Identity judgments, situations, and semantic web representations

Abstract

We present our framework for the identity of agents based on situation theory as developed by Barwise, Devlin, and others. Semantic Web standards are used to capture the information present in a constellation of situations (“id-case”) that relate to identity attributions. We present examples of id-cases and discuss how they are encoded using RDF and other semantic-web standards. The examples include straightforward cases of identification using fingerprints and mugshots. They also include developing a profile from a set of documents. And they include a case with learning, specifically, learning a writing style so as to be able to identify the author. Using semantic-web standards, we can make SQL-like queries and execute rules to classify id-situations and entire id-cases. Our encodings also facilitate and account of how evidence accrues to identity judgments.