Beacon · Phase II · Production Architecture

Beacon Record

A Beacon Record page is the canonical public HTML representation of one published Discovery Signal. Each production Discovery Signal receives its own permanent page beneath /beacon/records/, identified by its canonical BEAC identifier.

Beacon Records is the index. A Beacon Record is the public representation of one canonical Discovery Signal.

Purpose

An individual Beacon Record answers:

What is this Discovery Signal?
What is its canonical BEAC identity?
What did Beacon discover?
Where did the discovery come from?
What references and relationships support it?
What is its current institutional state?

Records Hierarchy

/beacon/records/
→ Beacon Records
→ index of published Discovery Signals

/beacon/records/BEAC-2026-0001/
→ Beacon Record
→ one published Discovery Signal

Canonical Identity

The permanent record path derives from the Discovery Signal's canonical BEAC identifier.

Canonical Identifier → BEAC-2026-0001
Canonical Public Path → /beacon/records/BEAC-2026-0001/

The page does not receive a separate public-record identifier. The BEAC identifier remains the identity of the underlying Discovery Signal.

Canonical Object

Discovery Signal

The Discovery Signal is the Beacon-owned institutional object.

Identity → BEAC-YYYY-NNNN

Public Representation

Beacon Record

The Beacon Record page exposes the governed public representation of that Discovery Signal.

Beacon Record page
≠ second canonical object

Canonical Record Structure

The individual public representation should follow the Discovery Signal Entry Model.

Identity
↓
Subject
↓
Signal Type
↓
Source
↓
Provenance
↓
Canonical References
↓
Discovery Metadata
↓
Timestamps
↓
Version
↓
Status
↓
Relationships

Public Record Fields

Component	Public Purpose
BEAC Identifier	Identifies the canonical Discovery Signal.
Subject	Defines what the signal concerns.
Signal Type	Identifies the primary Beacon discovery classification.
Discovery Summary	Explains the discovered information or condition in human-readable form.
Source	Identifies the source Beacon observed.
Provenance	Preserves the reviewable discovery path.
Canonical References	Identifies referenced Suite canonical objects when applicable.
Discovery Metadata	Provides Beacon-owned descriptive context.
Lifecycle State	Shows the signal's current institutional state.
Publication State	Shows the public-release state.
Version	Identifies the governed representation being shown.
Timestamps	Distinguishes observation, creation, publication, and later events.
Relationships	Represents governed connections to other objects when applicable.
Historical Context	Shows supersession, resolution, withdrawal, or version history when applicable.

Identity

The BEAC identifier should be prominent and preserved exactly.

BEAC-2026-0001

Subject

The subject should make clear what Beacon discovered without implying authority Beacon does not possess.

Signal Type

The page should expose one primary governed Signal Type.

Information · Jurisdiction · Certification · Registry
Historical · Integrity · Trust · Relationship

Discovery Summary

A human-readable summary should explain the discovery while remaining faithful to the source and Beacon's institutional role.

Source

The Record should identify what Beacon actually observed and preserve source attribution.

Source Identity
+ Source Institution / Publisher
+ Native Identifier when applicable
+ Source Location when publishable

The source remains independently owned. Beacon owns the Discovery Signal and its representation of the discovery.

Provenance

The public Record should preserve enough provenance for a reviewer to understand how the Discovery Signal arose.

Source / Authoritative Object
↓
Observation
↓
Discovery Context
↓
Beacon Discovery Signal
↓
Public Provenance

Public provenance may be a governed subset of Beacon's internal provenance when legitimate disclosure restrictions apply.

Canonical References

Referenced Suite objects should retain their native identifiers and institutional ownership.

Beacon → BEAC-2026-0001
Anchor → ANCH-2026-0001

External References

External sources remain external even when they are referenced by a published Beacon Record.

External discovery
≠ Suite authority

Authority Boundary

The Beacon Record is authoritative for Beacon's own Discovery Signal and Beacon-owned determinations.

It does not become authoritative for source-owned determinations merely because those determinations are referenced.

Reference does not transfer authority.

Beacon-Owned Information

BEAC identifier
Signal Type
Discovery Metadata
Beacon provenance
Lifecycle State
Publication State
Version / supersession information
Beacon-governed relationship representation

Source-Owned Information

Source canonical identity
Source-native object type
Source-native status
Source institutional determinations
Source-native version information
External assertions and authorship

Lifecycle & Publication

The Record should display Lifecycle State and Publication State separately.

Lifecycle → Active / Superseded / Resolved / Withdrawn
Publication → Published

A historically published Record may remain publicly reviewable after its lifecycle changes.

Current Version

The default canonical Record page should identify the current governed version.

BEAC-2026-0001
Current Version → 2

Historical Versions

Materially superseded versions should remain traceable where governance permits.

Current does not mean only.
Historical does not mean deleted.

Version Continuity

BEAC-2026-0001 v1
↓ revised by
BEAC-2026-0001 v2
↓ revised by
BEAC-2026-0001 v3

The canonical BEAC identifier remains stable across governed versions of the same Discovery Signal.

