record
anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events
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
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise a record, assess its evidential usefulness and preservation state, and determine which uses or changes are appropriate.
A record is durable recorded information, in any medium, kept as evidence of or information about past events, transactions, or states of affairs.
It can be Retrieve and render the record while identifying the representation inspected.; Describe what the record supports and attach explicit limits to that interpretation.; Compare representations and investigate missing content or unexplained alterations.; Create a linked copy, extract, transcription or redacted representation with its derivation recorded.; Preserve or migrate the record while checking the features needed for its evidential use.; Evaluate whether access, correction, transfer or disposal is permitted under identified constraints..
Distinguishing features
Identifiable information has been captured and retained beyond the event or observation that produced it; an uncaptured live signal is not yet a record.
The retained information provides or purports to provide evidence or information about something that has already happened; a blank recording medium does not meet this test.
A document qualifies through its retained account or evidential connection, rather than merely through having a document format.
A database row is not automatically a record in this sense: its retained content and context must establish what past occurrence or state it documents.
A physical carrier and its recorded information can be distinguished: replacing a carrier need not erase the record, but an undocumented transformation can weaken continuity.
Scope
+ The retained information and the past events or circumstances it purports to document
+ Record boundaries, components, versions and relationships between originals and copies
+ Creation, capture, custody and transformations relevant to interpreting the record
+ Completeness, authenticity, integrity and limits on evidential use
+ Retrieval, intelligibility, preservation, access and disposition
- The past event itself, including facts not supported by the record
- The general composition and editing of documents or creative works
- The manufacture and physical operation of recording equipment and storage media
- The architecture and operation of repositories, archives and databases
- The creation of laws, organisational policies or access mandates governing records
Characteristics
- Documented occurrence
- Identified past events, activities or states; asserted connection and unresolved ambiguity Establishes what the record can inform an agent about without treating its contents as verified truth.
- Record boundary
- Single item, compound item, bounded sequence or unresolved boundary Determines which components must be retained and assessed together.
- Recording modality
- Text, image, sound, moving image, structured data, physical trace or mixed Determines how the information can be inspected and which features interpretation must preserve.
- Temporal relationship
- Event time, capture time and later account time, with precision and uncertainty Distinguishes contemporaneous capture from later recollection and prevents capture dates from being mistaken for event dates.
- Derivation role
- Initial capture, copy, extract, transcription, migrated representation or undetermined Clarifies how the inspected item relates to earlier representations and what information may have changed.
- Provenance continuity
- Documented, partially documented, disputed or unknown, for a stated custody interval Makes gaps in origin and handling visible when assessing evidential confidence.
- Integrity assessment
- No change detected, explained change, unexplained change or unassessed, relative to a stated baseline Separates evidence of preservation from unsupported claims that the record has never changed.
- Completeness assessment
- Complete against an identified expectation, incomplete, disputed or unknown Prevents missing pages, frames, entries or contextual components from being overlooked.
- Interpretability
- Directly intelligible, intelligible with dependencies, partly intelligible or currently unintelligible Distinguishes retained information from information an agent can actually understand.
- Disposition constraint
- Applicable retention instructions, holds, review triggers and disposal authorities, including unresolved applicability Supports preservation or disposal decisions without assuming that age or duplication permits deletion.
Analytical facets
- substance
- information
- origin
- conceptual
- agency
- inert
- mobility
- not-applicable
- scale
- not-applicable
- affordances
- readable
Also called
+56
Where this came from
oewn:2024 · CC BY 4.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 29 questions.
Record boundary and reference Establish what constitutes this record and what past occurrence it concerns.
An agent cannot assess evidence consistently if it confuses a fragment with the whole record or the recorded account with the event itself.
Retained unit
Identify the information-bearing unit and the components needed to recognise it.
Record components
Identify the retained content, its carrier or representation, and any attachments or sequence boundaries that belong to the record.
- What captured information makes this item a record, rather than an empty medium or an uncaptured signal? definition
- Which pages, tracks, frames, entries, attachments or contextual components constitute this record? boundary
Past-event connection
Describe the occurrence documented and the limits of that connection.
Documented occurrence and claims
Distinguish what the record depicts or asserts from what independent evidence establishes.
- Which past event, activity or state does the record depict, describe or otherwise provide information about? definition
- Which conclusions would exceed what this record alone supports? boundary
Creation and evidential context Explain how the record arose and which circumstances affect its interpretation.
A contemporaneous instrument capture, a staged photograph and a later recollection may concern the same event while supporting different conclusions.
Capture circumstances
Identify the producer, recording process and relationship between event time and recording time.
Origin and timing
Account for who or what produced the record, when it was produced and how those assertions are supported.
