{ "model": { "rank": 5594, "code": "thing-q484591", "model_id": "vr.tr.natural-history", "name": "natural history", "purpose": "Enable an agent to recognise natural history as a field of knowledge, assess the scope and evidential grounding of its accounts, and choose appropriate research, comparison or documentation actions.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.KNW", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q484591/", "tier": 2, "score": 66, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Natural history of Saudi Arabia" ], "aliasCount": 1, "merged": 1, "knownIn": 66, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.natural-history", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q484591", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q484591", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-09T22:43:38Z", "providers": [ "Codex" ], "breadth": "recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read", "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "seconds": 21, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a08856-4289-7382-8c37-b6e5d4da0649\n--------\nuser\nDescribe what is already known about one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: natural history\nSense to describe: (none recorded)\nDomain code: INF.KNW\nAlso known as: (none)\n\n\nContext for this batch of 188 things:\n# Batch 006: 1001 ", "usd": 0, "recall": true }, "codex": { "seconds": 68.9, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a08856-4278-7ac0-93bb-67a18921f958\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: natural history\nRegistry id: vr.tr.natural-history\nPlane / domain: INF / INF.KNW\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q484591", "registryId": "vr.tr.natural-history", "name": "natural history", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.KNW" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q484591/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.natural-history", "name": "natural history", "purpose": "Enable an agent to recognise natural history as a field of knowledge, assess the scope and evidential grounding of its accounts, and choose appropriate research, comparison or documentation actions.", "definition": "Natural history is the observational and descriptive study of organisms and other natural objects in their environments, traditionally encompassing animals, plants, fossils, rocks and minerals.", "scope_statement": "This model owns natural history as the observation-led study and description of organisms and other natural entities in their environmental, geographical and temporal contexts, with the inclusion of geological subjects and particular methods explicitly qualified by the convention being used.", "in_scope": [ "The field's subject matter, including organisms, their habits, habitats, distributions and relationships.", "The stated convention governing inclusion of fossils, rocks, minerals and other nonliving natural entities.", "Field observation, descriptive comparison and specimen-based inquiry as approaches to knowledge.", "Connections between natural-history accounts and observations, specimens, identifications and contextual records.", "Historical and institutional conventions that distinguish natural history from neighbouring fields." ], "out_of_scope": [ "Individual organisms, species and ecosystems as independently modelled natural entities.", "Museums, learned societies and practitioners as organisations or people.", "Books, journals, field notebooks and exhibitions as publications or creative works.", "Physical collections and specimens as managed holdings or material objects.", "Evolutionary history or geological chronology considered independently of natural history as a field.", "Conservation interventions and land management programmes." ], "distinguishing_features": [ "The referent is a field or tradition of inquiry; a museum, book or collection bearing the name is a related entity rather than the field itself.", "The inquiry gives substantive attention to identifying, describing and situating natural entities; merely using nature as a theme does not establish natural-history scope.", "An account connects natural entities with observed traits, occurrences, habits or settings; classification alone does not capture its full natural-history content.", "The word 'history' does not require a chronological reconstruction: an account of present-day organisms and their habits can fall within the declared scope.", "Its boundary with ecology, taxonomy, geology and evolutionary biology is supported by an explicit disciplinary or historical convention rather than an assumed exclusive division." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Subject coverage", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Organisms; fossils; geological entities; mixed coverage; other explicitly justified subjects.", "why_it_matters": "Prevents an agent from silently restricting the field to living organisms or extending it to all natural science." }, { "name": "Scope convention", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Named definition, institutional remit or historical usage, qualified by date and cultural or geographical context.", "why_it_matters": "Makes inclusion and exclusion decisions traceable when uses of the term differ." }, { "name": "Methods represented", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Direct observation; specimen examination; descriptive comparison; identification; longitudinal recording; associated analytical or experimental methods.", "why_it_matters": "Shows how knowledge is obtained without imposing an unsupported prohibition on particular methods." }, { "name": "Spatial and temporal coverage", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Declared locality or region and observation period, season or geological interval, including unspecified coverage.", "why_it_matters": "Determines whether accounts can support comparisons across places and times." }, { "name": "Evidence traceability", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Traceable to contextualised records; partially traceable; untraceable; not assessed.", "why_it_matters": "Distinguishes descriptions that can be checked from unsupported or context-poor