# Codebook ## Recommended reading order | Table | Unit | Use | |---|---|---| | `research_view` | pathway | Short analytic view for comparison | | `case_catalog` | catalog record | Distinguishes core, leads, and empirical studies | | `pathways` | falsifiable control-shift hypothesis | Separates observed mechanism, attempted transfer, observed agency change, preservation, and insufficient evidence | | `observations` | one quantity | Reach, production, engagement, response, or context | | `claims` | atomic assertion | Evidence status and wording | | `claim_evidence` | claim–source link | Normalized support/premise/counterevidence | | `model_evaluations` | empirical study | Capability or experimental evidence | | `official_election_metrics` | one official metric | Legally and semantically explicit electoral context | ## Identifiers and normalized joins - `case_id`: stable claim-coded record identifier. - `case_family_id`: related records sharing an electoral/institutional context. - `pathway_id`, `observation_id`, `claim_id`, `source_id`: stable table identifiers. - `election_id`: administered contest, round, or explicitly labelled election bundle. - `official_source_id`, `metric_id`, `result_id`: official-context identifiers. - `catalog_id`: identifier from a core case, screening lead, or empirical study. Use these normalized tables instead of parsing legacy pipes when possible: - `claim_evidence` - `analytic_record_claims` - `case_elections` - `election_sources` - `case_sources` ## Case catalog ### `record_layer` - `claim_coded_core`: complete claim/source/pathway record. - `screening_register`: lead or comparison awaiting promotion, disaggregation, or exclusion. - `empirical_model_study`: audit or experiment; not an incident. ### `record_type` - `election_wide_case` - `observed_network` - `observed_incident` - `observed_campaign_set` - `preparedness_file` - `candidate_lead` - `model_evaluation_or_experiment` `record_type` defines the unit. Do not pool different types without an explicit design. ### `incident_count_eligible` Boolean. It is always `false` for preparedness files, screening leads, and empirical model studies. `true` does not imply that all eligible records are exchangeable or equally harmful. ### `manipulation_assessment` - `manipulation_confirmed` - `manipulation_probable` - `mixed_documented_manipulation` - `transparent_contested_use` - `manipulation_not_established` - `no_manipulation_observed` - `preparedness_not_incident` - `not_an_incident` - `not_yet_claim_coded` AI generation by itself is not a manipulation finding. ## Cases ### `case_status` - `retrospective` - `ongoing` - `prospective_monitoring` ### AI role - `core_generation`: AI creates or clones focal content. - `material_amplification`: ranking or automation materially distributes content. - `supporting_tool`: AI lowers cost or assists production/translation/targeting. - `detection_response`: AI is mainly defensive. - `none_established`: AI is alleged or discussed but not established. - `mixed`: multiple roles; consult `technology_uses` and pathways. ### `generative_ai_status` - `confirmed` - `probable` - `alleged` - `not_established` - `not_applicable` The screening register uses more granular provisional codes; normalize before promotion. ### Occurrence and effects - `occurrence_status`: `confirmed | partly_confirmed | alleged | not_observed` - `behavioural_effect_status`: `measured | indicated | not_detected | unknown` - `electoral_effect_status`: `measured | not_detected | unknown` Institutional reliance or action belongs in `institutional_outcome`; it is not an electoral-effect category or causal estimate. No v0.4.0 core record has a measured electoral effect. Legacy `reach_estimate` and `reach_unit` remain for compatibility. Use `observations` for analysis. `control_shift_hypothesis` and `hypothesized_power_recipient` are analytical fields. Their presence does not mean that a control shift, concentration of power, or agency outcome occurred. The maximum permitted conclusion is stored in `pathways`. `affected_state` names the decision-relevant dimension examined; it is not a claim that the state changed. `democratic_harm` must distinguish documented process or institutional harm from plausible but unmeasured individual or electoral harm. ## Claims ### `claim_type` - `occurrence` - `mechanism` - `ai_role` - `reach` - `attribution` - `intent` - `behavioural_effect` - `electoral_effect` - `institutional_outcome` - `response` - `legal_status` - `counterevidence` - `control_shift_hypothesis` ### `evidence_label` - `established_evidence`: supported as worded. - `established_as_campaign_report`: establishes the attributed report, not independent population validity. - `strong_inference`: well supported but not directly observed/adjudicated. - `researcher_hypothesis`: falsifiable analytical proposition; not an observed outcome and not directly source-supported. - `not_identified_in_declared_review`: no supporting source was found among sources linked to that record by the cutoff; not proof of global absence. - `open_question`: unresolved and not filled by assumption. ### `claim_status` - `supported_as_worded` - `supported_as_attributed_measurement` - `partly_supported` - `not_identified_in_declared_review` - `hypothesis_not_tested` - `unresolved` ### `evidence_basis` - `supported_as_worded` - `attributed_measurement_only` - `inferential_synthesis` - `review_bounded_absence` - `not_tested` - `none` `evidence_basis` is not an ordinal strength score. v0.4.0 removes `confidence`, `coder_confidence_in_label`, and case-level `overall_confidence`; no