- Who or what created or captured the record, by which process, and what supports that attribution? provenance
- What are the event and recording times, and what uncertainty or delay separates them? measurement
Interpretive context
Retain the purpose, conventions and surrounding information needed to read the record appropriately.
Context and selectivity
Expose the record's viewpoint, intended use and known limits of coverage.
- For what purpose and audience was the record produced, and how is that known? provenance
- Which omissions, framing choices, codes or missing contextual records limit its interpretation? boundary
Identity, custody and integrity Track continuity from earlier record states to the representation currently inspected.
Evidential assessment requires distinguishing an authentic but inaccurate account from an altered, incomplete or misattributed representation.
Custody and derivation
Connect custodians, copies and transformations without assuming all representations are equivalent.
Representation lineage
Identify the inspected representation's source and the documented path by which it arrived.
- Is this an initial capture, copy, extract, transcription or migrated representation, and which earlier item does it derive from? provenance
- Which custody transfers and transformations are documented, and where are the gaps? provenance
Authenticity and completeness
Assess claimed identity, detectable changes and missing content using explicit evidence.
Supported integrity judgment
Record the basis and limits of authenticity, integrity and completeness assessments separately from content accuracy.
- What evidence supports the claimed origin and identity, and which claims remain unverified? provenance
- Against which baseline or expected sequence were alterations and missing components checked, and what was found? measurement
- Which doubts concern the truth of the recorded account rather than the identity or integrity of the record? boundary
Retrieval and preservation Determine whether the record's information remains recoverable and intelligible over time.
Continued possession of a carrier or file does not establish that its recorded information can still be recovered or interpreted.
Readability and dependencies
Identify the means needed to locate, render and understand the retained information.
Usable representation
Assess actual retrieval and interpretation, including playback, decoding and contextual dependencies.
- Can the record currently be retrieved and read or played, and which portions remain inaccessible? measurement
- Which equipment, software, keys, languages or explanatory conventions are required to interpret it? definition
Preservation and transformation
Evaluate preservation actions against the information and features that must survive.
Evidential feature preservation
Identify which content, sequence, timing, annotations or material features matter to the intended evidential use.
- Which recorded or material features must survive copying, restoration or migration for the intended use? boundary
- What preservation action is warranted by observed deterioration or dependency failure, and how will its result be checked? action
Controlled use and disposition Determine permissible access, derivative uses, amendments and end-of-retention actions.
Records can carry sensitive information and continuing evidential obligations that constrain disclosure, alteration and destruction.
Access and amendment
Connect proposed uses and changes to applicable authority and preservation of the recorded history.
Permitted record operations
Assess access, disclosure and correction while maintaining an explicit relationship between the retained record and derivatives.
- Which identified permissions or restrictions apply to viewing, disclosing, reproducing or extracting this record? action
- If correction or redaction is needed, which authorised method preserves the required history and links the resulting representation to its source? action
Retention and disposition
Establish whether the record must remain available or may be transferred or destroyed.
Disposition readiness
Connect retention triggers, outstanding holds and disposition authority to a concrete decision.
- Which retention instruction applies, what starts its period, and is any hold or unresolved obligation preventing disposal? boundary
- What authority and evidence are required before transfer or destruction, and what record of that action must remain? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
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.
- organizational/business record
- archival record
- public/government record
- personal paper or private record
- medical/health record
- legal/evidentiary record
- scientific or observational record
- audiovisual or photographic record
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of record 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.
- Wikidata - Q10870555 - archival record / record as documentary evidence in archival practice
- Wikidata - Q107435521 - record in the records-management sense (ISO 15489 family)
- ISO 15489 / ISO 30300 term - record - defined term in the ISO records-management vocabulary
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of record 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.
- ISO 15489-1:2016 Information and documentation - Records management - Part 1: Concepts and principles (International Organization for Standardization)
- ISO 30300:2020 Information and documentation - Records management - Core concepts and vocabulary (ISO)
- ISO 14721:2012 / OAIS - Open Archival Information System reference model (ISO / Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems)
- ISAD(G) General International Standard Archival Description (International Council on Archives)
- PREMIS Data Dictionary for Preservation Metadata (Library of Congress / PREMIS Editorial Committee)
- MoReq2010 Modular Requirements for Records Systems (DLM Forum / European Commission)
- 44 U.S.C. Chapters 21, 29, 31 and 33 - Federal Records Act and NARA authorities (United States Congress; administered by NARA)
- UK Public Records Act 1958 as amended (UK Parliament; The National Archives)
- eIDAS Regulation (EU) 910/2014 on electronic identification and trust services, as it bears on authenticity of electronic records (European Union)
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of record 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.
