LAB / 06

Source Reliability Calculator

Pick a record type you'd run into doing genealogy research. It rates how much weight the record can actually carry, and why, using the same classification genealogists use: what kind of document it is, who was reporting the information, and how directly it supports a claim.

The same distinction shows up in design work: confirmed fact versus assumption. A source that only suggests something isn't proof yet, any more than an assumption is a fact.

experiment

Pick a record type above to see how it holds up.

What this is

A reference tool, not a verdict machine. Genealogical evidence is classified along three axes: provenance (was this made at the time, or copied/transcribed later), information (did the person reporting it actually witness it), and evidence type (does it state the fact directly, or only support it indirectly). None of these ratings replace looking at the actual record. A "high reliability" record type can still be the wrong record for your person, and a "lead only" source can still point you somewhere true.

What I learned

I'd already internalized that hierarchy from years of genealogy research. Building the tool made me articulate an automatic judgment as something explicit and visual, which is closer to what UX work actually is day to day: making an instinct visible enough for someone else to follow.