Published
history
vr.tr.history · thing-q309
Let an agent handle historical claims with their sources, dates, evidence and interpretations, and separate established facts from contested interpretations.
Thing Registry Information and virtual systems INF.KNW
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Sources What we know from.
Primary sources
Contemporary evidence.
Primary sources
The sources used.
- Which primary sources support this claim? provenance
- How reliable are they? measurement
Secondary sources
Scholarship.
Scholarship
Scholarly accounts.
- Which scholarly works discuss it? provenance
- Where do historians disagree? boundary
Chronology When things happened.
Dates
Events and periods.
Dates
Dates and calendars.
- When did this happen, in which calendar? measurement
- How certain is the dating? measurement
Periods
Periodisation.
Periodisation
Period labels.
- Which period does it belong to? definition
- Is the period label contested? boundary
Interpretation What it means.
Views
Schools of interpretation.
Views
Interpretations.
- What interpretations exist, and who holds them? provenance
- Which are consensus and which contested? boundary
Perspective
Whose history.
Perspective
Perspectives represented.
- Whose perspectives are represented, and whose are missing? boundary
- How can missing voices be found? action
Memory Commemoration and heritage.
Commemoration
Memorials and days.
Commemoration
How it is commemorated.
- How is this event commemorated? definition
- Who decided that? provenance
Misuse
Denial and distortion.
Misuse
Distortions to correct.
- Is this claim a distortion or denial of established history? boundary
- How should the agent respond with sources? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Information and virtual systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- INF
- Domain
- INF.KNW
- Other names and narrower kinds
- AIDS memorial, landscape history, history of sports clubs and teams, Enkaku, history of Black people, history of the Patamona people, heritage of Saudi Arabia, price history, music history, history of superpower, history of the British Empire, Russian Wikinews history
What it is Filled
The study of the past, especially human affairs, based on the critical examination of sources, and the past itself as recorded and interpreted.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent handle historical claims with their sources, dates, evidence and interpretations, and separate established facts from contested interpretations.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Based on critical use of sources
- Distinguishes facts, interpretations and myths
- Written from perspectives that must be acknowledged
- Heritage and memory are related but distinct
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Deny or distort atrocities.
- Repeat myths as fact.
- Judge the past by present standards without saying so.
- Fabricate sources or quotations.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing new findings about identifiable living people or their families.
May
- Report historical events from sources, noting their reliability and perspective.
- Present multiple perspectives on contested events.
Moral aspects Filled
- History shapes identity and justice; distortion harms victims and their descendants.
Who is affected
- Victims and their descendants
- Communities
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns the past; archives and historians keep the record.
Master systems
- National archives
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q11862829 - registry parent class
- Q1190554 - registry parent class
- Q4330518 - registry parent class
- Q5067949 - registry parent class
related
- past events - subject
- document and archive - sources
- heritage - what is valued and preserved
- calendar date and year - chronology
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.history
- Wikidata: Q309 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q309)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane INF: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Citations of primary and secondary sources
- Dates and periods
- Memorials and heritage sites as public history
- Archives, documents, artefacts, memorials and history books.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- research and write it, from sources
- teach it
- commemorate it, in memorials and heritage
- debate its interpretation
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Anachronism and presentism
- Myths repeated as fact
- Denial or distortion of atrocities
- Ignoring marginalised perspectives
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Archive and records law
- Heritage protection law
- Laws on historical memory in some countries
Context of use required Filled
- Understanding how the present came to be, preserving memory and informing decisions.
- political, social, economic, cultural history
- local and community history, including histories of peoples such as the Patamona
- environmental and landscape history
- public history and heritage
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q309: history - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: History - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should histories of places and peoples be separate entries?
- How should contested interpretations be represented?
- How should agents cite historical sources?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q309/spec.json