{ "model": { "rank": 3331, "code": "thing-q49848", "model_id": "vr.tr.document", "name": "document", "purpose": "Let an agent handle documents as records with authors, versions, authority and retention, keeping the content, the file and the record apart.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q49848/", "tier": 2, "score": 87, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 87, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": "vr.tr.document-possession", "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q49848", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q49848", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-10T20:01:32Z", "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": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q49848", "registryId": "vr.tr.document", "name": "document", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q49848/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.document", "name": "document", "purpose": "Let an agent handle documents as records with authors, versions, authority and retention, keeping the content, the file and the record apart.", "definition": "A recorded piece of information treated as a unit, kept because it is evidence of something: an agreement, a decision, an identity or an event.", "what_it_is_for": "Fixing information so it can be relied on later by someone who was not there.", "affordances": [ "read it", "copy, send and file it", "sign and certify it, which changes its standing rather than its content", "version it, which creates a new document rather than changing one", "destroy it, which is regulated more often than people expect", "forge it, which is why authenticity is a first-class question" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Kept as evidence, which separates a document from a message that happens to be written down", "The content, the carrier and the record are three things: the same content in two files is one document in two copies", "Its authority comes from who issued it and how, not from what it says", "A version is a new document, not an edit" ], "appearance": "Whatever its carrier is: pages, a file, a screen. The document is not the carrier, which is exactly what makes appearance an unreliable guide to what it is.", "visual_identification": [ "Signatures, seals and letterheads are what people read as authenticity, and all three are the easiest parts to fake", "Version and date markings, which are what actually decide which document is in force", "For a file, the metadata and any cryptographic signature identify it; the rendering does not" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "extent", "typical_range": "1-1000", "unit": "pages", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "retention period", "typical_range": "1-100", "unit": "years", "note": "set by the rule that governs the record type, not by the document" }, { "quantity": "file size", "typical_range": "0.01-100", "unit": "MB", "note": "for digital documents" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "by function: contract, certificate, identity, record of decision, report, correspondence", "by standing: draft, issued, executed, superseded, void", "by carrier: paper, digital, both", "by control: public, internal, confidential, restricted" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "record", "why": "inherits retention, authenticity and disposal questions" }, { "relation": "is carried by", "target": "paper", "why": "one carrier among several, and the carrier has its own lifetime" }, { "relation": "is confused with", "target": "file", "why": "a file is a carrier; a document can span several" }, { "relation": "regulated by", "target": "records retention schedule", "why": "decides how long it must be kept and when it must go" }, { "relation": "may prove", "target": "agreement or identity", "why": "the reason it exists is usually to be evidence of something else" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "document reference", "value_or_pattern": "issuer-specific", "note": "identifies it within the issuing system" }, { "scheme": "hash", "value_or_pattern": "sha256:...", "note": "identifies exact content, which is what a signature actually covers" }, { "scheme": "DOI or URN", "value_or_pattern": "scheme-specific", "note": "for published and archived documents" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Records management standards such as ISO 15489, which define what a record must preserve", "Electronic signature regulation, which decides when a digital signature has legal effect", "Retention schedules under sector law, which set minimum and maximum keeping periods", "Data protection rules, which limit what may be kept and for how long" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Version confusion, where a superseded document is acted on", "Loss of authenticity, where a copy cannot be shown to match what was issued", "Format obsolescence, where the file survives and nothing can read it", "Over-retention, which is a breach in its own right where personal data is involved", "Forgery and tampering, which the whole apparatus of signatures and seals exists to resist" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-version", "name": "Identity and version", "description": "Which document this is and which version is in force.", "rationale": "Acting on a superseded document is the commonest and most expensive document failure, and it is entirely preventable by modelling version properly.", "layers": [ { "id": "identity", "name": "Document identity", "description": "What names this document and what it covers.", "findings": [ { "id": "identity-finding", "name": "Reference and scope", "description": "The reference, the issuer, and what the document is about.", "questions": [ { "text": "What reference identifies this document, issued by whom?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What exactly does it cover, and what is outside it?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "version", "name": "Version and status", "description": "Draft, issued, executed, superseded.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-finding", "name": "Version and current standing", "description": "Which version is in force and what replaced what.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which version is this, and which version is currently in force?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What must an agent do when it cannot establish that this is current?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authority-and-authenticity", "name": "Authority and authenticity", "description": "Why it can be relied on.", "rationale": "A document standing comes from its issuance and its integrity, and both have to be checkable independently of the text.", "layers": [ { "id": "issuance", "name": "Issuance and authority", "description": "Who issued it and under what power.", "findings": [ { "id": "issuance-finding", "name": "Issuer and mandate", "description": "The authority behind it and the limits of that authority.", "questions": [ { "text": "Who issued this document, and under what authority?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "What does that authority not extend to?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "integrity", "name": "Integrity and signature", "description": "Whether it is what was issued.", "findings": [ { "id": "integrity-finding", "name": "Integrity evidence", "description": "Signatures, seals, hashes and what each proves.", "questions": [ { "text": "What evidence shows this document is unchanged since issue?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which acts may an agent take on it without that evidence, and which not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-obligation", "name": "Content and obligation", "description": "What it says and what follows from it.", "rationale": "A document is usually kept because it creates or evidences an obligation, and that obligation is what an agent must act on.", "layers": [ { "id": "content", "name": "Content and structure", "description": "Clauses, fields, and what carries meaning.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-finding", "name": "Structure of the content", "description": "How the document is organised and what is addressable.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is this document structured, and which parts carry obligations?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which parts are boilerplate and which are specific to this instance?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "effect", "name": "Effect and obligations", "description": "Who is bound, to what, and until when.", "findings": [ { "id": "effect-finding", "name": "Obligations created", "description": "What follows from the document for whom.", "questions": [ { "text": "What obligations does this document create, on whom, and until when?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "What evidence would show an obligation has been discharged?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "handling-and-retention", "name": "Handling, access and retention", "description": "Who may see it and how long it is kept.", "rationale": "Retention and access are governed by rules external to the document, and breaching either is a separate offence from anything the document says.", "layers": [ { "id": "access", "name": "Access and confidentiality", "description": "Who may read it and under what control.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-finding", "name": "Access control", "description": "Classification and who is entitled.", "questions": [ { "text": "Who may access this document, under what classification?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "What must an agent refuse to disclose, and to whom?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "retention", "name": "Retention and disposal", "description": "How long, then what.", "findings": [ { "id": "retention-finding", "name": "Retention rule and disposal", "description": "The keeping period, its source, and the disposal method.", "questions": [ { "text": "How long must this document be kept, under which rule?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How must it be destroyed, and what record of destruction is required?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should the document, its versions and its copies be one model with levels or three linked models?", "How should authority be represented when it comes from the issuer rather than from anything in the text?", "What is the minimum evidence for authenticity that an agent should demand before relying on a document?" ], "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 document, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent handle documents as records with authors, versions, authority and retention, keeping the content, the file and the record apart.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 87 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 document, 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": [], "standing": "Described in 87 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one document from another, and a document 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 document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document 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 document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document 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 document between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a document 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 document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document 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 document contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document 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 document, 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 document 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 document 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 document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a document, 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 document, 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 document 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 document is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a document, 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 document, 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 document 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 } } } }