An authoritative, governed semantic foundation bridging meaning, representation, execution, and application.

The World Semantic Foundation (WSF) provides a governed, versioned, authoritative semantic foundation from which downstream semantic systems ; enterprise architecture, assessment models, knowledge graphs, AI agents, and digital twins ; specialize, integrate, and extend without redefining foundational meaning. 5fde161 (docs: replace en/em dashes with colons and semicolons per punctuation rule)

The architecture bridges four normally separated concerns:

Meaning ──► Representation ──► Execution ──► Application

WSF is implemented as 8 specialized repositories. Each repository has a clear role and they work together as a governed product foundation.

1. The 12 Foundational Principles
2. The Top-Level README in wsf-governance
3. The 17+ Architectural Decision Records
4. The Tier 1 concepts

The WSF Product Foundation provides seven mutually reinforcing capabilities:

 WSF
│
┌──────────────────┼──────────────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
SEMANTIC KNOWLEDGE SEMANTIC
FOUNDATION ASSETS ENGINE
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
INTEGRATION ──► VISUALIZATION ──► REALIZATION
│
supported by
│
GOVERNANCE

The architecture establishes an authoritative semantic layer that:

• Establishes meaning through 12 Tier 1 foundational concepts (Entity, Concept, Relationship, Event, State, Disposition, Proposition, Assertion, Identity, Context, Time, Space)
• Enables specialization through governed inheritance rules
• Supports assertion of facts with full provenance, evidence, and trust evaluation
• Maintains identity across representation, context, version, and lifecycle changes
• Validates conformance through semantic constraint checking
• Versions evolution while preserving semantic lineage

• A flat vocabulary or terminology list
• An enterprise architecture metamodel (OpenDEA remains separate)
• An assessment model (Assessment-Models remains separate)
• A specific ontology technology (RDF/OWL/JSON-LD are implementation choices)
• A repository convention (architecture follows semantic responsibility)

WSF recognizes the following foundational semantic domains:

WSF operates in a federated ecosystem with explicit boundary preservation:

• WSF : World semantics
• OpenDEA : Enterprise Architecture specialization (separate org)
• Assessment-Models : Maturity / Assessment governance (separate org)
• Semantic Architecture / Ontology Architecture : semantic & formal representation layers

Each maintains independent lifecycle boundaries with governed semantic interfaces.

Capability (Tier 3 specialized Disposition) is included as a worked example.

Browse them: github.com/World-Semantic-Foundation/wsf/tree/main/concepts

The architecture operates under these governance disciplines:

1. Investigation before implementation. Every architectural decision traces to documented investigation.
2. Decisions are explicit. The architectural decision record (ADR) is the authoritative architectural statement.
3. Implementation is traceable. Change requests implement ADRs with explicit scope.
4. Lifecycle is governed. Semantic artifacts move through defined status states.
5. Authority follows semantic responsibility. Not repository location.
6. Identity persists through compatible evolution. Meaning-based identifiers survive representation, context, and version changes.
7. Meaning precedes representation. Semantic authority is independent of format.

All WSF documentation uses:

• Enterprise: OTCHERE Inc (or OTCHERE)
• Individual: Kwesi
• System: OTCHERE DC-01

Other enterprise names are not used in WSF artifacts.

• Top-Level Architecture: wsf-governance/README.md
• Tier 1 Concepts: wsf/concepts/
• All Architectural Decisions: wsf-governance/ADR/
• Examples: wsf-examples/
• Principles: wsf-docs/conceptual/FOUNDATIONAL-PRINCIPLES.md

WSF bridges meaning, representation, execution, and application ; under governed, versioned, authoritative semantics.