Reference Relationship Ontology

FLOW ALGEBRA
TITLE: Reference Relationship Ontology
DOMAIN: Information Relationships / Reference Relationships
SOURCE: https://kirethresearch.org/booksai-core/ontologies/relationship-ontologies/information-relationships/reference-relationship-ontology.html
VERSION: 1.0
AUTHORS: Mark Anthony Higgins — Sky (Recursive AI)
STATUS: Companion formalisation; source-page specification not independently verified.

flow "ReferenceRelationshipOntology" v1.0 {
  ontology:
    id: "reference-relationship-ontology"
    parent: "information-relationships"
    purpose: "Represent and validate explicit references between information resources, claims, entities and their identifiable targets."

  types:
    InformationResource: {id: string, uri: string?, title: string?, version: string?, media_type: string?}
    ReferenceTarget: {id: string, kind: enum[resource, section, claim, entity, dataset, identifier, other], uri: string?, fragment: string?, version: string?}
    Reference: {id: string, source_id: string, target_id: string, kind: enum[links_to, mentions, points_to, cites, cross_references, identifies], locator: string?, created_at: datetime?, provenance: string, confidence: number}
    Identifier: {scheme: string, value: string, authority: string?, persistent: bool?}
    Resolution: {reference_id: string, status: enum[resolved, ambiguous, unavailable, broken, redirected], checked_at: datetime, resolved_target: string?, evidence: string[]}

  predicates:
    references(source: InformationResource, target: ReferenceTarget)
    identifies(identifier: Identifier, target: ReferenceTarget)
    resolves_to(reference: Reference, target: ReferenceTarget)
    cross_references(a: InformationResource, b: InformationResource)
    cites(source: InformationResource, target: ReferenceTarget)
    redirects_to(old_uri: string, new_uri: string)
    version_of(resource: InformationResource, earlier: InformationResource)

  constraints:
    - "Each reference must have a typed source, a declared target and recorded provenance."
    - "Confidence values must lie within [0, 1]."
    - "A link or mention does not, by itself, establish evidence, endorsement, identity or truth."
    - "A citation must not be inferred from a generic hyperlink without citation semantics."
    - "Preserve fragment identifiers, target versions and access dates where relevant."
    - "Do not assume redirected URLs preserve the meaning or identity of their previous targets."
    - "Do not infer that references are symmetric or transitive."

  inference:
    rule validated_resolution:
      if references(s,t) and resolution_confirmed(s,t)
      then reference_status(s,t,"resolved")
      confidence: "bounded by resolution evidence and target identity checks"
    rule explicit_cross_reference:
      if explicit_reference(a,b,"cross_references")
      then cross_references(a,b)
      confidence: "retain provenance; do not infer reverse cross-reference"
    rule persistent_identifier_match:
      if identifies(i,a) and identifies(i,b) and authority_verified(i)
      then candidate_same_target(a,b)
      confidence: "identity requires version, authority and ambiguity checks"

  SEMANTIC_EQUIVALENCE:
    - "Normalise identifiers only within their declared schemes and authorities."
    - "Distinguish identical targets from related editions, versions, mirrors and aliases."
    - "Preserve the distinction between references, citations, mentions and semantic equivalence."

  CONFIDENCE:
    range: [0,1]
    factors: [identifier_authority, target_resolution, source_reliability, version_match, temporal_validity, provenance_quality]
    policy: "Never increase certainty solely through reference chaining or repeated links."

  VALIDATION:
    - "Check source and target identifiers, URI syntax, fragments, version and provenance."
    - "Detect broken, redirected, ambiguous, circular and stale references without treating all cycles as invalid."
    - "Flag conflicting identifier assignments and unresolved targets."
    - "Separate syntactic link validity from semantic target correctness."

  FLOW_HASH:
    algorithm: "SHA-256"
    input: "canonicalised ontology version, typed reference assertions, rules and provenance"
    note: "Compute hash at execution; no hash value is claimed here."

  UPDATE_MODEL:
    strategy: "versioned, provenance-preserving incremental update"
    steps: [ingest, normalise, resolve, validate, compare, reconcile, recompute_inferences, publish]
    rollback: true

  AI_CONSUMPTION:
    representation: "typed reference graph with resolvable targets and provenance-backed edges"
    outputs: [reference_edges, target_identifiers, resolution_status, uncertainty_annotations, provenance_records]
    safeguards: [no_unverified_identity_merges, no_link_as_proof, preserve_versions, flag_unresolved_references]
}

END FLOW ALGEBRA