Method · version 1
How Lens is made
Questions can come from anywhere. Answers must be earned through evidence. Lens shows what supports an answer, what Lens inferred and what remains unknown.
The human-language law
Write for people.
A reader must never have to learn Lens or Sense vocabulary to understand a story. We lead with what happened and what it means. The technical record sits underneath for anyone who wants to inspect it.
Who is responsible
Kent Burchard publishes Lens through Harmonic Futures Pty Ltd.
AI tools assist with research, drafting and production. Responsibility stays with the publisher. A source link is not a claim of independent expert review. We identify specialist review when it has actually occurred, and material corrections explain what changed.
Lens researches and publishes the work. ZAK is a system being developed to keep a clear record of sources and editorial decisions. Lens will say “Powered by ZAK” only when that system has actually been used for the published work. Issue 001 does not make that claim.
What Lens can establish
A belief, experience, opinion or interpretation can be important information. Lens represents it honestly when it helps explain a story. It does not become factual evidence because it is sincere, widely shared, officially supported or personally meaningful. Lens does not decide whether a person's worldview is valid and does not ridicule it. Lens decides only what can responsibly be established from information people can inspect.
1. Begin with the conversation gap
A Lens story begins when there is a meaningful gap between what people are saying and what can actually be established. Candidates are considered for how talked about, misunderstood, consequential, verifiable and interesting they are. Public discussion identifies the question; it does not prove the answer.
2. Start with evidence people can check
We begin with original documents and sources close to the event. Important factual statements should link to evidence. Repeating a statement does not make it true.
3. Choose real views
Each view represents a clear set of experiences, interests and assumptions. It does not treat a person, group or country as if everyone thinks in the same way. We ask what each view explains well and what it may miss.
4. Show what kind of statement it is
- Observation: something directly seen, measured or recorded.
- Experience: what a person says happened to them or what they felt.
- Supported by source: an original source directly supports the statement.
- Reported: a reliable source reports the statement.
- Claimed: a person or organisation makes the statement.
- Interpretation: meaning added to established information.
- Discussion: public conversation that may reveal questions or views but does not establish facts by itself.
- Disputed: reliable evidence or people involved disagree with the statement.
- Lens explanation: Lens explains the meaning of established information.
- Lens conclusion: Lens reaches a conclusion that the source does not state directly.
- Unknown: the available evidence does not establish an answer.
5. Do not give every statement equal weight
Showing different views does not mean every statement is equally strong. When evidence strongly supports one conclusion, Lens says so. When evidence does not settle a disagreement, Lens keeps the disagreement visible.
6. Show how the story changed
When the necessary records exist, Lens reconstructs how wording, certainty or meaning changed between the original record and the version people encountered. Missing steps remain missing. A satisfying chain is never manufactured.
7. Preserve the original
Each issue lists its sources, publication date and method limits. Later evidence appears as a dated update linked to the original story. Material corrections are recorded rather than silently overwritten.
Corrections
Send the source and exact correction to support@zakgov.com.