calibrated probability or intercoder-reliability statistic is available. ## Claim evidence ### `relation` - `supports` - `premise`: the source supports a factual premise used by a `researcher_inference`; it does not mean the source states or proves the inference. - `counterevidence` ### `evidence_scope` - `underlying_fact` - `assertion_was_made` - `institutional_action` - `measurement` - `review_scope_statement` - `researcher_inference` ### `directness` - `firsthand_artifact_or_measurement` - `official_record_or_allegation` - `independent_secondary_reporting` An official allegation, party filing, platform self-report, campaign statement, or legal defence can establish only that the assertion was made unless independent evidence supports the underlying conduct. `review_scope_statement` is a bounded statement about the linked corpus, not evidence of absence outside it. ## Sources ### `source_quality` - `A`: authoritative primary record or peer-reviewed study directly relevant to the claim. - `B`: strong independent reporting, civil-society investigation, or transparent technical report. - `C`: interested-party/platform self-report or materially incomplete source. - `D`: lead only. ### Independence and transparency - `source_independence`: `independent_or_official | independent_secondary | interested_or_mixed | unknown` - `method_transparency`: `sufficiently_described_or_reproducible | not_applicable_official_record | limited_to_published_account | opaque` - `access_status`: status of the URL or archive at the cutoff. Quality, independence, directness, and scope are separate concepts. ### Locators and preservation - `claim_evidence.locator`: stable pinpoint only when verified, such as page, paragraph, timestamp, table, section, or spreadsheet cell. - `claim_evidence.locator_coverage`: `full_claim` when the pinpoint covers the complete coded wording, `partial_claim` when it covers only part, and `not_verified` when no honest pinpoint was established. - `claim_evidence.locator_note`: required explanation for `not_verified`, such as an inaccessible source, no supporting passage identified, or a dynamic metric without a stable snapshot. - blank `locator`: no verified pinpoint; it is not paragraph-level verification. - `archive_url` / `content_hash`: populated only for a lawfully captured, exact source object. - official `content_sha256`, `content_bytes`, and `source_schema_version`: populated only for a verified downloaded object. This release keeps URLs but does not contain a source-snapshot archive. Blank preservation fields are known limitations, not missing-value imputation targets. At the v0.4.0 cutoff, 57/124 generated claim–source relations have a verified full-claim locator, 47/124 a verified partial/premise locator, and 20/124 remain `not_verified` because the cited object was inaccessible during the audit. Relations lacking a supporting passage were removed or recoded as premises; a mutable platform count without a snapshot was removed. Preservation coverage remains zero: 0/70 sources have an `archive_url` or `content_hash`, and 0/31 official-data sources have verified `content_sha256`, `content_bytes`, or `source_schema_version`. These counts describe the current snapshot; locator coverage and source preservation are different dimensions. ## Actors `case_actors` separates actor name, role, type, attribution status, and control dimension. Examples of roles include commissioner, operator, sponsor, model provider, platform/ranker, telecom infrastructure, regulator/responder, and represented target. Preparedness files use explicit contextual actor or technology rows marked as non-deployments. These rows preserve normalized coverage without implying that an incident or system deployment occurred. ### Attribution status - `admitted` - `adjudicated` - `officially_attributed` - `platform_attributed` - `credibly_reported` - `alleged` - `unknown` - `mixed` Provider identification does not imply that the provider designed, approved, funded, or operated a campaign deployment. ## Technology uses Key fields: - `provider` - `product_or_model` - `version` - `access_type` - `technology_role` - `use_status` - `provenance_status` - `evidence_label` An unknown version must be explicit in `notes`. Do not infer model provider, open/closed status, API route, prompt, retrieval, or safeguard configuration from output appearance. ## Content items `content_items` records media type, represented person, communication goal, representation mode, AI disclosure, authorization, disclosure salience, and presentation mode. Disclosure and authorization are separate. Transparent parody can still raise a representation hypothesis, while authorized or well-disclosed synthesis may preserve or extend agency. Neither conclusion is coded as observed without a relevant outcome measure. ## Pathways Pathway states are separate variables. Never collapse them into one score or treat them as an automatic causal ladder. ### `capability_status` and `control_mechanism_status` - `observed` - `not_observed` - `not_assessed` - `not_applicable` Capability means the relevant technical or organizational capacity exists in the record. A control mechanism additionally requires documented use capable of controlling a decision-relevant input, representation, incentive, or interface. ### `attempted_transfer_status` - `observed`: evidence documents an attempt to displace, coerce, impersonate, suppress, or covertly control a decision-relevant capacity. Routine attributed persuasion is insufficient. - `not_observed`: the record contains no observed attempt; this