Machine-Readable Artifact

A Machine-Readable Artifact is a machine processable artifact that a computing system can accept as input to satisfy some task within some specified level of performance.

• AKA: Machine-Processable Format.
• Context:
  • It can be specified in a Formal Language.
• Example(s):
  • a Binary File.
  • A Machine Readable Dictionary (with machine-readable dictionary records).
  • A Machine Readable Knowledge Base (with machine-readable knowledge).
  • A Compiled Computer Program can be Operated by a Computing System.
  • A Structured Dataset (such as a Relational Table or an Ontology) can be Queried by a Computing System.
  • A PDF File can be used in a String Pattern Matching Task (though the task will currently fail if the string in the document is split between lines).
  • A Data Record Identifier.
  • An XML File.
  • a Data Storage Device, such as an HDD.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • A Spoken Utterance with background noise cannot yet bet Processed to create a Transcript.
  • A PDF File.
  • A Controlled Vocabulary.
• See: Machine Writable Artifact, Human Processable Artifact.

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References

2013

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-readable
  • In most contexts, the alternative representation is a machine-readable format or medium of data primarily designed for reading by electronic, mechanical or optical devices, or computers. For example, Universal Product Code (UPC) barcodes are very difficult to read for humans, but very effective and reliable with the proper equipment, whereas the strings of numerals that commonly accompany the label are the human-readable form of the barcode information. In many jurisdictions, barcode labels used in retail shopping must also include a human-readable price on the merchandise.

2012

• http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu/fndrupal/about
  • QUOTE: The FrameNet project is building a lexical database of English that is both human- and machine-readable, based on annotating examples of how words are used in actual texts.

2011

• (Wikipedia, 2011) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-readable_medium
  • In telecommunication, a machine-readable medium (automated data medium) is a medium capable of storing data in a machine-readable format that can be accessed by an automated sensing device and capable of being turned into (practically in every case) some form of binary.

    Examples of machine-readable media include (a) magnetic disks, cards, tapes, and drums, (b) punched cards and paper tapes, (c) optical disks, (d) barcodes and (e) magnetic ink characters.

    Common machine-readable data storage and data transmission technologies include processing waveforms, optical character recognition (OCR) and barcodes. Any information retrievable by any form of energy can be machine-readable. Examples include: ...

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