work
Enable an AI agent to recognise an instance of work, assess its progress and conditions, and decide whether and how it may be started, supported, changed, paused or concluded.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
5 bundles · 9 layers · 16 findings · 24 questions
Purpose and work boundary What the effort is meant to accomplish and which contributions belong to this undertaking.
Intended effect
The change or sustained condition that motivates the effort.
Outcome and beneficiary
Record the intended effect, who needs it and whether that purpose is stated, inferred or disputed.
- What should this work produce, change, restore, discover or keep in an acceptable condition? definition
- Who supplied or confirmed that purpose, and whose need does it address? provenance
Undertaking boundary
The limits separating this body of effort from adjacent or recurring work.
Included effort and recurrence
Record which contributions count toward this undertaking and how preparation, rework and repeated service are treated.
- Do preparation, coordination, waiting and rework belong to this undertaking or to separately tracked work? boundary
- What event or observation period separates this instance from the next recurrence? boundary
Contributions and coordination How performers combine their effort and transfer responsibility.
Performing contributions
Who undertakes each contribution and what they are equipped and permitted to do.
Contributor fit and authority
Record actual and intended performers, required capabilities and the authority to execute or alter their contribution.
- Who is expected to perform each contribution, and who has actually performed it? provenance
- What capability, permission or supervision must be established before a contributor proceeds? action
Coordination and handoffs
How contributions depend on one another and become usable by the next performer.
Usable handoff
Record the input expected at each handoff, its readiness and who accepts responsibility for the next contribution.
- Which contribution cannot proceed until another supplies a usable input or decision? boundary
- What evidence and acknowledgement make the handoff sufficient to continue? action
Effort and execution conditions The effort being applied, the conditions it requires and the constraints on continuation.
Effort and progress
Observed expenditure of effort and evidence that it advances the intended outcome.
Expenditure versus advancement
Record effort separately from elapsed time, waiting and demonstrable progress, with uncertainty in remaining estimates.
- How much effort has been expended, using what unit and evidence, and how does it differ from elapsed time? measurement
- What observable result supports the current progress assessment and remaining effort estimate? measurement
Readiness and capacity
Whether inputs, working conditions and contributor capacity support the next action.
Continuation constraints
Record missing prerequisites, competing demands and conditions that require assistance, changed pacing or a stop.
- Which missing input, unavailable resource or capacity constraint currently limits the next contribution? measurement
- Under what observed conditions should an agent continue, seek assistance, reassign or pause the work? action
Results and continuation decisions How results are assessed and how further effort is justified or ended.
Result and acceptance
The evidence and judgement connecting performed effort to the intended effect.
Outcome evidence
Record acceptance criteria, observed results, unresolved defects and who can judge whether the outcome is sufficient.
- What inspection, observation or test establishes that the intended effect has been achieved or sustained? measurement
- Who established the acceptance criteria, and who has accepted or disputed the result? provenance
Closure and further effort
The decision to conclude, repeat, repair, redirect or abandon the undertaking.
Disposition and residual obligations
Record why effort ends or continues, distinguishing accepted completion from abandonment and identifying remaining commitments.
- What evidence or changed need justifies concluding, repeating, redirecting or abandoning this work? action
- Which defects, maintenance duties or unfinished contributions remain, and where will responsibility for them be recorded? boundary
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of work this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Activities and processes
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- ACT
- Domain
- ACT.ACT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- stamp edition, definitive stamp edition, occupation stamp edition, virtual work, mechanical work, labour through muscle power, non-mechanical work
What it is Filled
In official labour statistics, work is any activity performed by persons of any sex and age to produce goods or to provide services for use by others or for own use, whether or not the activity is paid.
In scope
- The outcome sought and the boundary of the effort undertaken
- Who performs the work and how their contributions connect
- The effort, capabilities, resources and conditions needed to proceed
- Actual execution, interruptions, dependencies and remaining effort
- Evidence of results, acceptance and continuing maintenance obligations
Out of scope
- Employment relationships, compensation and labour contracts
- The full identity and capabilities of workers or organisations
- Project and programme governance across multiple bodies of work
- The independent identity and lifecycle of products or creative works
- Physics concepts of work and energy transfer
- Detailed operating models of tools, facilities and materials
Why it exists Filled
Enable an AI agent to recognise an instance of work, assess its progress and conditions, and decide whether and how it may be started, supported, changed, paused or concluded.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Distinguish work from its output: identify the effort undertaken separately from the document, service, repair or other result it produces.
