The Information Artifact Ontology

1. The Information Artifact Ontology Barry Smith

2. presentation tomorrow at 2pm (Session 1B) IAO-IntelAn Ontology of Information Artifacts in the Intelligence Domain describes work being carried out for the US Army’s Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS-A) Standard Cloud (DSC) initiative; part of a strategy for the horizontal integration of warfighter intelligence data

3. IAO • IAO: The Information Artifact Ontology, developed by scientific researchers as a vehicle for annotating data about measurement results, publications, protocols, databases, consent forms, licenses in a way that will allow discovery, integration and analysis Two kinds of data about data: • 1. what are the data about Domain Ontologies • 2. how the data are packaged (collected, presented, formatted, stored)  IAO Ontologies

4. http://bioportal.bioontology.org/ontologies/IAO

5. IAO-Intel • IAO-Intel – an extension of IAO and incorporating features of the AIRS Information Ontology – to provide common resources for the consistent description of information artifacts of relevance to the intelligence community

6. IAO: Report / IAO-Intel: Intelligence Report IAO-Intel terms are defined by using terms from the ontologies in the yellow box via relations such as: • is-about • created-by • derives-from and so forth

7. top level mid-level domain level Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) Extension Strategy + Modular Organization

9. top level mid-level (generic hub) domain level (spokes populating downwards) Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) IAO provides the hub for a gradually evolving set of modular spokes; each module built by downward population from its parent

10. Strategy of downward population

11. Information Artifacts artifact =def. an entity created through some deliberate act or acts by one or more human beings and which endures through time information artifact: an artifact that can be the bearer of information (a) information bearing entity (IBE) – a hard drive, a passport, a piece of paper with a drawing of a map (b) information content entity (ICE) – an entity which is about something and which can potentially exist in multiple (for example digital or printed) copies – a jpg file, a pdf file

12. Types and tokens Copyable information artifacts can exist both as tokensPeirce and as typesPeirce Token = the particular information artifact of interest, tied to some particular physical information bearer: the photographic image on this piece of paper retrieved from this enemy combatant Type = The copyable information content that is carried by the artifact in question. The same photographic image type may be printed out in multiple paper tokens Warning: this is not the same as the instance-class distinction

13. Need for controlled vocabulary to describe data about information artifacts DoDDirective 8320.02 (version dated August 5, 2013) requires • 1. all authoritative DoD data sources to be registered in the DoD Data Services Environment (DSE) • 2. that all salient metadata be discoverable, searchable, retrievable, and understandable “Data standards and specifications that require associated semantic and structural metadata, including vocabularies, taxonomies, and ontologies, will be published in the DSE, or in a registry that is federated with the DSE.” FEAR LINKED OPEN DATA

14. The Dublin Core: How not to solve the problem of creating consistent information artifact metadata

15. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) an open organization supporting innovation in metadata design and best practices across the metadata ecology http://dublincore.org/ Resource (as in ‘RDF’) + 15 basic ‘elements’:

16. Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) An open organization supporting innovation in metadata design and best practices across the metadata ecology http://dublincore.org/

18. The Core • Resource (as in ‘RDF’) + 15 basic ‘elements’:

19. 1) What’s a “resource”? A resource is anything that has identity. Familiar examples include an electronic document, an image, a service (e.g., "today's weather report for Los Angeles"), and a collection of other resources. Assumption: resource = information artifact An Element is a characteristic that a resource may “have”, such as a Title, Publisher, or Subject. 2) How do “elements” apply to “resources”?

20. The Core (cont.) The same resource can be instantiated in different ways Format:The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource. Examples of dimensions include size and duration. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the list of Internet Media Types [MIME]. Example: image/jpeg.

21. The Core (cont.) What describes the content / topic / subject-matter? Title: The name given to the resource. Description: An account of the content of the resource. Description may include but is not limited to: an abstract, table of contents, reference to a graphical representation of content or a free-text account of the content. Subject: The topic of the content of the resource. Typically, a subject will be expressed as keywords or key phrases or classification codes that describe the topic of the resource.

22. Benefits of Dublin Core • Available in multiple formats • W3C recommended • Mapping to PROV

23. Problems with Dublin Core • Scope not defined (‘anthing that has identity’) • Does not provide logical definitions, but relies rather on vague natural language expressions (including use of “scare” “quotes” to warn the user that terms are not intended literally) • Provides only suggestive guidance as to use of associated standards • Does not interoperate well with other (topic) ontologies

24. Confuses words and things • Source: A reference to a resource from which the present resource is derived. The present resource may be derived from the Source resource in whole or part.

25. Engages in sloppy bundling Type: The nature or genre of the content of the resource. Type includes terms describing general categories, functions, genres, or aggregation levels for content. What is ‘content of the resource’? Is the nature of the content distinct from the nature of the resource? No taxonomic organization, but rather a tangled hierarchy No distinction between things (continuants) and processes (occurrents) – consider performance of a work

26. Goals of a Metadata Ontology • Ability to expand consistently to new application areas • Ability to gracefully integrate with domain ontologies and with other IA-related ontologies • Ability to represent metadata of different categories • Complex application-specific content • specific ways in which one IA relates to another IA • Content vs. Bearers of content

27. Requirements to Achieve These Goals • Conformance to ontology best practices • http://ncorwiki.buffalo.edu/index.php/Distributed_Development_of_a_Shared_Semantic_Resource • http://techwiki.openstructs.org/index.php/Ontology_Best_Practices • http://kmi.open.ac.uk/events/iswc07-semantic-web-intro/pdf/5.%20Ontology%20Design.pdf • Conformance to an upper level ontology as starting point for coherent definitions • Separation of aspects of an information artifact such as physical bearer, content, content organization

28. DC Does Not Conform to Best Practices • Location Period Or Jurisdiction is defined in the DC hierarchy as a subclass of Location

29. Does Not Conform to an ULO (cont.) • In the absence of a high-level single hierarchy, the relations between classes are not clear. For example • PROVENANCE is defined as “A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation” seems to overlap with CREATOR, CONTRIBUTOR, and IS VERSION OF. • But how?

