Words used here, defined once
The argument in this room depends on distinctions that ordinary usage collapses. These definitions are used consistently on every page.
Why this matters
Most disagreements about agricultural evidence are disagreements about vocabulary. Fixing the vocabulary is part of the product.
14 termsOne definition per termUsed verbatim sitewide
- Canonical evidence
- A stable structured representation of source facts and provenance intended to survive movement across applications and downstream uses.
- Thin waist
- A deliberately small shared layer between many heterogeneous source systems and many downstream uses. The goal is to keep the shared contract stable while differences live at the edges.
- SourceRecord
- A record identifying where evidence originated: a file, device output, system record, registry response, laboratory result, or other source.
- Observation
- Something measured or observed, together with the context needed to interpret the value.
- InterventionEvent
- A record that an action or treatment occurred, including identity, timing, subject, dose or other relevant context.
- ModelRun
- A record of a computational transformation, including model identity and version and the relationship between inputs and outputs.
- OperationalEvent
- A business or machine event that matters to the evidence chain, such as delivery, calibration, deployment, processing, or shipment.
- Trust kernel
- The small deterministic layer that establishes canonical representation, integrity, and receipt relationships. It is not the scientific or institutional authority.
- Evidence Plane
- The commercial operating layer for programs, requirements, evaluation, review, determinations, statements, sharing, APIs, history, and support.
- Program profile
- A versioned representation of the requirements for a particular methodology, buyer, program, assurance workflow, or other intended use.
- Determination
- A bounded recorded judgment about whether the evidence supports a particular intended use, including qualifications and limitations.
- Reliance artifact
- A versioned package or statement intended for an external party, preserving enough evidence lineage and context to inspect why the conclusion was reached.
- Validity laundering
- Treating a valid statement at one layer — such as cryptographic integrity — as if it proved a different statement such as scientific truth, methodology eligibility, or buyer acceptance.
- Earned default
- A market convention that emerges because repeated use becomes easier and more valuable, rather than because a vendor declares itself the standard.