information content entity

IRI: https://spec.industrialontologies.org/ontology/construct/InformationContentEntity

Defined In: https://spec.industrialontologies.org/ontology/core/Core/

SubClass Of: bfo:generically dependent continuant

Class Hierarchy

owl:Thingbfo:entitybfo:continuantbfo:generically dependent continuantinformation content entity

Direct subclasses:

Definition

content or a pattern (generically dependent continuant) that is about some entity

Explanatory Notes

  1. Information content entity is intended to be a class of entities whose instances represent some distinct content or pattern independent from the various ways of conveying it by physical, electronic, or other means. For example, three instances of information bearers – a bar chart, a color-coded map, and a written report – each conveying the GDP of Countries for the year 2010, are each different carriers of the same information content. It is this content that is generically dependent upon its carrier. This treatment of information content entity leads to a principle of subtyping based upon the relationship that ICE’s have with the entity they are about rather than attributes such as format, language, measurement scale, or media. The latter are treated here as various qualities of the material entities that have them.

  2. Information content entities are typically textual or schematic.

Examples

  • the content of an email; the content of a document; the content in a CAD file; an algorithm for solving the quadratic equation; a guide or standard for writing and formatting conference papers.

Synonyms

  • Information

Adapted From

  • Information Artifact Ontology, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/IAO_0000030 and also the Common Core Ontology, http://www.ontologyrepository.com/CommonCoreOntologies/Mid/InformationEntityOntology

Primitive Class

This class is declared primitive and it does not have necessary and sufficient condiftions defined.

Primitive Rationale

Information content entities may well “be about” entity types for which no instances ever come into existence (e.g., a plan or requirement not implemented or satisfied, a command or directive never obeyed or followed, or an objective never achieved). IOF’s current approach to modeling such informational entity types is to provide one or more sufficient conditions that can be readily expressed in OWL.

Formal Axioms

First-Order Logic Axioms

GenericallyDependentContinuant(x) ∧ ∃e(Entity(e) ∧ isAbout(x,e)) → InformationContentEntity(x)

Semi-Formal Natural Language Axioms

if x is a ‘generically dependent continuant’ that ‘is about’ some ‘entity’ then x is an ‘information content entity’

Description Logic

constr:InformationContentEntity ⊑ bfo:generically_dependent_continuant

bfo:generically_dependent_continuant ⊓ ∃ constr:isAbout .bfo:entity ⊑ constr:InformationContentEntity

SubClassOf: bfo:generically_dependent_continuant

bfo:generically_dependent_continuant and constr:isAbout some bfo:entity SubClassOf: constr:InformationContentEntity