{ "model": { "rank": 18467, "code": "thing-q196756", "model_id": "vr.tr.certificate", "name": "certificate", "purpose": "Let an agent explain certificates and their kinds and functions, describe how they are issued, verified and used, support questions about obtaining and checking certificates, and separate this sense from digital security certificates.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q196756/", "tier": 2, "score": 29, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "swimming certificate", "German rescue swimming badge", "mokuroku", "warranty certificate", "Cpa-20", "menkyo", "Hajj certificate", "kirigami", "Diploma", "kugen", "graduation certificate", "land certificate", "kaichō", "membership certificate", "shōmon", "Inserat", "Award certificate", "German Blood Certificate", "acte de confirmation", "International Load Line Certificate", "certificate of authenticity", "Barot", "certificate of recognition", "Certificate of Commitment and Knowledge", "receipt of posting", "inkajō", "box certificate", "Foreign exchange certificate", "Certificate of registry", "proof of enrollment", "Certificate for Climbing to the Summit of Mt. Fuji", "health insurance certificate", "diving license", "military pass", "Government volunteer discount card", "Zinsbescheinigung", "Pilotage Exemption Certificate", "Certificate of Entitlement", "acknowledgement of receipt", "teaching certificate" ], "aliasCount": 70, "merged": 71, "knownIn": 29, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.certificate", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q196756", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q196756", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T02:55:03Z", "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": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q196756", "registryId": "vr.tr.certificate", "name": "certificate", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q196756/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.certificate", "name": "certificate", "purpose": "Let an agent explain certificates and their kinds and functions, describe how they are issued, verified and used, support questions about obtaining and checking certificates, and separate this sense from digital security certificates.", "definition": "A document attesting a fact, qualification, status or event, issued by an authority, institution or organisation, including certificates of birth, marriage and death, academic and vocational certificates and diplomas, professional and skill certificates such as swimming and rescue badges, licences and traditional attestations such as the Japanese menkyo and mokuroku, and commercial documents such as warranty certificates; certificates carry evidential and legal weight and are subject to verification and anti-fraud measures.", "what_it_is_for": "Documents attesting facts or qualifications.", "affordances": [ "explain kinds and functions", "describe issuance and verification", "support obtaining and checking", "separate other senses" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Attestation", "Issuing authority", "Evidential weight", "Verification" ], "appearance": "A printed or digital document with issuer, subject and attestation.", "visual_identification": [ "Attests a fact or qualification", "Issued by an authority", "A digital security certificate is a cryptographic credential; a licence grants permission" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "civil status certificates", "academic and vocational certificates", "skill and training certificates", "traditional attestations such as menkyo", "commercial certificates such as warranties" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "document", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "honorary citizenship", "why": "a status attested by document" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "technician", "why": "certified occupations" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "natural person", "why": "persons identified by certificates" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Civil registration law", "Qualification frameworks and accreditation", "Apostille and legalisation rules for international use" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Forgery and fraud", "Loss and replacement difficulties", "Confusing certificate types" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What certificates are.", "rationale": "Definitions.", "layers": [ { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds and functions.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "What kinds of certificate exist, and what does each attest?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is a paper certificate or a digital security certificate meant?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "weight", "name": "Weight", "description": "Legal and evidential weight.", "findings": [ { "id": "weight-finding", "name": "Weight", "description": "Weight.", "questions": [ { "text": "What legal and evidential weight do certificates carry, and how does this vary by type?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific certificate type?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "obtain", "name": "Obtain", "description": "Obtaining and using.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "obtain", "name": "Obtain", "description": "Obtaining a certificate.", "findings": [ { "id": "obtain-finding", "name": "Obtain", "description": "Obtaining.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can a certificate be obtained or replaced from the issuing authority?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific authority?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "international", "name": "International", "description": "International use.", "findings": [ { "id": "international-finding", "name": "International", "description": "International.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are certificates legalised or apostilled for use abroad, and how are qualifications recognised?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is legal advice needed from a professional?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "verify", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verification and fraud.", "rationale": "Security.", "layers": [ { "id": "verify", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verifying certificates.", "findings": [ { "id": "verify-finding", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verification.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can the authenticity of a certificate be checked?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which entry fits document verification?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "fraud", "name": "Fraud", "description": "Fraud.", "findings": [ { "id": "fraud-finding", "name": "Fraud", "description": "Fraud.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are certificate forgery and diploma mills addressed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits fraud?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "History and traditions.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did certificates develop as instruments of attestation?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "traditions", "name": "Traditions", "description": "Traditional attestations.", "findings": [ { "id": "traditions-finding", "name": "Traditions", "description": "Traditions.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are traditional attestations such as menkyo and mokuroku in Japanese arts?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each certificate type be a separate entry?", "How should issuing authorities be linked?", "How should verification services be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "work, medium or creative form", "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 certificate, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain certificates and their kinds and functions, describe how they are issued, verified and used, support questions about obtaining and checking certificates, and separate this sense from digital security certificates.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: swimming certificate, German rescue swimming badge, mokuroku, warranty certificate, Cpa-20, menkyo, Hajj certificate, kirigami, Diploma, kugen, graduation certificate, land certificate.", "71 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 29 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 certificate, 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", "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "What is seen is a copy or a performance, not the work. Recognising the work means recognising the content through whatever is carrying it." ], "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": [ "swimming certificate", "German rescue swimming badge", "mokuroku", "warranty certificate", "Cpa-20", "menkyo", "Hajj certificate", "kirigami", "Diploma", "kugen", "graduation certificate", "land certificate" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 29 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 71 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 certificate from another, and a certificate 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 certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate 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 certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate 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 certificate between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a certificate 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 certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate 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 certificate contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-manifestation", "name": "Work, version and copy", "description": "Which level of certificate a statement is about.", "rationale": "The work, the edition, the file and the copy in hand are four things; rights and content attach to different ones.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels of the thing", "description": "Work, expression, manifestation and item, in plain terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs at each level", "description": "Which facts hold for the work and which only for one copy.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "For certificate, which facts belong to the work itself, which to a version, and which to a single copy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifier exists at each level, and which one is being cited?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "versions", "name": "Versions, editions and variants", "description": "How versions differ and which is canonical to whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-record", "name": "Versions and canonicity", "description": "Differences that matter and who calls one authoritative.", "questions": [ { "id": "version-record-q01", "text": "Which versions or editions of certificate exist, and how do they differ substantively?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "version-record-q02", "text": "Who treats which version as authoritative, and for what purpose?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authorship-and-rights", "name": "Authorship, rights and permitted use", "description": "Who made certificate and what may be done with it.", "rationale": "Rights are jurisdictional, time-limited and attached to a level, and an agent that ignores that will copy what it may not.", "layers": [ { "id": "authorship", "name": "Authorship and contribution", "description": "Who contributed what, and in what capacity.", "findings": [ { "id": "contribution-record", "name": "Contributors and roles", "description": "The people and bodies behind it, with their roles.", "questions": [ { "id": "contribution-record-q01", "text": "Who authored or contributed to certificate, in what roles, and how is that attested?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "contribution-record-q02", "text": "Where authorship is disputed or anonymous, what is recorded instead?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights and permissions", "description": "Which rights subsist, where, until when, and what they permit.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-record", "name": "Rights, term and permitted acts", "description": "The regime in force and what it allows.", "questions": [ { "id": "rights-record-q01", "text": "What rights subsist in certificate, in which jurisdictions, and until when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "rights-record-q02", "text": "Which acts are permitted without further permission, and which must an agent refuse?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a certificate 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 certificate and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 certificate is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a certificate, 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 certificate, 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 certificate 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 } } } }