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Memex Ontology: Concept Term Reference Supplement

Primitive Elements

Concept Term
The fundamental unit of capture Mnemegram
Persistent things referenced across mnemegrams Referent
A claim made about a mnemegram, referent, or relation Assertion
That which interacts with the memex Concepts/List/Agent
Interpretive structures that render meaning Concepts/List/schema

Derived Structures

Concept Term
Connections between mnemegrams and referents Relation
Situating assertions (temporal, spatial, relational, conditional) Concepts/List/Context
Structures enabling retrieval [Index](../collective-memex/concepts/Index)
Bounded sets of mnemegrams Collection
The origin-tracking chain of a mnemegram—what it derives from, what derives from it Concepts/List/Provenance

Information Types

Term Concept
Captured Information Mnemegrams and assertions created through agent inscription of experience
Systemic Information Assertions and structures that emerge from the operation of the memex itself
Generative Information Mnemegrams and assertions produced through creative, analytic, or synthetic engagement with existing content

Essential Properties

Term Concept
E1: Mnemegram Primitivity The memex holds mnemegrams as its fundamental content
E2: Assertive Capacity The memex supports assertions about mnemegrams
E3: Referent Capacity The memex can represent persistent referents referenced across mnemegrams
E4: Retrievability Mnemegrams can be found and accessed
E5: Interpretability Schemas render mnemegrams meaningful
E6: Agency Agents engage with the memex

Functional Capacities

Term Concept
F1: Inscription Creating mnemegrams from experience
F2: Assertion Making claims about mnemegrams, referents, and relations
F3: Indexing Creating structures that enable retrieval
F4: Retrieval Returning mnemegrams to agents on request
F4.1: Surfacing System-initiated presentation of relevant mnemegrams
F5: Relating Establishing relations between mnemegrams and referents
F6: Versioning Tracking states and changes across time
F7: Generation Producing new mnemegrams from existing content
F8: Transmission Making mnemegrams available beyond original context
F9: Protection Controlling access and maintaining integrity

Teleological Orientations

Term Concept
T1: To Persist Making experience outlast the moment
T2: To Accumulate Enabling knowledge to compound over time
T3: To Connect Revealing relations between mnemegrams, referents, and moments
T4: To Orient Situating the present through knowledge of the past
T5: To Hold Accountable Making action consequential across time
T6: To Transmit Carrying memory across temporal, spatial, ontological separation
T7: To Reflect Making cognition visible to itself
T8: To Generate Providing material for future creation
T9: To Commune Enabling presence and intimacy across absence
T10: To Identify Sustaining continuity of self through persistent memory
T11: To Forget Structured release, letting go, making space (undecided)

Reference supplement to "An Ontology of Memex"