- Kept as evidence of a business or government transaction (contracts, minutes, licenses, case files) so an act can later be proved, audited, or reconstructed.
- Selected into an archives as a fonds or series and described so researchers can locate evidence of past events.
- Used in courts and inquiries as documentary evidence, subject to authenticity, hearsay, and retention rules.
- Held as a medical, personnel, or student file that must be retained for a statutory period and then destroyed or transferred.
- Captured automatically by information systems (email, logs, sensor data) and managed as records by a records authority or EDRMS.
- Preserved as photographs, sound recordings, or film when those media are the primary evidence of an event.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of record 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.
- retention period - ephemeral (days-1 year) to permanent (indefinite archival custody) - year
- extent / volume - a single item to thousands of linear metres or terabytes in a series - linear metre or byte
- item count in a file or series - 1-10^6+ items depending on aggregation - item
- bit preservation / integrity check interval - continuous to annual fixity checking for digital records - check cycle
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of record 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.
- Loss of authenticity: the record cannot be shown to be what it purports to be (broken chain of custody, unsigned born-digital object, forged paper).
- Loss of integrity: alteration, truncation, or bit-rot so the content no longer matches the original.
- Media decay and obsolescence: paper acidity, vinegar syndrome, magnetic-tape binder failure, unreadable file formats or drives.
- Appraisal and disposal error: destruction of records still needed as evidence, or over-retention that hides relevant material and raises privacy risk.
- Context loss: separation from provenance, original order, or metadata so the record no longer evidentially locates an event.
- Privacy and sensitivity leakage: personal, classified, or legally privileged records disclosed or retained beyond lawful need.
- Incomplete capture: systems that never create a record of an act that later must be proved.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of record 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.
- English 'record' vs. Romance 'archive/document' (French document/archives, Spanish documento/archivo): many jurisdictions treat 'archives' as the institution or the non-current records, not the record itself.
- United States federal practice (NARA, Federal Records Act) defines records by agency creation/receipt and business need; personal papers of officials are excluded.
- Westminster systems (UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand) emphasise public records statutes, transfer to a national archives after a closed period, and series-system or continuum thinking (especially Australia).
- Civil-law archival traditions (France, Italy, much of Latin America) organise around the principle of respect des fonds and notarial/public documentary forms.
- Islamic and Ottoman documentary practice historically centred on sijill, waqf deeds, and chancery registers rather than the Anglo-American file.
- Digital-evidence law diverges: some states give electronic records equivalent legal status (eIDAS, UETA/E-SIGN in the US); others still privilege wet-ink originals.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of record 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.
- document - A document is an information object that can be read as a unit; it becomes a record only when it is kept as evidence of an activity or event, not merely authored or published.
- archive (institution or accumulation) - An archive is the organisation, place, or assembled body of records; a record is one evidential object or aggregation within that body.
- information / data - Information or data may be transient, incomplete, or not bound to a transaction; a record is information fixed in a medium with context sufficient to serve as evidence.
- publication - A publication is issued for dissemination to an audience; a record is retained as evidence of what was done or what occurred, even if never published.
- phonograph disc / sound recording as artefact - A grooved disc or tape is a physical sound carrier; it is a record in this sense only insofar as it is kept as evidence of or information about a past event, not merely as a commercial audio product.
- copy / duplicate - A copy may lack the authenticity, custody, and metadata of the official or original record; evidential status depends on whether the copy is authorised and complete, not on visual resemblance.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of record this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- ISO 15489-1:2016 Information and documentation - Records management - Part 1: Concepts and principles - Core definition of a record as information created, received and maintained as evidence and as an asset in the transaction of business or legal obligations.
- ISO 30300:2020 Information and documentation - Records management - Core concepts and vocabulary - Vocabulary distinguishing record, records system, archives, and related information objects.
- ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, Second Edition - Archival description of records as fonds, series, files and items, and the principle of provenance.
- 44 U.S.C. Chapter 33 - Disposal of Records (Federal Records Act definitions of 'records') - United States legal definition of federal records as recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, made or received by a federal agency.
What the second pass must settle
- Does 'permanent evidence' require an intention to preserve indefinitely, or is retention beyond the originating event sufficient for registry membership?
- Does this registry include naturally occurring traces as records, or require an act of capture, inscription or designation?
- For continuously updated logs and datasets, what establishes a record boundary: an entry, a snapshot, a transaction or the whole retained sequence?
- When should copies, transcriptions and migrations count as representations of one record versus separately registered records?
- Does an artefact preserved solely as evidence of its own creation qualify here, and how should that boundary be coordinated with neighbouring document, artwork and physical-object models?