Fact repair
Think a fact here is wrong? Correct it below, attach the source, and export the change as a small file. Email it to futurisminstitute@gmail.com or open a pull request on the public repository, and once it is checked the fact changes for everyone. You can also keep your own copy of the facts file and use that instead, without sending anything.
Runs in your browserUploads nothingNo accountEngine: app/engine.js
How the files move
Three files take part: the facts file, a change file, and the improved facts file. How file-sharing works has the formats.
- Load the facts
The page opens with an example facts file. Load any other facts file, or turn a set of community ratings into one.
- Write your changes
Correct a fact or add an option. Each change keeps its source, and the list exports as a change file you can send.
- Use the result
Apply change files other people sent you, then export the improved facts for an app folder or a shared plan.
What a useful correction includes
| Change one thing | Name the facts file, the option, and the fact, relationship or source you mean. |
|---|---|
| A correction needs its source | A link, a date, a dataset or a method note. If the number is your own judgement, say so. |
| Keep it reversible | A narrow change is one someone can read, accept, reject or undo later without guessing what you meant. |
| Say why | Your name is optional, and any label will do. There is no account to make. Write down the reason for the change, because whoever checks it reads the reason first. |
Plate IFig. 1. The facts file you are editing.
The file you are working on
The page starts with Where to Message, a small example file that ranks messaging apps. The code after the title is a fingerprint worked out from the facts, so changing any one number changes the code.
Plate IIFig. 2. The form for writing corrections and exporting them as a change file.
Write your changes
What's happening. The form edits a copy of the facts in this tab. Each correction or new option adds one entry to your change file, and Export saves that list to your computer as a JSON file. Nothing is sent anywhere until you attach it to an email or a pull request yourself.
Why it matters. A change that arrives as a file can be checked line by line and applied by anyone holding the same facts file, including people who run their own copy. An email that says "the privacy score looks off" has to be turned into one of these by hand first.
Devil's advocate. The form accepts a correction with no source and only warns you. When you add an option, a box you leave empty stays empty. The engine counts it as unknown and pulls the option's score toward 50 by the share of your weight that the missing fact carries. It does not guess a number. And the example file says of itself that its scores are illustrative, not an audit, so you are practising on example numbers that nobody has checked.
Rabbit hole. The change file format, open-values-lens-patch, is written up with a worked example in How file-sharing works. Open your exported file beside it.
Open the file you export in a text editor. One correction is about twenty lines of readable JSON.
Plate IIIFig. 3. Change files from other people, listed so you can read them before they are applied.
Check what others sent you
What's happening. Load one or more change files. Every change is listed with who made it and its source before anything happens. Apply merges them into your working copy in the order you loaded them.
Why it matters. Nobody holds a master copy. Two people with the same facts file and the same change files get the same result, and the fingerprint lets them confirm it.
Devil's advocate. The name on a change is whatever the sender typed. The fingerprint is a checksum, not a signature. It catches a file made for a different version of the facts, and the page warns you, but it proves nothing about who wrote it. If you press Apply anyway, the page applies it.
Rabbit hole. Take the improved facts into a shared plan, where a group keeps the reason for each step and who disagreed.