Collection

Purpose

A Collection groups related data.

Collections provide a logical organization for data without changing the meaning of the data they contain.

The Canonical Data Model defines the structure of a Collection but does not define the available Collection types.

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Structure

A Collection consists of:

• type - Identifies the kind of Collection.
• content - Contains the data associated with that Collection.

The interpretation of content is determined by type.

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Characteristics

• Collections are typed.
• Collections are independent.
• Collections may contain any valid data.
• Collections are immutable.

Examples of capability:

{
"collection": {
"id": "community",
"type": "allowed"
}
}

Meaning:

This object may participate in community collections.

Examples of an instance:

{
"collection": {
"id": "community:seattle-makers",
"type": "community",
"content": {
"role": "member"
}
}
}

Meaning:

This object participates in the Seattle Makers community.

Or:

{
"collection": {
"id": "favorites",
"type": "user",
"content": {
"owner": "person:alice"
}
}
}

id identifies the collection definition or instance.
type classifies the collection.
content contains collection-specific data.

The semantics—whether it's declaring an allowed collection type or describing a specific collection—are determined by the statement in which the structure appears, not by collection.json itself.