Research Debt¶
Research debt tracks useful leads and gaps that should not yet be treated as part of OIR’s scarce verified core.
Under the human-directed / AI-processed model, humans periodically direct debt sweeps; AI usually executes the sourcing work. Closing debt improves draft quality — it does not automatically promote a page to verified.
Current Focus¶
- Decompose imported manual claims into candidate topics and claims.
- Verify outreach contacts against official public sources.
- Compare imported governance documents against the root repository docs.
- Create external source records for primary legal, technical, historical, and policy authorities.
Debt is resolved by adding verified source records, linking claims to evidence, or removing unsupported material.
Open cases¶
Watching a live docket is not research debt. A case page sets monitor: true while an appeal, merits order, or criminal case can still change. Each week, GitHub Actions updates the issue chore: monitor open cases with the pages that are due for a check (last_verified missing or older than 14 days).
On a check: if the docket changed, add the source and update the facts. If it did not, set last_verified to the check date. Remove monitor when the case is over. A named missing filing (“add the complaint PDF”, “add the merits opinion when it issues”) stays research debt.