Topics
A controlled vocabulary, not whatever words
somebody happened to type.
18 topics, 55 subjects, 160 named record types. The same file the records console files requests against and the analysis engine compares agencies with — so navigation here and a request out there mean the same thing.
Free tags would have been easier. They also would have made this unnavigable by anybody who was not already here, which is the entire audience a reading room is for.
Three things break without a controlled vocabulary. Search across published research needs facets that are stable enough to hold a URL. Comparing how two agencies answered the same kind of question needs both requests to be about the same kind of question in a form a machine can see. And a reader arriving cold needs a way in that is not a search box demanding they already know the right word.
So topics and subjects are fixed, and they live in one file that this site, the records console and the analysis engine all read. A subject added there appears here on the next build.
Why the record types are listed
Under each subject is a list of the documents that actually exist for it: use-of-force reports, early intervention system records, consent search forms, logic and accuracy test results, lead service line inventories.
That list is the difference between a request an agency can process and one that comes back as “not reasonably described” — which is the most common reason a first request fails, and costs a requester weeks. An agency cannot search for “everything about surveillance”. It can search for a named contract, a named policy, a named log.
Here in the reading room the same list does a second job: it tells a reader what a post did not ask for. A post about surveillance technology that carries only a procurement record is a post that has not seen the use policy or the audit log, and the vocabulary makes that visible without anybody having to say it.
The vocabulary in full
5 subjects
Policing
- Use of force use-of-force reports · body-worn camera policy and footage logs · early intervention system records
- Misconduct and discipline complaint files · internal affairs summaries · disciplinary matrices · Brady/Giglio lists
- Stops, searches and arrests stop data · consent search forms · arrest logs
- Surveillance technology ALPR contracts · cell-site simulator agreements · facial recognition policies · non-disclosure agreements with vendors
- Training and policy academy curricula · general orders · policy manuals
5 subjects
Corrections and detention
- Conditions of confinement inspection reports · grievance logs · population and capacity reports
- Deaths and serious incidents custodial death reports · mortality reviews · incident reports
- Medical and mental health care contracts with care vendors · monitoring reports · staffing rosters
- Restraint and isolation restraint-chair logs · segregation placement records · observation logs
- Release, parole and reentry parole board decisions · release planning records
3 subjects
Courts and prosecution
- Charging and declination charging policies · declination data · diversion program records
- Indigent defence contracts · caseload reports · funding allocations
- Forensic evidence lab audit reports · proficiency testing · backlog reports
3 subjects
Immigration and border
- Detention facility inspections · detention standards compliance · contracts with operators
- Enforcement operations operational directives · arrest statistics · cooperation agreements with local police
- Processing and adjudication backlog data · processing time reports
3 subjects
Elections and voting
- Election administration procedure manuals · chain-of-custody records · logic and accuracy test results
- Voter rolls and maintenance list maintenance records · removal notices · matching criteria
- Equipment and vendors contracts · certification records · incident logs
3 subjects
Health and public health
- Outbreak and emergency response situation reports · case counts · guidance issued to facilities
- Facility inspections inspection reports · deficiency citations · plans of correction
- Contracts and procurement vendor contracts · invoices · performance reports
3 subjects
Education
- Student discipline discipline data · school resource officer agreements · referral records
- Spending and contracts budgets · vendor contracts · grant reports
- Safety and policing in schools memoranda of understanding · incident reports
3 subjects
Environment and energy
- Permits and enforcement permit applications · violation notices · consent decrees
- Monitoring data sampling results · self-reported discharge monitoring · inspection reports
- Water systems testing results · lead service line inventories · boil-water notices
3 subjects
Housing and land use
- Code enforcement violation records · inspection histories · receivership filings
- Subsidised housing waiting list data · inspection scores · management contracts
- Zoning and development applications · staff reports · communications with developers
4 subjects
Budget, contracts and spending
- Procurement solicitations · bid tabulations · awarded contracts · change orders
- Payments and invoices check registers · purchase card statements · invoices
- Grants applications · award letters · performance reports
- Settlements and claims settlement agreements · claim logs · insurance records
3 subjects
Surveillance and technology
- Acquisition and contracts procurement records · vendor agreements · non-disclosure agreements
- Use policies and audits policies · audit logs · privacy impact assessments
- Data sharing memoranda of understanding · interagency agreements · access logs
3 subjects
Labour and employment
- Personnel and payroll salary schedules · overtime records · separation agreements
- Workplace safety inspection reports · injury logs · citations
- Collective bargaining agreements · side letters · grievance decisions
3 subjects
Civil rights and discrimination
- Complaints and investigations complaint data · investigation findings · compliance agreements
- Disparity and outcomes demographic outcome data · disparity studies
- Access and accommodation accessibility audits · language access plans · accommodation records
2 subjects
Child welfare and family services
- Case outcomes and oversight aggregate outcome data · critical incident reviews · ombudsman reports
- Placements and providers provider contracts · licensing inspections · capacity data
2 subjects
Emergency management
- Response and after-action after-action reports · incident action plans · mutual aid agreements
- Preparedness plans · exercise reports · grant records
2 subjects
Transport and infrastructure
- Projects and delivery project files · change orders · inspection reports
- Safety crash data · bridge inspection reports · maintenance logs
2 subjects
Military and veterans
- Benefits and claims claim processing data · appeal backlog reports
- Facilities and environment environmental assessments · remediation records
3 subjects
Ethics and conflicts
- Financial disclosure disclosure filings · recusal records
- Lobbying and access visitor logs · calendars · lobbying registrations
- Investigations inspector general reports · audit findings
How it is used
- On a post
- Topic and subject sit in the provenance block beside the agency and the dates. They come from the ingest call, not from the composer.
- In the widget
data-topic="policing"ordata-topic="policing/use-of-force". An author’s own site can carry a feed of a whole topic or one subject of it. Anything not matching the vocabulary is dropped rather than passed through. The widget →- In a collection
- A collection can follow a subject, so new research on that subject appears in it as it is published. Following and collections →
The vocabulary is not neutral, and it is not finished
Every taxonomy is an argument about what matters. This one has a subject for surveillance procurement and none for procurement fraud; it splits corrections from policing and treats immigration detention as its own topic rather than as corrections. Those are choices, and a reader should be able to see them as choices. They will change as the work does — which is a reason to keep them in one file, not a reason to avoid having them.
One file
The navigation and the request are the same vocabulary.
Organising a reading room by whatever words people happened to type is not organising it. Organising it by the words a request can actually be filed under means a reader who finds a gap can go and fill it.
How this works
0:56 · narrated · captioned · served from this site, and nothing is sent anywhere when you press play. Prefer to read it? The transcript is below.
Transcript
| At | Section | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| 0:02 | One vocabulary | Eighteen topics, fifty-five subjects, and a hundred and sixty named record types. The reading room, the records console and the analysis engine all read one file. |
| 0:12 | Not free tags | Free tags would be easier and would make this unnavigable by anyone not already here, which is the entire audience a reading room exists for. |
| 0:22 | Record types | Under each subject are the documents that actually exist for it. That list is the difference between a request an agency can process and one returned as too vague. |
| 0:31 | What it reveals | It also shows what a post did not ask for. Research citing only a procurement record has not seen the use policy or the audit log, and the vocabulary says so. |
| 0:42 | An argument | Every taxonomy is an argument about what matters. This one is a set of choices, kept in one file so a reader can see them as choices and so they can change. |