From sources to accountable claims

A source may describe an instrument at a particular time, use a historical name, or disagree with another account. The research task is to retain that context while creating useful relationships and views.

Keep sources and assertions distinct#

An attributed source account is evidence that a statement was made. It does not automatically establish that the statement is correct, current or equivalent to another statement. Reconciliation therefore requires explicit decisions and the possibility of leaving a relationship unresolved.

Document the transformation#

Decision records explain interpretative choices. Execution records identify the software, parameters and inputs used in a computational step. Together they make the route to a result inspectable and help distinguish a changed interpretation from a changed processing environment.

Worked example: two specification accounts#

Imagine two catalogues describing the same organ. One reports twelve stops; another lists fourteen. Before calculating a difference, ask what each source counts, which configuration it describes and whether it is independent of the other. The disagreement might reflect an alteration, a counting convention, a copied mistake or an unresolved identity. This example is illustrative, not a claim about a particular reference instrument.

The useful output is not merely a preferred number. It is an attributable statement whose relationship to the two accounts remains inspectable. If the evidence cannot distinguish the alternatives, leaving the result unresolved is an informative outcome. A later source can then change the interpretation without erasing the earlier evidence.

Separate a processing failure from an uncertain claim#

A parser may fail to recognize a date that is plainly present; that is a processing problem. A source may genuinely leave a date unspecified; that is a limitation of the evidence. Recording these separately prevents software improvements from being mistaken for new historical discoveries. It also helps direct review: correct a transformation when the source is clear, and seek additional evidence when it is not.