assertions." }, { "name": "Identification basis", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Identification linked to a taxonomic treatment, diagnostic reference, expert determination or explicitly unresolved assignment.", "why_it_matters": "Allows names and observations to be interpreted when classifications or determinations change." }, { "name": "Institutional and classification placement", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Documented links to institutional programmes, societies, reference works and classification schemes, with scheme edition where applicable.", "why_it_matters": "Supports discovery and recognition without equating the field with any one institution or catalogue category." } ], "affordances": [ "Classify a proposed inquiry as within, adjacent to or outside a stated natural-history convention.", "Organise descriptive questions about an organism's traits, habits, habitat, distribution and seasonal occurrence.", "Trace a natural-history claim to observations, specimens and the references used for identification.", "Compare accounts across localities or periods while identifying differences in observation effort and terminology.", "Identify coverage gaps and propose further observation, reference checking or expert review.", "Route collecting, sensitive-location disclosure and knowledge reuse decisions to the relevant permissions and stewardship processes." ] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "field-identity-and-boundaries", "name": "Field identity and boundaries", "description": "Establish what natural history means in the context being modelled and distinguish the field from related entities and disciplines.", "rationale": "The registry supplies no definition, and the term's intended breadth must be established before accounts can be included.", "layers": [ { "id": "meaning-and-referent", "name": "Meaning and referent", "description": "Separate the field of inquiry from works, institutions and chronological narratives that share its name.", "findings": [ { "id": "declared-natural-history-sense", "name": "Declared natural-history sense", "description": "Record the definition selected for this entry and the context in which it applies.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which definition establishes natural history as the field intended by this registry entry?", "kind": "definition", "id": "declared-natural-history-sense-q01" }, { "text": "Does the usage denote a field of inquiry, an account of a particular subject, or a named work or institution?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "declared-natural-history-sense-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "subject-and-disciplinary-edges", "name": "Subject and disciplinary edges", "description": "Make the coverage of living and nonliving nature and overlaps with neighbouring fields explicit.", "findings": [ { "id": "coverage-under-a-named-convention", "name": "Coverage under a named convention", "description": "Record inclusion decisions without treating disciplinary boundaries as universal.", "questions": [ { "text": "Under the selected convention, are fossils, minerals, rocks and other nonliving subjects included?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "coverage-under-a-named-convention-q01" }, { "text": "What distinguishes the natural-history contribution from taxonomy, ecology, geology or evolutionary reconstruction in overlapping inquiries?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "coverage-under-a-named-convention-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "natural-entities-in-context", "name": "Natural entities in context", "description": "Identify the descriptive content needed to situate natural entities in their surroundings and patterns of occurrence.", "rationale": "Natural-history coverage needs more than a list of names: it must make traits, settings and observed patterns intelligible.", "layers": [ { "id": "identity-traits-and-variation", "name": "Identity, traits and variation", "description": "Connect descriptions to the entities identified and the variation actually observed.", "findings": [ { "id": "diagnostic-and-variable-features", "name": "Diagnostic and variable features", "description": "Distinguish features used for identification from variation associated with life stage, season or individual differences.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which observed features support identification, and which identification reference or determination was used?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "diagnostic-and-variable-features-q01" }, { "text": "Which differences are recorded across life stages, sexes, seasons or individuals, and which remain unexplained?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "diagnostic-and-variable-features-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "habitat-occurrence-and-habits", "name": "Habitat, occurrence and habits", "description": "Describe where and when entities occur and, for organisms, what they are observed doing.", "findings": [ { "id": "contextualised-occurrence-and-activity", "name": "Contextualised occurrence and activity", "description": "Connect locality and time with habitat, behaviour, life-cycle events and observed associations where applicable.", "questions": [ { "text": "What locality, date, habitat or geological context anchors each occurrence account?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "contextualised-occurrence-and-activity-q01" }, { "text": "Which habits, seasonal events or associations were directly observed, and over what observation period?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "contextualised-occurrence-and-activity-q02" }, { "text": "Which contextual descriptors are appropriate for nonliving subjects instead of organism-specific habits and life cycles?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "contextualised-occurrence-and-activity-q03" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observation-and-evidence", "name": "Observation and evidence", "description": "Assess how natural-history descriptions are supported and how far their evidence permits generalisation.", "rationale": "An agent must distinguish a contextualised observation from a repeated assertion and a local occurrence from a broader distribution claim.", "layers": [ { "id": "records-and-vouchers", "name": "Records and vouchers", "description": "Connect accounts to field records, images, recordings or specimens that permit scrutiny.", "findings": [ { "id": "recoverable-observation-basis", "name": "Recoverable observation basis", "description": "Record the supporting material, its provenance and whether it can be revisited.