/build-evidence-map

Evidence map schema

The canonical artifact is UTF-8 JSON. Use a .doubt.json suffix when practical.

{
  "title": "Short artifact title",
  "question": "One decision-changing question?",
  "updatedAt": "YYYY-MM-DD",
  "verdict": "A provisional, evidence-bounded answer.",
  "nodes": [
    {
      "id": "current-position",
      "type": "position",
      "label": "Current position",
      "text": "The proposition represented by this node."
    },
    {
      "id": "primary-observation",
      "type": "evidence",
      "label": "Observed result",
      "text": "A faithful statement of the source region.",
      "sourceId": "source-1"
    },
    {
      "id": "missing-baseline",
      "type": "unknown",
      "label": "Missing baseline",
      "text": "The exact absent fact and why it matters."
    }
  ],
  "edges": [
    {
      "from": "primary-observation",
      "to": "current-position",
      "relation": "supports",
      "note": "Why the observation increases reason to accept the position."
    },
    {
      "from": "missing-baseline",
      "to": "current-position",
      "relation": "missing",
      "note": "Why this missing baseline could reverse the position."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "source-1",
      "title": "Source title",
      "url": "https://example.com/source",
      "publisher": "Publisher",
      "date": "YYYY-MM-DD",
      "retrievedAt": "YYYY-MM-DD",
      "locator": "Section: Results, p. 7, § 2.1, L12-L18, or 00:04:31",
      "excerpt": "A short, checkable excerpt or bounded source-region description."
    }
  ]
}

Invariants

• Allowed node types: position, claim, evidence, unknown.
• Allowed relations: supports, contradicts, qualifies, missing.
• Exactly one position node is required.
• Evidence nodes require sourceId.
• Every evidence node must be the from side of at least one edge.
• Every non-position node must have a directed path to the position.
• Duplicate reasoning edges and directed cycles are rejected.
• Every source must be used by an evidence node.
• Every edge needs a plain-language note.
• Map and source dates are real ISO calendar dates; source dates cannot be later than updatedAt.
• Every source records retrievedAt. Receipts cover that value and the recorded excerpt, not the mutable bytes currently served by the URL.
• Locators identify a bounded section, page, line range, or timestamp.
• Excerpts contain 40–500 characters of varied, checkable content; repeated filler is invalid.
• confidence fields are invalid. Use an unknown node or a qualified claim.

Optional verification record

Only a successful explicit source-verification command may add this object to a source:

{
  "verification": {
    "status": "verified",
    "method": "normalized-excerpt-match",
    "checkedAt": "YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ",
    "contentSha256": "64 lowercase hexadecimal characters",
    "excerptSha256": "64 lowercase hexadecimal characters",
    "finalUrl": "The checked URL or absolute local path",
    "locatorStatus": "matched"
  }
}

locatorStatus may be not-machine-checked for page, section, and timestamp locators. Do not treat it as proof that the region was manually confirmed.