Identifier

An Identifier is a Symbol that can identify a Thing.

• AKA: Label.
• Context:
  • It can be:
    • a Unique Identifier (a Globally Unique Identifier).
    • a Partial Identifier.
  • It can be associated to an Identifier Attribute.
  • It can be Human Processable and/or Machine Processable.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • A Data Record Identifier, such as [ID=190173, ...]
  • A Human Processable Name.
  • A Machine Processable Identifier.
  • a Random Experiment Identifier (that is the Input to a Probability Function).
• See: Anonymous Entity.

---

---

References

2009

• (WordNet, 2009) ⇒ http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=identifier
  • S: (n) identifier (a symbol that establishes the identity of the one bearing i
• (WordNet, 2009) ⇒ http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=label
  • S: (n) label (a brief description given for purposes of identification) "the label Modern is applied to many different kinds of architecture"
  • …
• (Wikipedia, 2009) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identifier_(metadata)
  • In metadata, an identifier is a language-independent label, sign or token that uniquely identifies an object within an identification scheme.
• (Wikipedia, 2009) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identifier
  • Identifiers (IDs) are lexical tokens that name entities. The concept is analogous to that of a "name". Identifiers are used extensively in virtually all information processing systems. Naming entities makes it possible to refer to them, which is essential for any kind of symbolic processing.
• http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/identifier
  • Someone who identifies;
  • A formal name used in source code to refer to a variable, function, procedure, package, etc. …

2008

• (Dextre Clarke et al., 2008) ⇒ Stella Dextre Clarke, Alan Gilchrist, Ron Davies and Leonard Will. (2008). “Glossary of Terms Relating to Thesauri and Other Forms of Structured Vocabulary for Information Retrieval." Willpower Information
  • identifier
    • A specific term that is not included in a controlled vocabulary, but which may be assigned to a document because it is considered useful for retrieval
    • Identifiers are often proper names, trade names, codes, jargon and specialised terms. They should be distinguished from controlled vocabulary terms by being recorded in a separate field of a catalogue record or by being flagged in some way. Some computer systems assign a unique number or code to each concept or term for purposes of managing the vocabulary, and it may be known as a 'concept identifier', 'term identifier' or simply 'term ID'. This type of identifier should not be confused with the usage defined here.

2005

• (ANSI Z39.19, 2005) ⇒ ANSI. (2005). “ANSI/NISO Z39.19 - Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies." ANSI.
  • QUOTE: "identifier
    • 1. A proper name (or its abbreviation or acronym) of an institution, person, place, object, or process, optionally treated as a category of heading distinct from terms. Identifiers may be held in a separate file (compare authority file), and their form may be controlled (e.g., the name of an international organization having different names in various languages, only one of which is selected).
    • 2. In some systems, a provisional term that may be upgraded to approved status, or a highly specific term that is not eligible for term status, but which is considered useful for retrieval and is assigned to one or more content objects without vocabulary control.

---