", "name": "Diagnose", "description": "Diagnose.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can garbled text be diagnosed and fixed by identifying the encoding?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "programming", "name": "Programming", "description": "In programming.", "findings": [ { "id": "programming-finding", "name": "Programming", "description": "Programming.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do languages, databases and protocols declare and convert encodings?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific technology?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Legacy and future.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "legacy", "name": "Legacy", "description": "Legacy encodings.", "findings": [ { "id": "legacy-finding", "name": "Legacy", "description": "Legacy.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where do legacy code pages still matter, and how are they mapped to Unicode?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits code page?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "future", "name": "Future", "description": "Evolution.", "findings": [ { "id": "future-finding", "name": "Future", "description": "Future.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does Unicode continue to evolve with new scripts and emoji?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Unicode Consortium?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should Unicode and code page be separate primary entries?", "How should standards be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific code pages; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "discipline or field of knowledge", "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 character encoding, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain character encodings and how they work, relay the major standards and legacy code pages from official sources, describe Unicode and UTF-8, and help diagnose encoding problems in general terms.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: coded character set, Mac Icelandic encoding, MacGreek encoding, code page, DOS OEM code page, APL code page, EBCDIC code page, Polish code pages, Windows code page, XJP, DBCS, Unicode encoding.", "33 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 54 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 character encoding, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "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": [ "read it and act on what it says" ], "howItIsRecognised": [], "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": [ "coded character set", "Mac Icelandic encoding", "MacGreek encoding", "code page", "DOS OEM code page", "APL code page", "EBCDIC code page", "Polish code pages", "Windows code page", "XJP", "DBCS", "Unicode encoding" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 54 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 33 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 character encoding from another, and a character encoding 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 character encoding 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 character encoding from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 character encoding 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 character encoding between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 character encoding, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a character encoding 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a character encoding says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a character encoding contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a character encoding, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a character encoding, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a character encoding is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a character encoding and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a character encoding, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a character encoding, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a character encoding is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-method", "name": "Subject matter and method", "description": "What character encoding studies and how it establishes anything.", "rationale": "A field is identified by its questions and its methods, and those are what distinguish it from the fields next to it.", "layers": [ { "id": "subject", "name": "Subject matter", "description": "The questions it takes as its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "subject-record", "name": "Questions and objects of study", "description": "What it is about, stated so a neighbouring field can be told apart.", "questions": [ { "id": "subject-record-q01", "text": "What questions and objects does character encoding take as its own?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "subject-record-q02", "text": "Which questions does it share with a neighbouring field, and who claims them?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "method", "name": "Method and evidence", "description": "How claims are established and what counts as evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "method-record", "name": "Methods and standards of evidence", "description": "The methods used and what they are taken to establish.", "questions": [ { "id": "method-record-q01", "text": "By what methods does character encoding establish claims, and what counts as sufficient evidence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "method-record-q02", "text": "What kind of claim can this field not settle, and where should an agent look instead?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "institutions-and-classification", "name": "Institutions and classification", "description": "Where character encoding is practised and how catalogues place it.", "rationale": "The institutional footprint is the evidence that a field exists as a field rather than as a topic.", "layers": [ { "id": "institutions", "name": "Institutional markers", "description": "Societies, journals, degrees and departments.", "findings": [ { "id": "institution-record", "name": "Bodies and venues", "description": "Where the field organises itself.", "questions": [ { "id": "institution-record-q01", "text": "Which societies, journals or degrees mark character encoding as an established field?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "institution-record-q02", "text": "What would show that it is emerging or dissolving rather than established?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification", "name": "Classification schemes", "description": "Where library and research classifications put it.", "findings": [ { "id": "classification-record", "name": "Codes and their disagreements", "description": "The classification codes that place it, and where they differ.", "questions": [ { "id": "classification-record-q01", "text": "Which classification schemes place character encoding, under what codes?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "classification-record-q02", "text": "Where do those schemes disagree about its scope?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a character encoding 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 character encoding and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 character encoding is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a character encoding, 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 character encoding, 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 character encoding 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 } } } }