Chronicle · Event Types

Event Type Framework

Event Type is Chronicle's governed classification system for identifying what kind of qualifying Occurrence a Chronicle Entry represents.

Event Type does not create a second canonical object. The Chronicle Entry remains canonical; Event Type classifies the Occurrence represented by that Entry.

Canonical Relationship

Occurrence → Preservation Eligibility → Chronicle Entry → Event Type Classification

Event Type answers: What kind of qualifying Occurrence does this Chronicle Entry represent?

Classification, Not Object

Event Type is a classification assigned to a Chronicle Entry. It must not be treated as an independent canonical record object or as a substitute for the Chronicle Entry itself.

Controlled Vocabulary

Event Types use governed Controlled Values rather than free-form labels. Approved values are defined through Chronicle Controlled Values and remain subject to governed change control.

Operational Purpose

Event Type supports consistent classification, Event-Type Profile selection, validation, discovery, historical grouping, and future machine-readable interoperability.

Selective Creation

New Event Types should be created only when a recurring or institutionally meaningful class of qualifying Occurrence requires distinct treatment.

Event Type Governance

Event Types should be created deliberately rather than accumulated informally.

Identify Need → Confirm Preservation Relevance → Define Meaning → Check Overlap → Approve Controlled Value → Assign Profile if Needed → Validate Use → Maintain Version History

Governance should prevent duplicate, ambiguous, overly narrow, or prematurely speculative classifications.

Creation Criteria

A new Event Type should have a clear institutional meaning, a defensible preservation purpose, and enough distinction from existing types to justify its existence.

Definition

Every approved Event Type should have a concise definition describing the class of Occurrence it represents and the conditions under which it should be used.

Overlap Review

Proposed Event Types should be reviewed against existing classifications to avoid synonyms, near-duplicates, contradictory boundaries, or classifications better handled through Relationships or Historical Context.

Change Control

Event Type additions, renames, deprecations, or semantic changes should remain versioned and traceable because classification changes can affect historical discovery and Validation.

Event-Type Profiles

An Event-Type Profile specializes the Chronicle Base Schema for a particular Event Type or approved class of Event Types.

Chronicle Base Schema + Event-Type Profile = Specialized Chronicle Entry

A Profile may strengthen requirements for authoritative references, Sources, Evidence, Provenance, Relationships, Verification, Validation, or other components without creating a new canonical object.

Production Profiles may be published as a dedicated schema package containing a public landing page, human-readable specification, and machine-readable JSON Profile.

First Production Profile: Certification Event

The Certification Event-Type Profile is Chronicle's first production Event-Type Profile.

It specializes the Chronicle Base Schema for Chronicle Entries representing qualifying certification-related Occurrences established through authoritative Certifier actions or states.

Certifier remains authoritative for the certification action and Certification Package.
Chronicle owns the historical-preservation record representing the qualifying Occurrence.

First Production Profile Open Certification Event-Type Profile →

Certification Created

Classifies a Chronicle Entry representing a qualifying Occurrence in which Certifier created an authoritative Certification Package.

Certification Renewed

Classifies a Chronicle Entry representing a qualifying Occurrence in which Certifier authoritatively renewed a certification.

Certification Suspended

Classifies a Chronicle Entry representing a qualifying Occurrence in which Certifier authoritatively suspended a certification.

Certification Revoked

Classifies a Chronicle Entry representing a qualifying Occurrence in which Certifier authoritatively revoked a certification.

Certification Expired

Classifies a Chronicle Entry representing a qualifying Occurrence in which a certification reached an expired state under the applicable Certifier rules.

Other Approved Certification Events

Additional certification-related Event Types may be introduced only when operational experience demonstrates a real need.

Initial Categories

Chronicle should define only the minimum categories needed to support current operational development. It should not attempt to classify every conceivable future Satoshium Occurrence now.

Current Production Profile → Certification Event-Type Profile
Current Certification Event Types → Created · Renewed · Suspended · Revoked · Expired
Future Categories → Added only when justified by real preservation needs

What Event Type Does Not Do

Event Type does not determine Preservation Eligibility by itself, establish institutional authority, prove the Occurrence happened, replace Verification, or replace Historical Context.

Classification ≠ Eligibility ≠ Authority ≠ Verification ≠ Historical Significance

Event Type and Preservation Eligibility

An approved Event Type may provide one recognized path to Preservation Eligibility, but not every occurrence matching an Event Type must automatically be preserved.

Chronicle rules may still require historical significance, materiality, or other preservation conditions.

Event Type and Historical Context

Event Type provides classification. Historical Context explains the particular Entry. Two Entries may share the same Event Type while having very different historical meaning.

Event Type = Class
Historical Context = Meaning of this specific Occurrence

Event Type and Relationships

Relationships should not be turned into Event Types merely because they describe connections between records. Event Type classifies the Occurrence; Relationships describe how objects connect.

Future Expansion

Future operational experience may justify additional Event Type categories for Registry, Anchor, Beacon, Attestor, Navigator, Atlas, governance, public releases, institutional milestones, or other historically significant developments.

Those categories should be defined only when Chronicle encounters real preservation cases requiring distinct classification or profile behavior.

First Production Event Type

Chronicle's Event Type Framework has now been exercised in production. CHR-2026-0001 uses:

Event Type: certification_created
Human Label: Certification Created
Event-Type Profile: certification-event-profile
Profile Version: 1.0.0

The production case confirmed that Event Type classifies Chronicle's representation of the qualifying Occurrence without replacing Certifier's own terminology for certification class, outcome, lifecycle, or status.

Framework Principle

Chronicle should classify only what it needs to classify, when it needs to classify it, with enough precision to support preservation, validation, discovery, and interoperability.

Start narrow. Govern carefully. Expand from operational evidence.

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