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which field notes, images, recordings or specimen records support the description, and can they be located?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "recoverable-observation-basis-q01" }, { "text": "Who made the observation and identification, and what later corrections or redeterminations are documented?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "recoverable-observation-basis-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "effort-bias-and-inference", "name": "Effort, bias and inference", "description": "Evaluate the limits imposed by observation effort, detectability and uneven coverage.", "findings": [ { "id": "limits-of-descriptive-claims", "name": "Limits of descriptive claims", "description": "Keep claims about rarity, absence, range and typical behaviour proportionate to the underlying records.", "questions": [ { "text": "What search duration, frequency, season, area and observation method underlie the account?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "limits-of-descriptive-claims-q01" }, { "text": "Does an asserted absence or rarity reflect adequate observation, or could it reflect limited effort or detectability?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "limits-of-descriptive-claims-q02" }, { "text": "What further observations would be needed before extending this account to other places, seasons or populations?", "kind": "action", "id": "limits-of-descriptive-claims-q03" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "knowledge-traditions-and-organisation", "name": "Knowledge traditions and organisation", "description": "Locate natural history within documented disciplinary traditions, institutions and systems for organising knowledge.", "rationale": "Its recognition and boundaries depend partly on situated usage, while changing names and classifications affect continuity between accounts.", "layers": [ { "id": "historical-and-institutional-placement", "name": "Historical and institutional placement", "description": "Record which communities and reference systems explicitly recognise the field and how they describe its remit.", "findings": [ { "id": "documented-recognition", "name": "Documented recognition", "description": "Connect field definitions to verified institutional statements, reference works and classification entries.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which societies, journals, museum programmes or educational programmes explicitly define or organise natural-history inquiry?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "documented-recognition-q01" }, { "text": "Where do relevant library or disciplinary classification schemes place natural history, and in which editions?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "documented-recognition-q02" }, { "text": "How does each source's period and geographical or cultural setting limit its definition?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "documented-recognition-q03" } ] } ] }, { "id": "names-and-knowledge-continuity", "name": "Names and knowledge continuity", "description": "Preserve interpretability across changing scientific names, vernacular names and descriptive traditions.", "findings": [ { "id": "traceable-name-and-concept-mappings", "name": "Traceable name and concept mappings", "description": "Connect accounts only where their subject identities and terminology can be reconciled with adequate evidence.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which taxonomic treatment, vernacular vocabulary or local naming context gives each subject name its meaning?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "traceable-name-and-concept-mappings-q01" }, { "text": "Can historical and current accounts be linked to the same entity or taxon concept without erasing unresolved identification differences?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "traceable-name-and-concept-mappings-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "research-actions-and-stewardship", "name": "Research actions and stewardship", "description": "Translate gaps in natural-history knowledge into appropriate observation, verification and reuse actions.", "rationale": "The model must support decisions about acquiring and communicating knowledge, including consequences for organisms, sites and knowledge holders.", "layers": [ { "id": "coverage-and-next-observations", "name": "Coverage and next observations", "description": "Choose research actions that address a specific descriptive or evidential gap.", "findings": [ { "id": "targeted-natural-history-inquiry", "name": "Targeted natural-history inquiry", "description": "Identify whether missing knowledge concerns identity, habits, seasonal occurrence, habitat or historical comparability.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which subject, locality, season, life stage or behaviour is missing or poorly supported in the available accounts?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "targeted-natural-history-inquiry-q01" }, { "text": "Would repeat observation, specimen re-examination, reference checking or specialist consultation best resolve that gap?", "kind": "action", "id": "targeted-natural-history-inquiry-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "collecting-and-knowledge-reuse", "name": "Collecting and knowledge reuse", "description": "Identify conditions that govern obtaining, sharing or repurposing natural-history evidence.", "findings": [ { "id": "conditions-on-evidence-actions", "name": "Conditions on evidence actions", "description": "Connect proposed fieldwork and disclosure to applicable permissions, sensitivity assessments and attribution requirements.", "questions": [ { "text": "What permissions and disturbance constraints apply before accessing a site, handling an organism or collecting a specimen?", "kind": "action", "id": "conditions-on-evidence-actions-q01" }, { "text": "Do sensitive locality records or community-held knowledge require restricted disclosure, consent or particular attribution before reuse?", "kind": "action", "id": "conditions-on-evidence-actions-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes", "name": "Check these first", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "The unqualified term is interpreted here as a field of knowledge, rather than the developmental course of a disease or another process.", "The listed kinds are established subject emphases, not an exhaustive or universally adopted subdivision.", "The listed standards govern particular naming and data practices; they do not define natural history as a whole." