Identifier
SYSTEMS 15 THE NAME MACHINE
DOMAIN THE LANGUAGE
DEFINITION:
A name, code, label, marker, symbol, number, designation, or reference used to uniquely distinguish, recognize, track, or refer to an individual, group, object, concept, record, or entity.
FUNCTION:
Provides a means of differentiation by allowing entities to be recognized, referenced, organized, categorized, and communicated within a system.
EXAMPLES:
- Personal names
- Identification numbers
- Serial numbers
- Usernames
- Employee IDs
- Product codes
- Scientific names
RELATED SYMBOLS:
Taxonomy
Category
Classification
Diagnosis
Demographic
Stereotype
Rank
Designation
Species
Status
Name
Label
RELATED SYSTEMS:
NOTES:
Identifiers may be unique or non-unique, formal or informal, human-readable or machine-readable. Their primary purpose is to allow entities to be distinguished from other entities within a naming or classification system.
CONTROL TEXT OBSERVATION:
Before something can be tracked, discussed, remembered, categorized, or managed, it must be distinguishable. Identifiers function as the basic units of reference within naming systems, allowing reality to be partitioned into recognizable entities that can be individually referenced and organized.