What the final document leaves out
A finished page can hide the decisions that produced it.
Data Exhaust · By Jonathan Malchow Vega
The information work leaves behind.
Notes and practical tools for understanding digital traces, preserving context, and deciding what a record can really tell us.
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A useful place to begin
One collection. One question. A clearer next step.
Start with something real: a document nobody can locate, a record missing its source, or a name that means different things to different people. Describe the problem before choosing another system.
From the notebook
When does a record become evidence?
An observation needs a source, context, and a bounded claim.
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Trace notebook
Start with a claim, identify its source, and separate observations from assumptions. Ask another person to follow the source reference.
DESCRIBED / Data Exhaust
A free resource for the next step.
Follow a record back to its source. Separate what it shows from what you still need to find out.
Trace notebook
Start with a claim, identify its source, and separate observations from assumptions. Ask another person to follow the source reference.
Open resourceSource handoff checklist
Give the next person enough context to find a source and understand what happened to it.
Open resourceClaim and evidence check
Test whether a record supports the specific claim you want to make.
Open resource