Knowledge Graph Research / Editorial draft
A knowledge graph is only as useful as its source trail
A proposed evidence graph connecting persons, places, events, documents, sources and time periods while retaining claim provenance and review states.
Prepared for editorial review · Proposed approach · No empirical results reported
Claims, entities and source context
A family-tree edge can hide several different statements. A document may explicitly name a parent; a researcher may infer parentage from multiple records; an earlier publication may repeat a claim without its original citation. These should not become indistinguishable relationships.
The intended model connects persons, places, events, documents, sources and time periods through source-linked claims. A document is an individual record; its source reference locates it within the holding collection. Dates and time periods contextualise an event without resolving identity or chronology by themselves. Family relationships are one class of claim within this broader historical knowledge system.
Illustrative extraction and its limits
In the fictional DEMO-001 passage used on the StirpeAI page, Joannes Martin and Maria Laurent participate in a marriage dated 14 May 1842. The passage supports those observations. It does not identify the event location.
A proposed catalogue location appears as a dashed link in the evidence graph. Hiding proposed links removes that location relationship while retaining the passage-supported extraction. All readings in this fictional illustration await source review; none represents a confirmed historical conclusion. The event location remains an unresolved question.
Evidence states and researcher review
Each relationship should expose its source, interpretation and review state. A confirmed relationship records a researcher's decision after examining the supporting sources. A proposed relationship is a candidate awaiting that assessment. An unresolved question records missing or conflicting evidence without asserting a relationship. Confirmation is limited to the claim reviewed and remains open to revision.
The interface should offer a text representation of relationships and support keyboard navigation. These are practical requirements for making the same evidence available to different readers. The demonstration is a design illustration, not a live archival database.