30. Limited Usability of DC • DC does not try to separately address such aspects of an information artifact as its physical bearer, content, and content organization • Will not allow for rich explications and annotations of document repositories, in particular repositories of military documents, and for various classifications of documents that are based on the contentor bearer

31. Consequences • These issues will • Prevent acceptance of DC in solving DoD metadata problems • Make its future development and integration with other ontologies difficult • Not allow for deep data integration

32. IAO is designed to address the need for metadata standards, not by replacing existing standards, • but rather by providing a single, consistent framework for tagging (‘semantic enhancement’) of existing data stores • Its purpose is to provide a uniform, non-redundant, algorithmically processableand easily extendible consensus system of tags

33. Uses of IAO-Intel – Example 1 IA #1: a Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay (MCOO) –product of a joint intelligence preparation of the operational environment used to portray militarily significant features such as obstacles restricting movement, key geography, and military objectives IA #2 – the plan (document) in accordance with which the IA #1 was prepared

34. IAO enables three kinds of discovery and analysis • Annotations to the attributes of IA #1 • has-artifact-kind MCOO • has-physical-kind: Acetate Sheet • uses-symbology MIL-STD-2525C • authored-by person #4644 • Annotations linking IA #1 to other IAS – IA#1 output of process realizing plan IA#2 • Annotations relating to the aboutness of IA#1 • Avenue of Approach • Strategic Defense Belt • Amphibious Operations • Objective

35. Uses of IAO-Intel – Example 2 • A collection of documents prepared according to FM 6-99.2of kinds: • Intelligence Report [INTREP] • Intelligence Summary [INTSUM] • Logistics Situation Report [LOGSITREP] • Operations Summary [OPSUM] • Patrol Report [PATROLREP] • Reconnaissance Exploitation Report [RECCEXREP] • SAEDA Report [SAEDAREP]

36. Attributes of Information Artifacts

37. Attributes of IAs • Information artifacts have attributes along a number of distinct dimensions, treated in low-level ontology modules • Terms in these modules will be applied to explicate information relating to IAs of different sorts, and to annotate data pertaining to IA instances • Attributes of IAs vs. Attributes of subject-matters, targets, topics, …

38. Attributes of IAs (cont.) • Some dimensions of IA attributes are common to all areas, both military and non-military • Purpose • Life­cycle Stage (draft, finished version, revision) • Language, • Format • Provenance • Source(person, organization)

39. Generic Attributes of IAs (for IAO) • Purpose • Descriptive purpose: scientific paper, newspaper article, after-action report • Prescriptive purpose: legal code, license, statement of rules of engagement • Directive purpose (of specifying a plan or method for achieving something): instruction, manual, protocol • Designative purpose: a registry of members of an organization, a phone book, a database linking proper names of persons with their social security numbers • Purposes specific to IAO-Intel • Inform­ing the commander, • Providing targeting support • Intelligence preparation of the battlefield.

40. Purpose of an Information Artifact • Descriptive purpose • =def. the purpose of describing some portion of reality • Examples: scientific paper, newspaper article, diary, experimenter log notebook • Prescriptive purpose • =def. the purpose of prescribing or permitting or allowing some activity • Examples: a legal code, a license

41. Purpose of an Information Artifact • Directive purpose • =def. the purpose of specifying a plan or method for achieving something • Examples: instruction, manual, recipe, protocol • Designative purpose • =def. the purpose of uniquely designating some entity or the members of some class of entities • Examples: a registry of members of an organization, a phone book, a database linking proper names of persons with their social security numbers.

42. Examples of Intel-Specific Purpose Attributes (IAO-Intel terms created by downward population from IAO:Purpose) • Informing the commander Providing targeting support Intelligence preparation of the battlefield • Supporting planning and execution Defining the operational environment Describing the impact of the operational environment Evaluating the adversary Describing adversary courses of action • Counter adversary deception • Assess the effects of operations

43. Attributes of IAs Specific to Intelligence IAs

44. IAO-Intel Defined Attributes relating to source of an IA • Document Source • Organization • Government Agency • Military Agency • Intelligence Agency • Personal source • Intelligence agent, bystander, witness … • Two kinds of source relations: • between an IA and a source kind • between an IA and a source instance (e.g. some specific intelligence agency, some specific person)

45. Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions

46. Other IAO-Intel Attribute Dimensions • Classification • Unclassified, open source • Secret • Top Secret • Level • Strategic • Operational • Tactical • Encryption Status • Encryption Strength

47. Strategy for Building IAO-Intel • Incremental expansion; the ontology is planned to include artifacts spanning the entire range of IAs, from authoritative data sources to unprocessed reports • Identify orthogonal dimensions of IA attributes and create Low-Level Ontology modules (LLOs) • Small, shallow, and structured following the principle of single inheritance • Used to • Construct more complex terms and define IAO terms • Explicatethe meanings of terms standardly used by different agencies • Annotateinstance data

48. BFO: Generically Dependent Continuant BFO: Specifically Dependent Continuant BFO: Independent Continuant IAO and BFO Information Bearing Entity (IBE) Information Quality Entity (Pattern) (IQE) Information Structure Entity (ISE) Information Content Entity (ICE)

50. BFO roots Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) More than 100 Ontology projects using BFO http://www.ifomis.org/bfo/users