- Distinguish work from a goal: identify an undertaking or enacted effort toward an outcome, beyond merely stating a desired condition.
- Distinguish work from employment: establish what is being done without requiring a wage, employer or formal job.
- Distinguish work from a task description: separate the requested unit of activity from whether, how and by whom effort is actually undertaken.
- Recognise maintenance work by the condition it sustains or restores, even when no new object is produced.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Count only paid work in a way that hides unpaid care and household work without saying so.
- Assign work to people in conditions of forced or child labour.
- Monitor workers covertly or beyond what law and agreement allow.
- Misreport hours worked so that pay or rest is lost.
Only with a human decision
- Decisions that change a person's work, pay or employment status.
May
- Report labour statistics with their source, definition and period.
- Help people plan and record their own work on request.
Moral aspects Filled
- Work brings income and dignity but can be exploitative or dangerous.
- Unpaid work, often by women, is easily overlooked.
Who is affected
- Workers
- Unpaid carers
- Child workers
Owners Filled
Steward
The person who does it; statistics offices measure it and labour inspectorates enforce rules.
Master systems
- National labour force surveys
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q107715 - registry parent class
- Q141187343 - registry parent class
- Q141256417 - registry parent class
- Q15211908 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.work-q42213
- Wikidata: Q42213 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q42213)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Intended effect: Produce; transform; maintain; restore; investigate; mixed; unresolved
- Execution state: Proposed; ready; underway; blocked; paused; concluded; abandoned; unknown
- Performing contributors: People, teams or systems linked to their contributions
- Effort expended: Contributor-hours or another explicitly defined effort measure, with method and observation period
- Remaining effort estimate: Range in a stated effort unit, with assumptions and estimate date; unknown permitted
- Blocking dependencies: Required inputs, decisions, permissions or predecessor contributions linked to readiness evidence
- Outcome assessment: Not assessed; unmet; partly met; met; disputed; no longer applicable
- Demand and capacity fit: Adequate; constrained; exceeded; unknown, for a stated contributor and period
Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Mechanical work is a calculated physical quantity that cannot be identified by visual appearance alone.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Clarify the intended outcome and divide the undertaking into contributions with explicit interfaces.
- Match contributions to available capabilities and authorised performers.
- Begin or resume work when required inputs, permissions and capacity are available.
- Record effort and outcome evidence, then revise the approach or estimate.
- Pause, redirect or abandon work when conditions or expected value change.
- Assess results against agreed criteria and close the undertaking or establish its next maintenance interval.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Unsafe work causes injury, illness and death.
- Narrow definitions can make whole groups of workers invisible in policy.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization, International Conference of Labour Statisticians.
Context of use required Filled
- Mechanical work is used in physics and engineering to describe energy transferred when a force acts through a displacement.
- It supports calculations involving lifting, acceleration, friction and machine performance by accounting for the force component along the displacement.
Sources Filled
- Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization - International Labour Organization, 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (2013) - The specialist definition of work, the five statistical forms of work, and the distinction between work and employment.
- Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time - European Parliament and Council - Working-time limits, rest, and the EU legal sense of working time as a regulated quantity.
- System of National Accounts 2008 - United Nations, European Commission, IMF, OECD and World Bank - The production boundary that includes goods for own use but generally excludes unpaid domestic and care services, which is why much work is invisible in GDP.
- ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems - Requirements with guidance for use - International Organization for Standardization - Work as an activity that organisations must manage for injury, disease and other occupational harm.
- Wikidata item Q42213: work - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Work (physics) - general description of the item
Open questions
- Does vr.tr.work-q42213 denote purposeful effort broadly, human labour specifically, or another sense of work?
- Which existing Vercy world model, if any, already owns this concept and should be linked instead of creating a separate model?
- Where should the registry draw the boundary between work, activity, task, process and project, especially before execution begins?
- Should fully automated execution count as work in its own right, and how should mixed human and machine effort be represented?
- How should continuous care, availability and maintenance be bounded and assessed when neither discrete outputs nor a final completion event are appropriate?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q42213/spec.json