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes-q01", "text": "Which of these check these first hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Botanical natural history", "Zoological natural history", "Geological natural history", "Palaeontological natural history" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "Dewey Decimal Classification", "value_or_pattern": "508", "note": "Class for natural history; specialised subjects also appear elsewhere in the classification." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, maintained by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: governs scientific names of animals.", "International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, adopted through International Botanical Congresses: governs scientific names of those groups.", "Darwin Core, maintained by Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG): supports exchange of biodiversity occurrence and specimen data." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Documenting species, habitats, behaviour and seasonal events through field observations.", "Building and interpreting museum collections of specimens and associated records.", "Establishing historical baselines for changes in distributions and biodiversity.", "Informing conservation through knowledge of organisms' life histories and habitat requirements.", "Supporting identification guides, public education and community recording programmes." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Misidentification or inconsistent naming can corrupt occurrence records and comparisons.", "Uneven geographic, seasonal and observer coverage can make records unrepresentative.", "Missing locality, date or collection-method information can limit a specimen's scientific value.", "Excessive collecting or disturbance can harm vulnerable populations and habitats.", "Treating descriptive associations as demonstrated causes can produce unsupported explanations." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Some institutions retain a broad scope including geology and palaeontology; others emphasise organisms and biodiversity.", "Local collecting, access and specimen-export rules affect how fieldwork and collections are conducted." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "name": "Biology", "difference": "Biology studies life through observational, experimental and theoretical approaches; natural history emphasises descriptive knowledge in environmental context and can include nonliving subjects." }, { "name": "Ecology", "difference": "Ecology focuses on relationships among organisms and their environments; natural history also documents identities, forms, behaviours and life histories without necessarily analysing those relationships." }, { "name": "Taxonomy", "difference": "Taxonomy identifies, describes, names and classifies organisms; natural history uses those classifications while investigating a wider range of observations." }, { "name": "Palaeontology", "difference": "Palaeontology studies past life through fossils and related evidence; natural history includes living organisms and may encompass palaeontological work." }, { "name": "Natural history collection", "difference": "A collection consists of specimens and associated records; natural history is the field of inquiry that creates and uses such evidence." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of natural history this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which authoritative definition and historical or contemporary convention should anchor this registry entry?", "Should geological and mineralogical subjects fall within its default scope, or only within explicitly identified usages?", "Which existing Vercy models already cover this field or its boundaries, and does one provide the required single source of truth?", "Which verified classification entries, societies, journals and educational programmes best establish its institutional placement?", "How should Indigenous and local knowledge traditions be related to this entry while preserving their own categories, authority and conditions of use?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 31 } }, "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 natural history, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an agent to recognise natural history as a field of knowledge, assess the scope and evidential grounding of its accounts, and choose appropriate research, comparison or documentation actions.", "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: Natural history of Saudi Arabia.", "1 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 66 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 natural history, 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": [ "Natural history of Saudi Arabia" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 1 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 natural history from another, and a natural history 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 natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a natural history 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 natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 natural history is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a natural history, 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 natural history, 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 natural history 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 } } } }