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A Pragmatic Metatheoretical Model of (Id)Entity
Glossary

Version of 18 June 2022

Revised version to support a series of articles, drawing on and further developing Clarke (2004, 2008, 2009, 2010)

Roger Clarke **

© Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, 2004-22

This document is at http://rogerclarke.com/ID/IDM-G.html

Abstract-World: Paired with the Real-World in the notion of dualism, this refers to internal 'mind-stuff' (the spiritual and intellectual plane). Extended for instrumentalist purposes, it includes the postulation of Entities intended to correspond to Real-World Things, Attributes of Entities to represent the Properties of Things, and Transactions to represent Events.

Active Imposed Digital Persona: An Imposed Digital Persona that enables the person controlling it to influence the actions of the (Id)Entity associated with it

Active Projected Digital Persona: A Projected Digital Persona that is capable of taking actions as an agent for the individual

Anonym: An Identifier that cannot be associated with any particular Entity, whether from the Data itself, or by combining it with other Data

Anonymity: A characteristic of an Identity, whereby it cannot be associated with any particular Entity, whether from the Data itself, or by combining it with other Data

Attribute: A characteristic of an element within the Conceptual Model level, in particular an Entity, Identity or Relationship

Avatar: A visual representation or embodiment of a Digital Persona, static or moving, which represents, or substitutes for, the (or an) underlying (Id)Entity

Candidate-Identifier: Any combination of Data-Items in a Record that is considered capable of achieving reliable matches against the relevant Data-Items in another Record

Conceptual Model: A representation of a system at more abstract level than a Data Model, reflecting the modeller's perception of Phenomena, by postulating Entities and Entity-Instances and presentations of Entities called Identities (to represent Things), and Transactions (to represent Events), with Relationships of various kinds among them, each of which may have Attributes (to represent Properties)

Data: A quantity, sign, character or symbol, or collection of them, that is in a form accessible to a person and/or an artefact

Data-Item: A data-storage-location in which a discrete 'Data-Item-Value' can be represented

Data-Item-Value: Content in a data-storage-location. It may Empirical Data or Synthetic Data

Data Model: A representation of a system at a less abstract level than a Conceptual Model, which has its focus Data that represents the Conceptual Model's abstract notions

Digital Persona: A model of the public personality of an (Id)Entity, based on Data and maintained by Transactions, and intended for use as a proxy for the (Id)Entity

Empirical Data: Content that purports to represent a Property of a Real-World Phenomenon

Entification: The process whereby Data is associated with a particular Entity. This is achieved by acquiring or postulating an Entifier for the Entity

Entifier: Any one or more Data-Items held in a Record whose Data-Item-Value(s), alone or in combination, are sufficient to distinguish any particular Entity-Instance from all other Entity-Instances of the same Entity

Entity: An element of a Conceptual Model that corresponds with a Real-World Thing

Entity-Attribute: An element of a Conceptual Model that represents a Real-World Property of a Thing

Entity-Instance: A specific instance of an Entity

Event: A Real-World occurrence that gives rise to changes in the Properties of Things

File: A collection of Records

General-Purpose Identifier: An Identifier that was designed for, or has come to be used for, any and all purposes (cf. Identity Silo and General-purpose identifier)

Identification: The process whereby Data is associated with a particular Identity. This is achieved by acquiring or postulating an Identifier for the Identity

Identifier: Any one or more Data-Items held in a Record whose Data-Item-Value(s), alone or in combination, are sufficient to distinguish any particular Identity-Instance from all other Identity-Instances of the same Identity

Identity: An element of a Conceptual Model that corresponds with a Real-World Thing that is of virtual rather than physical form, most commonly arising from an Entity's performance in a particular Role

Identity-Attribute: An element of a Conceptual Model that represents a Real-World Property of a Thing

Identity-Instance: A specific instance of an Identity

Identity Management: A generic term for architectures, infrastructure and processes that support the Authentication of Identity Assertions

Identity Silo: An Identity, and its associated Identifier(s), used for a restricted purpose (cf. Multi-Purpose Identifier and General-Purpose Identifier)

Imposed Digital Persona: A Digital Persona controlled by someone other than the individual it is associated with

Information: Data that has value because of its context

Metadata: Data that describes an Attribute of some other Data-related construct

Multi-Purpose Identifier: An Identifier that was designed for, or has come to be used for, multiple purposes (cf. Identity Silo and General-Purpose Identifier)

Nym: A generic term encompassing both Anonym and Pseudonym

Nymity: A generic term encompassing both Anonymity and Pseudonymity

Persistent Nym: A Nym that is used for an extended period of time

Personal-Data-De-Identification: A process which purports to prevent Data from being reliably associated with the relevant human (Id)Entity (if any)

Personal-Data-Re-Identification: A process which, despite the prior application of a Personal-Data-De-Identification process, purports to reliably associate Data with the relevant human (Id)Entity

Personal-Data-Falsification: A process whereby Personal Data is changed in such a manner that is rendered valueless for any purpose relating to the administration of relationships between organisations and particular individuals. It converts Empirical Data, that reflects an Attribute of A Real-World human (Id)Entity, into Synthetic Data that represents a plausible Phenomenon, but not a real one

Personal-Data-Item: A Data-Item that purports to be associated with a human (Id)Entity

Personal-Data-Item-Value: A Data-Item-Value that purports to represent some Attribute of a human (Id)Entity

Phenomenon: A collective term for Real-World Things, Events and Properties

Projected Digital Persona: A Digital Persona under the control of the individual

Property: A feature or characteristic of a Real-World Thing or Event

Pseudonym: An Identifier which may be able to be associated with a particular Entity, but only if legal, organisational and technical constraints are overcome

Pseudonymity: A characteristic of an Identity, whereby it may be able to be associated with a particular Entity, but only if legal, organisational and technical constraints are overcome

Real-World: Paired with the Abstract-World in the notion of dualism, this refers to material realities, that is to say Phenomena, comprising Things, Events and Properties

Real-World Data: See Empirical Data

Record: A set of Data-Items each of which relates to the same, single (Id)Entity-Instance

Relationship: A linkage between two elements within the Conceptual Model level

Relationship-Attribute: An Atttribute of a Relationship

Role: A pattern of behaviour adopted by an Entity

Synthetic Data: Content that bears no direct relationship with any real-world Phenomenon

Thing: A static Real-World element

Token: A recording medium on which an Entifier or Identifier may be recorded

Transaction: An element of a Conceptual Model that corresponds with a Real-World Event

Transaction-Attribute: An Attribute of a Transaction that reflects a Real-World Property that the modeller considers to be relevant to the purpose

Transaction-Instance: A specific instance of a Transaction

Value: A specific instance of Data. (In the context of axiology, Value refers to the relative worth, usefulness, or importance of a thing)

Author Affiliations

Roger Clarke is Principal of Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, Canberra. He is also a Visiting Professor associated with the Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation in UNSW Law, and a Visiting Professor in the Research School of Computer Science at the Australian National University.

The content and infrastructure for these community service pages are provided by Roger Clarke through his consultancy company, Xamax. From the site's beginnings in August 1994 until February 2009, the infrastructure was provided by the Australian National University. During that time, the site accumulated close to 30 million hits. It passed 75 million in late 2024. Sponsored by the Gallery, Bunhybee Grasslands, the extended Clarke Family, Knights of the Spatchcock and their drummer

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Created: 18 June 2022 - Last Amended: 18 June 2022 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 15 February 2009
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