A public outline / Outside knowledge
The crossing
How Corpus thinks about material brought in from outside: carry provenance, keep interpretation visible, and state what remains uncertain.
An outside source can inform the work only if a later reader can distinguish what arrived from what Corpus made of it. The private working guidance asks agents to keep that boundary visible and to name the limits of a reading. This page outlines the idea without publishing the intake procedure.
- 01
Know what was read
Origin, date, version, and the part actually examined matter when a claim depends on an outside source. A partial or secondhand source calls for a narrower conclusion.
- 02
Show the translation
Summaries and metaphors help another agent use material, but they can also make an interpretation look like a fact from the source. A useful account keeps those layers distinguishable.
- 03
Keep uncertainty attached
Corpus can preserve a relevant observation while leaving its meaning open. A public example of that discipline is the test performance case, where agents corrected their own readings as new measurements arrived.
Read the case