Definitions
Purpose and Scope
This section defines the canonical terminology used throughout MCF 2.2 (International Organization for Standardization (ISO), 2020). The terms below are the authoritative reference for interpretation and review.
Terminology Rules
- Use the preferred term as defined here and avoid introducing synonyms.
- Do not infer operational meaning beyond the stated definition.
- Where a term is defined, related phrases inherit the same meaning unless explicitly overridden here.
Glossary
Authorship note (normative): Terms without an external citation are MCF-defined terms introduced by this specification for precision and governance. Terms with external citations are aligned to established usage in the cited sources, and adapted only where explicitly stated.
- Anti-theater principle: A constraint that denies epistemic weight to activity that is not supported by evidence.
- Auditability: The property of a decision or state being reviewable against the canonical rules and traceable evidence, supported by a durable audit record. (NIST, 2015)
- Canonical specification: The authoritative, normative definition of MCF 2.2 semantics, constraints, and invariants.
- Decision threshold: A criterion that determines when available evidence justifies a state change, analogously to decision rules that compare a statistic to a threshold in formal decision/detection theory. (Chan, 2015)
- Derivative materials: Non-canonical works that interpret, explain, or apply the canonical specification.
- Epistemic stage: A labeled canonical state defined by the degree of epistemic resolution achieved (i.e., how far justified belief has been established for the decision context). (Steup, 2005)
- Epistemic state: The current level and integrity of knowledge regarding a specific innovation decision context. (Steup, 2005)
- Evidence: Documented observations or results that support or refute a claim relevant to a decision, understood epistemically as that which bears on justification. (Kelly, 2006)
- Evidence decay: Reduction of evidentiary validity due to time, context change, or loss of relevance.
- Evidence expiration: The point at which evidence is no longer considered valid for decision support.
- Evidence quality: The assessed reliability, relevance, and sufficiency of evidence for a defined decision threshold.
- Governance boundary: A canonical limit that constrains acceptable use, interpretation, and representation of MCF.
- Misuse boundary: A defined condition where MCF is applied or represented outside of canonical constraints.
- Optionality preservation: The requirement to avoid irreversible commitments until evidence supports a decision threshold.
- Parallelism: The allowance for multiple epistemic states or activities to progress concurrently without linear dependency.
- Regression: A permitted return to a prior epistemic state when evidence no longer supports the current state.
- Revalidation: The act of confirming that existing evidence still satisfies current decision thresholds.
- Reversibility: The property that a decision or state transition can be undone when evidence changes or fails.
- Strategic deferral: An intentional delay of a decision until evidence reaches a required threshold.
- Termination logic: The canonical conditions under which continuation is no longer justified.
- Traceability: The ability to trace the history, use, or location of an object, here applied to decisions and their supporting evidence. (ISO, 2015)
- Versioning rules: The constraints that govern when semantic changes require a new canonical version.