entitiespersons

Entitiespersons is a term used in data integration and knowledge management to describe a unified representation that combines general entity data with person-specific identity information. It is not a universal standard but a conceptual model used to improve disambiguation, provenance, and interoperability across sources. In an entitiespersons record, the entity component captures typical attributes such as type, canonical name, aliases, and cross-source identifiers, while the person component stores identity-centric details like legal names, dates of birth, and verified identifiers.

The data model often includes a unique internal identifier, a type field (for example Person, Organization, Location), fields for canonical_name and aliases, identifiers from external authorities (Wikidata QIDs, ISNI, ORCID), biographical attributes (date_of_birth, gender), and relationship data (affiliations, family, colleagues). Provenance metadata tracks sources, confidence scores, and reconciliation history to support data fusion and auditing.

Typical use cases include knowledge graphs that require person-level linkage across datasets, search and recommendations that rely on accurate identity resolution, and governance workflows for digital identity management. The model supports merging records for the same individual while preserving historical changes and consent flags where applicable.

Key challenges involve entity resolution accuracy, data quality, privacy, consent management, and handling conflicting attributes from different sources. Designing robust schemas for entitiespersons requires clear governance, standard identifier schemes, and privacy-preserving access controls.

Related concepts include entity resolution, knowledge graphs, schema.org Person, and identity management.