post box
Generated draft, first pass
This model was drafted by rule from what the registry knows about the thing. It proposes which bundles a real model will need and which questions research must answer. It is not researched and no sentence in it is sourced.
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.
Generator: vr.draft.v3
Purpose and description
Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a post box, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.
A physical thing registered under PHY.OBJ. The registry names it; this draft has not been given a definition yet.
It can be observed and measured.
Distinguishing features
Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Rainbow postbox, PTT mailbox, privately installed mail collection box, parcel locker, 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold post boxes, pillar box, lamp box, wall box, Penfold pillar box, Post boxes in Japan, Amazon hub, Allegro One Box.
56 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.
Described in 55 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is.
Physical character
Made of: matter you can touch.
Mobility varies between examples.
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.
How it is recognised
Recognised by form, by the arrangement of its controls, and by markings - a plate, a model number, a certification mark. Form alone rarely separates two models that do very different things.
Related models
covers - 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.
Described in 55 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 56 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.
Also called
+16
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 8 bundles · 17 layers · 19 findings · 51 questions.
Identity, naming and classification How an agent tells one post box from another, and a post box from things that resemble it.
Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.
Names and identifiers
The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.
Preferred name, aliases and local names
Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.
- What identifies and describes the name of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the name of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the name of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Stable identifiers and external keys
Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.
- What identifies and describes an identifier for a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Classification and granularity
Where a post box sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.
Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds
The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.
- What identifies and describes the kind of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the kind of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Distinguishing features
What separates a post box from the things most often confused with it.
- What identifies and describes what distinguishes a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Form, composition and condition What a post box is made of, what shape and size it takes, and what state it is in.
A physical thing can be measured, and a model that cannot record its measurements cannot support any decision that depends on them.
Form and dimensions
Shape, size, mass and the ranges these take across examples.
Measurable dimensions and their units
The quantities worth recording and the units they are recorded in.
- What identifies and describes the dimensions of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the dimensions of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the dimensions of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Material and composition
Materials, parts and how they are put together.
Parts and materials
What a post box is built from and which parts are replaceable.
- What identifies and describes the composition of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the composition of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the composition of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Condition and integrity
Wear, damage, health and the difference between working and broken.
Condition, damage and health
How the condition of a post box is judged and by whom.
- What identifies and describes the condition of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the condition of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the condition of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Place and movement Where a post box is, how it got there and where it may go (varies).
A thing that can move needs its position recorded with a time, or every later claim about it is about a place it has left.
Location and placement
Position, containment and the reference frame the position is given in.
Position, container and reference frame
Where a post box is, and what that position is measured against.
- What identifies and describes the location of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the location of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the location of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Movement and transfer
How a post box is carried, installed or relocated.
Movement events and constraints
What counts as a movement, what records it and what limits it.
- What identifies and describes the movement of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the movement of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the movement of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
State and lifecycle The states a post box passes through and the events that move it between them.
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.
Lifecycle stages
From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.
Stages and transitions
The stages worth naming and what moves a post box between them.
- What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Observations and current status
What is observed about a post box, how often and by whom.
Observation record
How an observation of a post box is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.
- What identifies and describes an observation of a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about an observation of a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Function and operating principle What post box is for and how it achieves it.
Two devices with the same name can work on different principles, and the principle is what predicts failure and constrains use.
Intended function
The job it does, and the jobs it is used for anyway.
Function, principle and variants
What it does, how, and which variants do it differently.
- What function does post box perform, on what operating principle, and which variants differ in that principle? definition
- What use falls outside the intended function but happens in practice? boundary
Capacity and rating
The numbers that say what it can do and where it stops.
Ratings and their conditions
Rated capacity, power, throughput and the conditions each assumes.
- What ratings characterise post box, in what units, and under what stated conditions? measurement
- What happens beyond the rating - degradation, refusal, damage - and how is that detected? action
Operation, controls and state How post box is operated and what state it is in right now.
An agent acting on a device needs its current state and the controls that change it, not just its specification.
Controls and modes
What can be set, what that changes, and what is interlocked.
Control surface and interlocks
The settings available and the conditions that block them.
- What controls and modes does post box have, and what does each change? definition
- Which actions are interlocked or forbidden in which state, and what must be true before acting? action
Condition and maintenance
Wear, service intervals, consumables and the line between working and broken.
Condition, service and consumables
What is consumed, what is serviced, and how condition is judged.
- What consumables and service does post box need, at what interval, and on whose authority? measurement
- What evidence separates a unit that is working from one that is out of service? boundary
Kind, model and unit Whether a claim about post box is about the kind, a product line, or one physical unit.
This is the boundary most often got wrong for made things, and getting it wrong mixes a catalogue entry with the machine in the yard.
Level of reference
The three levels and what belongs at each.
What belongs to kind, model and unit
Which properties are shared by all of them and which are not.
- Which facts about post box hold for every one of them, which for a model, and which only for one unit? boundary
- What identifies an individual unit, and what should an agent do when it has only the kind? action
Standards and conformity
The standards a working example must meet and who attests it.
Standards, marks and attestation
Which standard applies, who certifies, and what the mark means.
- Which standards govern post box, issued by whom, and what does conformity actually assert? provenance
- What may an agent conclude from a certification mark, and what may it not? boundary
Provenance, evidence and time Where every claim about a post box came from and when it held.
A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.
Source and authority
Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.
Claim provenance and confidence
The authority behind each claim about a post box and how confident it is.
- What identifies and describes a claim about a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about a claim about a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
Time, versions and supersession
When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.
Validity period and supersession
How an old claim about a post box is retired without being erased.
- What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a post box, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a post box, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a post box is known, and what must it refuse? action
What the second pass must settle
- 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 post box, and on what evidence are they told apart?