{ "model": { "rank": 5159, "code": "thing-q217577", "model_id": "vr.tr.diploma", "name": "diploma", "purpose": "Let an agent explain diplomas and their place in qualification systems, help verify and recognise diplomas across countries, describe specific diploma types, and address forgery and diploma mills.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q217577/", "tier": 2, "score": 69, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "T. T. C.", "artist diploma", "DESCAF", "Diploma in Applied Science", "Diploma in Science", "Diploma in Associateship of Otago School of Mines", "journeyman papers", "Diploma in Architecture", "postgraduate diploma", "Paul Tissandier Diploma", "Vordiplom", "high school diploma", "Advanced Management Program", "Senior Management Development Program", "GCE Ordinary Level", "Roman military diploma", "biochemical engineering", "graduate diploma", "Brevet de technicien supérieur", "Diploma in Education", "GCE Advanced Level", "Associate of the Royal College of Music", "climbing skills brevet", "diploma of journalism", "Green diploma", "school certificate", "Diploma in pedagogy", "Diploma of Teaching", "Diploma in Educational Planning", "Diplôme d'études universitaires générales", "General Educational Development", "Advanced Diploma", "Teachers' Training Certificate", "vocational secondary education in Denmark", "Physik-Vordiplom", "GCE Ordinary Level in the United Kingdom", "GCE Ordinary Level in Sri Lanka", "Makerere College School", "Graduate Diploma in Applied Science", "Graduate Diploma in Commerce" ], "aliasCount": 53, "merged": 53, "knownIn": 69, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q217577", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q217577", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T23:24:12Z", "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-Q217577", "registryId": "vr.tr.diploma", "name": "diploma", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q217577/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.diploma", "name": "diploma", "purpose": "Let an agent explain diplomas and their place in qualification systems, help verify and recognise diplomas across countries, describe specific diploma types, and address forgery and diploma mills.", "definition": "A certificate issued by an educational institution or awarding body attesting completion of a course of study or the award of a qualification, from school and vocational diplomas to higher education diplomas such as a diploma in applied science, postgraduate diplomas, artist diplomas in conservatories and professional diplomas; diplomas are regulated by education systems, recognised through qualification frameworks and vulnerable to forgery.", "what_it_is_for": "Certificates of completed study.", "affordances": [ "explain diploma types and levels", "help verify and recognise diplomas", "describe specific diplomas", "address forgery and diploma mills" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Certifying document", "Qualification level", "Institution-issued", "Recognised or accredited" ], "appearance": "A formal certificate document, paper or digital.", "visual_identification": [ "Certifies completion of study or award", "Issued by an institution", "A degree is a specific academic award; a diploma may be a document or a qualification level" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "school leaving diplomas", "vocational and technical diplomas", "higher education and postgraduate diplomas", "artist and conservatory diplomas", "professional and specialist diplomas" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "certificate", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "academic degree", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "professor", "why": "academic institutions" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "license", "why": "licences requiring diplomas" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "National qualification frameworks", "Accreditation and recognition rules", "Laws against fraudulent credentials" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Forged diplomas and diploma mills", "Confusing diploma levels across countries", "Non-recognition of foreign diplomas" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What a diploma is.", "rationale": "Concepts.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels", "description": "Types and levels.", "findings": [ { "id": "levels-finding", "name": "Levels", "description": "Levels.", "questions": [ { "text": "What kinds of diplomas exist, and where do they sit in qualification frameworks here?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How does a diploma differ from a degree or certificate in this system?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "specific", "name": "Specific", "description": "A specific diploma.", "findings": [ { "id": "specific-finding", "name": "Specific", "description": "Specific diploma.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is this diploma, who awards it, and what does it qualify the holder for?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits it?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "verify", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verification and recognition.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "verify", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verifying a diploma.", "findings": [ { "id": "verify-finding", "name": "Verify", "description": "Verification.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can a diploma be verified with the issuing institution or a verification service, and what are signs of forgery or diploma mills?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the request seeking to produce a fake diploma, which must be declined?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "recognise", "name": "Recognise", "description": "Cross-border recognition.", "findings": [ { "id": "recognise-finding", "name": "Recognise", "description": "Recognition.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are foreign diplomas recognised here, and which bodies assess equivalence?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which frameworks support comparability?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "obtain", "name": "Obtain", "description": "Earning a diploma.", "rationale": "Study.", "layers": [ { "id": "study", "name": "Study", "description": "Programmes.", "findings": [ { "id": "study-finding", "name": "Study", "description": "Programmes.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which programmes lead to this diploma, and what do they require?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How are artist diplomas and professional diplomas structured?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "replace", "name": "Replace", "description": "Replacing lost diplomas.", "findings": [ { "id": "replace-finding", "name": "Replace", "description": "Replacement.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can a lost diploma be replaced or a transcript obtained?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific institution?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History and teaching.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History of diplomas.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did diplomas develop as credentials, and how has their form changed to digital credentials?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can qualification systems be taught?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each diploma type be a separate entry?", "How should recognition databases 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 diploma, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain diplomas and their place in qualification systems, help verify and recognise diplomas across countries, describe specific diploma types, and address forgery and diploma mills.", "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: T. T. C., artist diploma, DESCAF, Diploma in Applied Science, Diploma in Science, Diploma in Associateship of Otago School of Mines, journeyman papers, Diploma in Architecture, postgraduate diploma, Paul Tissandier Diploma, Vordiplom, high school diploma.", "53 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 69 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 diploma, 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": [ "T. T. C.", "artist diploma", "DESCAF", "Diploma in Applied Science", "Diploma in Science", "Diploma in Associateship of Otago School of Mines", "journeyman papers", "Diploma in Architecture", "postgraduate diploma", "Paul Tissandier Diploma", "Vordiplom", "high school diploma" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 69 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 53 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 diploma from another, and a diploma 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 diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma 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 diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma 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 diploma between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a diploma 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 diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma 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 diploma contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma 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 diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 diploma is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a diploma, 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 diploma, 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 diploma 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 } } } }