What is a discourse graph, and why is the paper rendered as one?

A discourse graph is an alternative form of scientific communication. Instead of a single linear document, the argument is composed of typed nodes — Questions, Claims, Evidence, Methods, Sources — connected by typed edges: addresses, supports, opposes, derived from, uses method. Every node is self-contained, addressable, and individually contributable.

The form was developed by Joel Chan, Matthew Akamatsu, and collaborators, and refined inside Roam Research, Protocol Labs, and adjacent research communities. The Q/C/E/S core schema is small enough to remember; this project adds Method (M) as a fifth type for analytical instruments — taxonomies, formulas, frameworks — that Claims invoke but that are not Claims themselves.

What discourse graphs change

The Resilient Data Futures whitepaper was written paper-first and then decomposed into a graph. That origin is unusual — discourse graphs are normally built incrementally, by contributors adding Questions, Claims, Evidence, and counter-evidence over time. We decomposed an existing paper to bootstrap the graph with real content, and to demonstrate what becomes possible once it exists.

Contribution becomes node-shaped.The argument is contributable at the right grain. A counterclaim is a new node attached to the original, not a competing paper published somewhere else. A new piece of evidence is a new node, not a fight over a paragraph. A new question opens a line the existing graph doesn't address.

Publishing becomes discrete. Instead of monolithic, time-bound releases on multi-year cycles, you publish when you have something to add — a single Claim, a single Evidence, a methodology fork. The unit of contribution shrinks to the unit of new understanding.

Review changes shape. Reviewing a paragraph in a paper means arguing about wording. Reviewing a node means engaging directly with a Claim, an Evidence, a Source, or a Method — and the response, whether agreement, counterclaim, or methodology fork, lives as another node attached at the right edge.

Credit becomes granular.Each node has its own ID and its own PID — citable independently. A Method, a Source, an Evidence, a Claim can be cited (and tracked) on its own merit. The contributor who proposed C-0017 gets credit when C-0017 is invoked, even when the paper that introduced it isn't. Funders, hiring committees, and citation indexes can resolve attribution to the unit of contribution rather than rolling it up into “lead author of paper X.”

Narratives become snapshots. From the graph, narratives can be composed for any audience — academic paper, executive brief, blog post — without rewriting the underlying claims. They also evolve: the narrative composed today is one telling; the same narrative composed after the graph accumulates more evidence and counter-evidence is a different telling. Narratives stop being static artifacts. They become comfortable as snapshots of an evolving understanding.

The original whitepaper, this site, and each composed narrative all derive from the same node files in graph/.

How to read it

• By topology: /graph shows the whole argument at a glance. Nodes are colored by type; edges are colored by relation. Click any node to inspect its bundle — everything one hop away.
• As narratives: /narratives renders the original whitepaper that seeded the graph, section by section, with each citation linked to its Source node. A toggle at the top swaps to other narratives composed directly from the graph for different audiences and framings.
• By node: every node sits at /node/<ID>. Each page shows the prose body, outbound edges, inbound backlinks, and a deep link to open a GitHub issue about that one node.

How to contribute

Discussion happens at node granularity. Open an issue with the node:<ID> label, or open a pull request that adds a counterclaim, counter-evidence, or a new question. The full contribution model lives in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Further reading

• discoursegraphs.com — the canonical Q/C/E framework and its provenance.
• Discourse graphs and the future of science — Protocol Labs' framing of the form's research-infrastructure implications.
• DiscourseGraphs/schemas — the underlying schema repository this work extends.