Person Posting

The «Person Posting» claim type holds information about a person’s career in the security forces. It first defines a relationships between a person and a unit, and can be used to further describe the role the person has in the unit («command», «administrative», etc), the rank they hold at the time of the posting, and any additional titles they may hold at the time of a posting. A person usually has a single posting at any one time, but may have multiple overlapping postings.

Person Postings: Summary of claim attributes

The table below summarises the following dimensions of Unit Posting claims:

Attribute label: a human readable label for the attribute

Attribute name: a unique machine-readable name for the attribute, used during data capture

Status: whether the attribute is optional or required in a claim

Data type: the sort of data that can be entered into the field

Conformed name: a standardized name that simplifies attribute use in SFM databases

Attribute label	Attribute name	Status	Data type	Conformed name
Person Posting: Unique Identifier	`::posting:id`	required	uuid-string	:claim/about-entity:id
Person Posting: Claim Citation Identifier	`::posting:claim:citation:id`	required	strings<->uuids	:claim/citation:ids
Person Posting: Unit Unique Identifier	`::posting:unit:id`	optional	uuid-string	:assertion/posting:unit:id
Person Posting: Person Unique Identifier	`::posting:person:id`	optional	uuid-string	:assertion/posting:person:id
Person Posting: Role	`::posting:role`	optional	string	:assertion/posting:role
Person Posting: Title	`::posting:title`	optional	string	:assertion/posting:title
Person Posting: Rank	`::posting:rank`	optional	string	:assertion/posting:rank
Person Posting: Earliest Precise Date	`::posting:date-range-precise:first`	optional	string-date<->timestamp	:range-precise/first
Person Posting: Latest Precise Date	`::posting:date-range-precise:last`	optional	string-date<->timestamp	:range-precise/last
Person Posting: Earliest Imprecise Date	`::posting:date-range-imprecise:first`	optional	string-date<->timestamp	:range-imprecise/first
Person Posting: Latest Imprecise Date	`::posting:date-range-imprecise:last`	optional	string-date<->timestamp	:range-imprecise/last
Person Posting: Date range is a Start Date	`::posting:date-range:starting?`	optional	YN<->bool	:range/starting?
Person Posting: Date range is an End Date	`::posting:date-range:ending?`	optional	YN<->bool	:range/ending?
Person Posting: Research Comments	`::posting:claim:comment`	optional	string	:meta/comment
Person Posting: Research Owner	`::posting:claim:researcher`	optional	string	:meta/reseacher
Person Posting: Research Status	`::posting:claim:status`	optional	status	:meta/status

Person Postings: Details of claim attributes

This section contains further information about each attribute, including descriptions, examples of use, and Guidance on use.

Person Posting: Unique Identifier

Attribute name

::posting:id

Description

A unique 32 character code assigned to each posting in the dataset.

Attribute type

String in UUID format

Status

This attribute is required.

Example of use

a848de4e-ebeb-49d6-9099-7e68ca3b57fc

Guidance on use

This value is a Universally Unique Indentifier (UUID) generated using a computer program. UUIDs can be created easily using either installable or online tools, for example:

Linux and OSX users: uuidgen command line tool.
On the web: UUID Generator.

The attribute is administrative, providing a reliable way to differentiate between different persons.

The Staff Researcher must generate a unique identifying number for that posting and add it to every claim associated with that specific person. This manual, copy-and-paste step is a potential source of error and the Staff Researcher must be careful not to re-use a UUID. As the data are ingested into database systems, claims that share the same UUID in ::posting:id will be aggregated to create a single record for that posting.

Person Posting: Claim Citation Identifier

Attribute name

::posting:claim:citation:id

Description

A unique 32 character code of a citation from a source that evidences the other attribute(s) in this claim.

Attribute type

String in UUID format

Status

This attribute is required.

Example of use

16d013b5-7073-4446-b22b-46b0edb25632

Guidance on use

All claims require a citation, which is a reference to a specific part of a source (for example a page or paragraph reference). The page on citations provides more information about this evidentiary mechanism.

Person Posting: Unit Unique Identifier

ttribute name

::posting:unit:id

Description

The unique 32 character code assigned to a unit to which the person is posted.

Attribute type

String in UUID format, selected from existing unit records

Status

This attribute is required.

Example of use

a848de4e-ebeb-49d6-9099-7e68ca3b57fc

Guidance on use

This is the Universally Unique Indentifier (UUID) of the unit who is being posted to a unit. A record for the unit must already exist in the dataset.

Guidance on use

Person Posting: Person Unique Identifier

Attribute name

::posting:person:id

Description

The unique 32 character code assigned to a person posted to a unit.

Attribute type

String in UUID format, selected from existing person records

Status

This attribute is required.

Example of use

a848de4e-ebeb-49d6-9099-7e68ca3b57fc

Guidance on use

This is the Universally Unique Indentifier (UUID) of the person who is being posted to a unit. A record for the person must already exist in the dataset.

Person Posting: Role

Atttribute name

::posting:role

Description

The role a person plays in the unit, which is not immediate apparent their rank or title.

Attribute type

String

Status

This attribute is optional.

Example of use

Commander

Guidance on use

The most common value we record in this attribute is Commander.

There are a variety of other roles a person can have including Second in Command, Chief of Staff along with other less common entries. They will vary between countries.

In nearly all cases, the value placed in this attribute is taken verbatim from the source. As a special note, heads of academic or other security force institutions will sometimes be referred to as the Commandant. In these cases, Commandant should be recorded in the Person Posting: Title attribute , and their role should be recorded here as Commander.

If a person is referred to as “the head”, “chief” or some other variation indicating that they are in charge of a unit, they should be regarded as the Commander for the purposes of entering a value in this attribute.

Person Posting: Title

Atttribute name

::posting:title

Description

A title held by a person that is separate from their rank or role.

Attribute type

String

Status

This attribute is optional.

Example of use

General Officer Commanding, Jefe Del Estado Mayor, Vice Chairman

Guidance on use

The range of titles will vary from country to country. For example, commanders of army divisions in Nigeria, who usually hold the rank of Major General also hold the title of General Officer Commanding. The value placed in this attribute is taken verbatim from the source and not edited or standardized.

Person Posting: Rank

Atttribute name

::posting:rank

Description

The official position of a person in the hierarchy of a security force.

Attribute type

String

Status

This attribute is optional.

Example of use

General de División, Teniente Coronel, Air Vice Marshal, Lieutenant Colonel

Guidance on use

In most cases, the value placed in this attribute is taken verbatim from the source and not edited or standardized. In some cases, we remove any dashes from the entry.

For example, we would enter Brigadier General rather than Brigadier-General.