109. These objects can be seen as the fundamental building blocks that support many of the other objects and relationships in the model. They form the nucleus for the application of GSIM objects. They provide features which are reusable by other objects to support functionality such as identity, versioning etc.
110. The GSIM Base Group consists of two sets of objects
- Those that give identity and administrative details that are re-usable by other information objects.
- Those that model the organizations and individual that may provide or consume data and referential metadata.
A: Identity and Administrative Details
Figure 21. Identifiable Artefacts
111. The only base artefact in GSIM that gives underlying identity is the Identifiable Artefact. It can be inherited by any class in GSIM for which identity is required.
112. There is no attempt in GSIM to model the administration of items in repositories such as the maintenance agency, versioning, repository functions. However, the Identifiable Artefact does have a link to Administrative Details where such details can be added using the GSIM extension methodology.
B. Information Providers, Information Consumers, Organizations, and Individuals
Figure 22. Agents
113. Information Providers and Information Consumers are the respective sources for and the targets of data and referential metadata collection and dissemination. Each Agent can play the role of Information Provider or Information Consumer in a particular context of collection or dissemination. The same Agent may play the role of Information Provider in one context and the role of Information Consumer in another context. For any one Agent Role there must be a single Agent that plays the role: this is actual Organization or Individual that is the Information Provider or Information Consumer.
114. If the Agent is an Organization then it is possible to specify the structure of the Organization in terms of sub Organizations or Individuals.