Define: three-state reconciliation

[narko4u]

Term: three-state reconciliation

Proposed definition: The comparison of an agent claim against an independent observation, resolved into one of three states: agreement, contradiction, or no independent evidence. The absence of independent evidence is an explicit state, not a silent default, so an auditor can distinguish "verified consistent" from "nothing checked it."

Category: deferred (``)
broaderTerm: null

Why this term: Evidence evaluation needed a name for the three-state outcome that separates a checked claim from an unchecked one. A two-state model (matched or not) collapses the case where no independent observation exists into a silent default, which is exactly the gap audit and dispute use cases care about. The term was proposed in the AAIF Observability & Traceability WG issue #36 (control-plane telemetry as an evidence source), where the reconciliation case was framed as agent claim to boundary observation to agreement / contradiction / no independent evidence, three states not two.

scopeNote: Proposed for the taxonomy definitions pass. Related terms "witness-scope" and the verification-basis axis are expected to follow per the workstream's paired-contrast and related-term protocols. relatedTerms and contrastsWith deliberately empty until those terms are admitted.

Definition status: proposed, open for discussion at the weekly sync.

[julianna-ciq]

@narko4u , Please add this term to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Oa-x7nBISIOuqaC-BnsQ1R-iPdwZ6Otk3dpWlqpI_z4/edit?gid=0#gid=0
We will then discuss if the term itself qualifies for the taxonomy list, and which working group should own the term (est. in the next 2-4 weeks). Then, a representative from the owning WG will write a formal definition, socialize it with their working group, and THEN open a PR for it.

It would be helpful if you or another member of the relevant WG was able to attend the meetings to advocate for this and other terms.

[narko4u]

Added all five to the sheet, at rows 300 to 304, filed under Observability & Traceability and left as proposed rather than agreed:

• three-state reconciliation, this issue
• witness-scope, Define: witness-scope #53
• self-reported, Define: self-reported #52
• emission-conformant, Define: emission-conformant #50
• operationally conformant, Define: operationally conformant #51

The other four were filed as their own Define issues alongside this one. Each names a distinction that was otherwise being lost silently. witness-scope separates custody of a record from its forgeability, self-reported separates observability from evidence, and the emission / operational pair splits what an unqualified conformance claim conflates.

Treat the working group column as a suggestion only. Happy for the workstream to place any of them somewhere better.

Noted on the meetings, and thank you for the invitation. This term came out of the Observability & Traceability work on control-plane telemetry as an evidence source, so that group is its natural home, and I am following its threads. Happy to draft the formal definitions once an owning group is ready to take them up, and to answer questions here in the meantime.