Superseded Record

If a Discovery Signal is Superseded, its page should clearly identify that state and the replacement when one exists.

Resolved Record

If a signal is Resolved, the Record should preserve the historical discovery and governed resolution context.

Withdrawn Record

If a previously published signal is Withdrawn, the public page should preserve appropriate historical notice where governance permits.

Unavailable Source

If a source later disappears or moves, the Record should preserve the original observation and later availability context rather than silently rewriting history.

Relationships

The Record should expose governed relationships when they are relevant and publishable.

Endpoint A
+ explicit relationship meaning
+ Endpoint B
+ attribution
+ provenance
= reviewable relationship

Relationships connect independently owned objects. They do not merge them.

Cross-Suite Example

Beacon Record
BEAC-2026-0001

Signal Type → Certification
Source Reference → SC-CERT-2026-0001
Related Registry Reference → SREG-2026-0001
Related Integrity Reference → ANCH-2026-0001

These remain separate canonical objects owned by Beacon, Certifier, Registry, and Anchor respectively.

Timestamps

The Record should distinguish relevant temporal facts.

observed_at
created_at
published_at
version-created time
supersession / resolution time when applicable

Temporal Integrity

Later observations must not silently rewrite what Beacon observed earlier.

What Beacon observed then
≠
What Beacon observes now

Public Representation vs. Internal Record

The canonical public HTML representation need not expose every internal Beacon field.

Canonical Discovery Signal
↓ governed publication
Public Beacon Record representation

Privacy, security, access, source, or governance restrictions may limit what is publicly displayed without changing the identity of the underlying Discovery Signal.

Human-Readable First

The Beacon Record page should make the institutional meaning of the Discovery Signal understandable to a human reviewer.

Machine Alignment

The HTML representation should remain consistent with Beacon schemas and future machine-readable representations.

HTML presentation
≠ separate institutional truth

Record Conformance

Canonical BEAC identity matches
+ Signal content matches governed version
+ Lifecycle State matches
+ Publication State matches
+ Source attribution matches
+ Provenance remains reviewable
+ References preserve authority
+ Relationships preserve endpoint identity
= Public Record Conformance

Relationship to Beacon Records

/beacon/records/ helps users find published Discovery Signals.

/beacon/records/{id}/ provides the individual canonical public representation.

Relationship to Publication

Publication determines whether the individual Beacon Record becomes publicly available.

Relationship to Versioning

Versioning determines which governed representation is current and preserves historical continuity.

Relationship to Validation

The public Record should represent a Discovery Signal that has passed applicable Beacon Validation and publication governance.

Conceptual Public Record

beacon_record:
  identifier
  subject
  signal_type
  discovery_summary
  source
  provenance
  canonical_references
  discovery_metadata
  lifecycle_state
  publication_state
  version
  timestamps
  relationships
  historical_context

Architectural only. The HTML page is a representation of the canonical Discovery Signal, not a newly defined canonical object named “Beacon Record.”

First Production Record

No production Beacon Record exists yet.

Future first canonical Discovery Signal → BEAC-2026-0001
Future permanent page → /beacon/records/BEAC-2026-0001/

These remain architectural examples until Beacon completes its production methodology and performs its first governed institutional operation.

What Is Now Established

Each published production Discovery Signal receives a permanent individual page beneath /beacon/records/
The page path uses the canonical BEAC identifier
The individual page is called a Beacon Record for human-facing navigation
The Beacon Record page is a public representation, not a second canonical object
The canonical institutional object remains the Discovery Signal
The page follows the Discovery Signal Entry Model
The BEAC identifier remains stable across governed versions of the same signal
Source ownership and native identifiers remain preserved
Public provenance must remain sufficient for meaningful review
Lifecycle State and Publication State remain separate
Historical versions, supersession, resolution, and withdrawal remain traceable where governance permits
Relationships preserve endpoint identity and authority
Public HTML and machine-readable representations should remain aligned
No production BEAC record is claimed before the first governed Beacon operation occurs

What Remains Unfrozen

Exact production page field labels and ordering
Version-specific historical URL syntax
Machine-readable companion format and link mechanics
Public provenance depth by Signal Type
Restricted-field presentation
Correction-notice presentation
Supersession and resolution banner format
Withdrawn-record display mechanics
Relationship presentation at production scale
Exact first production Discovery Signal content

These should be finalized through Beacon Discovery Methodology and the first production operation rather than through hypothetical records.

Governing Rules

One Discovery Signal → one canonical BEAC identity.
One published Discovery Signal → one permanent canonical record path.
Preserve source identity and attribution.
Preserve provenance.
Preserve authority boundaries.
Preserve lifecycle, publication, and version context.
Preserve historical continuity.
Do not silently rewrite earlier observations.
Do not create a second canonical object merely for HTML presentation.

The Record represents the Discovery Signal. It does not replace it.

Current Status

Beacon Status → Continuing Development
Phase → Phase II — Production Architecture
Beacon Records → Defined
Individual Beacon Record → Defined
Beacon Discovery Methodology → Next
First Production Discovery Signal → Not yet created
First Production Record → Not yet created
Production Proof → Pending
Operational → No