is not proof that none occurred. - `insufficient_evidence`: intent, control, authorization, or boundary criteria are unresolved. - `not_applicable`: preparedness or other non-incident. ### `agency_change_status` and `agency_preservation_status` - `observed` - `not_observed` - `insufficient_evidence` - `not_applicable` `agency_change_status=observed` requires a direct person-level or otherwise valid decision-relevant outcome—not content, reach, engagement, institutional alarm, or an election result alone. `agency_preservation_status=observed` requires evidence that a mechanism improved or maintained informed control, contestability, representation, or decision support. Disclosure alone is insufficient. ### `maximum_conclusion` - `control_mechanism_observed` - `attempted_transfer_observed` - `agency_change_observed` - `agency_preserved_or_extended` - `insufficient_evidence` - `not_an_incident` This is the strongest conclusion permitted by the coded evidence, not a severity rank. v0.4.0 contains four `control_mechanism_observed`, two `attempted_transfer_observed`, two `insufficient_evidence`, and two `not_an_incident` records. It contains zero observed agency changes and zero observed preservation/extension outcomes. ### Falsifiability fields - `falsification_condition`: an observation that would count against the case-specific control-shift hypothesis or block a stronger conclusion. - `comparator`: the exposed/unexposed, synthetic/authentic, disclosed/undisclosed, authorized/unauthorized, or other design contrast needed to test agency change or preservation. - `observed_evidence`: only what linked evidence directly documents. - `researcher_inference`: the analytical proposition kept separate from observations. ### `assessment_label` - `observed_mechanism` - `observed_attempt_with_unmeasured_agency` - `boundary_case` - `not_applicable` Transparent contested uses are `boundary_case` and cannot receive an observed-attempt or agency-change conclusion merely because a campaign controlled a synthetic representation. ## Observations ### Values - `value_low`, `value_best`, `value_high`: numeric interval where supported. - `value_operator`: `exact | exact_report | exact_campaign_report | exact_in_sample | approximately | about | at_least | at_least_campaign_report | more_than`. - `unit`: the measured object, not a generic “reach.” - `denominator`: population, events, sample, platform counter, or other base. - `unique_entity_status`: whether entities are deduplicated, unknown, or not applicable. ### `causal_status` - `descriptive_only` - `association_only` - `experimental_causal_estimate` - `quasi_experimental_causal_estimate` - `causal_estimate` - `not_applicable` A causal estimate requires a suitable outcome claim, comparison/design, uncertainty, and limitations. Official totals alone are never a causal design. ## Model evaluations Important fields are systems and versions, interface, language, sample unit and size, design, metrics, headline results, causal scope, data availability, and source. `sample_size` must be interpreted with `sample_unit`. For example, 3 experiments is not 3 participants; 810 party–question pairs is not 810 voters. ## Sampling frame - `search_status`: `complete | systematic | substantial | partial | ongoing | not_started` - `negative_search_recorded`: boolean. - `known_gap`: explicit limitation preventing stronger coverage claims. Asia and Africa aggregate named subregions for coverage counts. A false negative-search flag triggers a warning and blocks prevalence inference. ## Official electoral context ### Election status - `completed` - `scheduled` - `conditional` `contest_type=election_bundle` indicates several separately administered contests sharing a date. It is not one national result. ### Legal/result status Legal status may be a chronology such as `validated_then_void` or an explicit court-confirmation string. Tally, validation, and process status should not be collapsed. ### Turnout wide table - `ballots_cast`: retained compatibility field. For Moldova it stores protocol `D` (participants), as originally imported. - `turnout_numerator`: numerator used for the displayed/legal rate. - `turnout_numerator_measure`: semantic definition and protocol field. - `authority_reported_turnout_rate`: rounded authority value. - `turnout_rate`: computed rate with full precision. Prefer `official_election_metrics` for cross-jurisdiction work. ### Official long-form metrics - `metric_code` and `source_field_code`: normalized and original codes. - `value`: numeric value. - `numerator_metric`, `denominator_metric`: components of a rate. - `authority_reported_rate`, `computed_rate`: published rounding and reproducible calculation. - `legal_role`: protocol component, legal numerator/denominator, validity rate, participation rate, or context. ### Official results - `valid_vote_share`: decimal fraction from 0 to 1. - `coverage_status`: `complete_national_contest | complete | partial`. - `ballot_designating_entity`: entity formally designating a candidate, kept separate from party membership or endorsement. - `seats`: official allocated mandates when applicable. - `outcome=excluded_ballots_invalidated`: registered competitor with no valid votes after exclusion; not ranked as an ordinary zero-vote competitor. ## Missingness and delimiters - Missing values are blank. - The literal `unknown` is used only when it is a controlled category. - Dates use ISO 8601 (`YYYY-MM-DD`). - Percentages and shares are decimal fractions; `0.525` means 52.5%. - Legacy multi-value fields use `|`; normalized joins are preferred.