Glossary · Information modeling

Information model

German: Informationsmodell

In information architecture, an information model is a technology-neutral model of concepts, relationships, rules and information requirements. It describes what information a domain needs and what it means, before any choice of database, format or protocol.

Information architecture
Ontology

In one sentence

An information model describes concepts, relationships, rules and information needs independent of technology; data models and schemas build on it.

Example

A manufacturer's information model states that every machine has components, every component can have hazards, and every hazard must be linked to a warning message in the operating manual.

Explained in context

Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.

How it applies

Technical documentation: An information model defines which information units exist (tasks, warnings, specifications), how they relate to products and components, and which metadata they need. Vocabularies such as iiRDS are information models expressed in RDF.
Integrated systems: Agreeing on an information model before choosing interfaces keeps each system from inventing its own meaning of machine, state or fault. Derive data models and schemas from it.
Evidence: Information requirements (which evidence, which document, which owner) make gaps visible: a hazard without a linked warning is a missing relationship.
AI and retrieval: Explicit concepts and relationships are what knowledge graphs are built from, and they give retrieval systems context that plain text lacks. Keeping that meaning stable is the task of semantic control.

Information model vs. data model

An information model says what information means and how concepts relate; a data model specifies how that information is structured as data. One information model can be implemented by several data models.

In RDF

A fragment of the example model, in Turtle:

@prefix rdf:  <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix ex:   <https://example.com/model#> .

ex:Hazard a rdfs:Class .
ex:WarningMessage a rdfs:Class .
ex:hasWarning a rdf:Property ;
  rdfs:domain ex:Hazard ;
  rdfs:range ex:WarningMessage .