Claims and Sources

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Claims are the connective tissue between what happened (events) and the evidence (sources). Sources are the foundation that gives your investigation credibility.

Creating a Claim

Claims are always attached to an event. You cannot create a standalone claim.

From the Timeline Detail Page

1. On the timeline detail page, select an event card.
2. The card expands or the context panel opens showing the event's details.
3. Click + Add Claim/Source.
4. The Create Claim dialog opens.

1. Click Create.

The claim appears on the event card and in the context panel.

From the Event Detail Page

1. Navigate to /events/[eventId].
2. Under the Claims section, click + Add.
3. Fill in the same fields as above.
4. Click Create.

Editing a Claim

From the Timeline Detail Page

1. Expand an event card.
2. Find the claim you want to edit.
3. Click the claim text or the edit icon.
4. The Claim Review dialog opens.

From the Event Detail Page

1. Navigate to /events/[eventId].
2. Find the claim in the claims list.
3. Claims are displayed as cards with status, source link, and confidence.
4. Claims show an Edit button for editing text, status, and confidence, and a History button to view revision history.

The Claim Review Dialog

This dialog lets you update:

• Claim Text — Edit the assertion
• Status — Change the verification grade
• Confidence — Adjust the confidence score using a slider (0–100)
• Source — Change or update the source attribution

What you'll see:

• The current claim text in an editable field
• A dropdown to change the status
• A slider for the confidence score, with the numeric value displayed
• Source information (title, type, author)

Click Save to apply changes. The revision history records the before/after state.

Claim Statuses: The Verification Workflow

Claims move through statuses as you gather and verify evidence:

rumored → reported → verifiable → fact
                 ↘               ↘
             unverifiable      retracted

A typical curated claim progresses: reported → verifiable → fact. Claims proven false should have their status updated to unverifiable with a supporting note — do not delete them. The record of disproven claims is as valuable as proven ones. The retracted status is for claims whose source backing has been removed — always assigned by a human reviewer, never by the system.

Confidence Scores

How to Assign Confidence

Confidence is a 0–100 score representing your quantitative assessment of how likely the claim is to be accurate. Use these thresholds as a guide:

Modifying Confidence

Use the slider in the Claim Review dialog to adjust confidence. The numeric value updates in real time. The confidence is always your judgment — the system records who set it and when.

Viewing Confidence

Confidence is displayed:

• As a percentage on each claim card (e.g., "85% confidence")
• As a badge on low-confidence claims in the workspace review queue
• In the timeline health panel as an aggregate distribution

Creating a Source

Sources are the evidence foundation. Every claim must cite a source.

From the Sources List

1. Click Sources in the sidebar.
2. Click + New Source.
3. Fill in the dialog:

1. Click Create.

Creating a Source While Adding a Claim

When creating a claim, you can create a source inline:

1. In the Create Claim dialog, click the source search field.
2. If the source you need doesn't exist, a "Create new source" option appears.
3. Fill in the source fields inline.
4. The source is created and automatically attached to the claim.

The Source Detail Page

Each source has a dedicated page at /sources/[sourceId]. Navigate to it from:

• The sources list
• A claim's source link
• Search results

Page Layout

Header

• Source icon (varies by source type)
• Title
• Source type badge (with icon and color from the type taxonomy)
• Publisher badge (if set)
• Verify Source button — check if source content has changed since extraction (History icon)
• Audit History button — view revision history (Clock icon)
• Edit button — modify source metadata
• Delete button — remove the source

Metadata Cards

• URL — Click to open in a new tab. Shown with an external link icon.
• Published — Formatted date (e.g., "March 15, 2024")
• Checksum — SHA hash of the uploaded file, displayed in monospace. Collapsed by default (click [+] to expand).

Content Sections

• Extracted Content — Text extracted from uploaded files or crawled URLs. Displayed in a readable card.
• Raw Content — Unprocessed text in a monospace pre block with scroll. Useful for verifying extraction quality.

File Attachments

• Source Files panel — list of uploaded files with download links
• File upload zone — drag and drop area for adding new files (not available on read-only sources)

Metadata Footer

• Source ID
• Created date
• Last updated date

Verifying Sources

Articles can be corrected, updated, or retracted after publication. The Verify Source button checks whether the current article content has changed since you extracted claims from it.

How It Works

1. On the source detail page, click Verify Source (History icon).
2. The system fetches the current article and computes a checksum.
3. It compares the new checksum against the one stored when the source was first extracted.
4. Results appear in a banner:

- Checksum matches: "Source content has not changed since extraction."
- Checksum changed: "Source content has changed. Claims attached to this source have been flagged for review."
- Source unavailable: "Source could not be reached. Try again later."

What Happens to Claims

• If the content has changed, all claims attached to this source are flagged for review (needs_review = true). They appear in the Workspace > Review Queue.
• The system never changes a claim's status or confidence automatically. Only a human reviewer can determine what the source change means for each claim.

Reviewing Flagged Claims

When a source changes and claims are flagged:

1. Go to Workspace > Review Queue to see the flagged claims.
2. Examine the claim's context (before/after text from the original extraction).
3. Compare against the current article.
4. Decide per claim:

- Retract — the source text backing this claim was removed. Set status to retracted.
- Confirm — the claim is still supported. Clear the review flag.
- Downgrade confidence — the text changed but the claim may still hold. Reduce confidence score.

1. Each status change is recorded in the audit trail with full attribution.

Content View

On the source detail page, the extracted content highlights claim text in amber. Non-claim text renders faded italic. This is a reading aid — no red or strikethrough styling. The source change is a signal for review, not a judgment.

Eligibility

• The source must have a URL.
• The source must have been published within the last 7 days.
• Verification can be run at most once every 12 hours per source.
• Demo (read-only) sources cannot be verified.

Editing a Source

1. On the source detail page, click the Edit (pencil icon) button.
2. The Edit Source dialog opens with current values pre-filled.
3. Modify the title, source type, author, publication date, or URL.
4. Click Save.

Deleting a Source

1. On the source detail page, click the Delete (trash icon) button.
2. Confirm in the dialog.
3. The source is soft-deleted. Claims that cite this source are preserved but the source link may become broken.

Warning: Deleting a source that is cited by active claims will break those claims' provenance. Consider archiving rather than deleting.

The Sources List

Navigate to Sources in the sidebar to see all sources in your account.

Features:

• Infinite scroll list of all sources
• Text filter by source title
• Each item shows: source type icon, title, type badge, publisher
• Click any source to navigate to its detail page

Source Types

The system includes 175+ predefined source types, organized by domain. Each has a name, description, color, and icon.

Custom source types can be created per account via Type Management (sidebar > Tools > Type Management).

Next: Entities and Relationships →