Educational companion dossier · Fact, interpretation, lived experience, clinical education, fiction, and mechanics are labeled separately. Scope & safety
REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

SIMULATION LITERACY

Data Provenance, Assumptions, and Versioning

A traceable chain from source data and transformations to model version, scenario inputs, output, correction, and supersession.

LEVEL 1

ORIENTATION

Why this matters

REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

One-sentence brief

Without provenance, a polished output cannot be audited, reproduced, corrected, or distinguished from a stale or fabricated result.

REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Three key points

  1. Provenance records origin, transformation, custody, and version.
  2. Assumptions are first-class model inputs, not footnotes.
  3. Corrections must propagate to derivative outputs without erasing history.
LEVEL 2

WORKING BRIEF

Evidence, context, and limits

REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Source identity

Record publisher, document or dataset title, version, date, geography, collection method, license, and retrieval state. A filename or institutional reference does not by itself authenticate authorship.

  • Use exact hashes for preserved source files.
  • Separate official source identity from user-supplied attribution.
  • Record duplicate lineage without inflating corroboration.
REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Transformation history

Cleaning, geocoding, imputation, aggregation, translation, normalization, and feature engineering can change meaning. Each step should be versioned and reversible where practical.

  • Retain raw data separately.
  • Document loss and assumptions.
  • Test transformations for regional and linguistic bias.
REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Assumption register

Boundary conditions, transition rules, priors, thresholds, missing-data treatments, and behavioral rules should be listed as inputs.

  • Assign owner and rationale.
  • Mark evidence strength and volatility.
  • Link sensitivity results.
REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Model and scenario version

A result needs a model version, code or rule digest, dataset version, scenario identifier, seed where relevant, and issue time.

  • Never compare unlabeled versions.
  • Use stable identifiers.
  • Keep superseded results accessible but non-current.
REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Correction propagation

When source data or assumptions change, every derivative chart, narrative, public route, and decision record should be identified and reviewed.

  • Maintain dependency links.
  • Explain material changes.
  • Do not silently overwrite a historical result.
REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Privacy and minimum necessary data

Provenance does not justify collecting unnecessary personal data. Use aggregate or synthetic information when it answers the question, minimize retention, and separate identity from behavioral inference.

  • No off-platform surveillance.
  • No protected-trait risk scoring.
  • Provide access, correction, and deletion processes where applicable.
LEVEL 3

COMPLETE DOSSIER

Limitations, game links, and review context

DISPUTED / MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

Known limitations and gaps

  • This is a non-operational educational transformation: it does not build or implement a game, executable simulator, forecasting service, emergency tool, or decision system.
  • This page is an educational transformation of supplied research leads; it does not authenticate every citation, equation, product claim, or institutional attribution in those files.
  • A scenario, model run, or map is not an observation, forecast, legal finding, public-health instruction, emergency warning, or proof of future behavior.
  • No source code, nuclear-effects formula, casualty calculation, target-selection method, cyber-intrusion procedure, exploit chain, or instruction for bypassing safeguards is published.
  • Geography, nationality, ethnicity, religion, language, migration, disability, health, poverty, or political identity are not inherent danger, compliance, intelligence, competence, or worth variables.
  • Specialist scientific, public-health, accessibility, legal, regional, ethics, security, and lived-experience review remains pending; the page stays open to correction.
LEVEL 4

RESEARCH EDITION

Sources, methods, and stable links

REAL-WORLD INTERPRETIVE

Linked reports

REAL-WORLD VERIFIED

Method and corrections

This page follows the public method for provenance, confidence, source independence, alternative accounts, limitations, review state, and visible correction.

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