Define layered encyclopedia vision and MVP plan

[holden]

Vision

This project is both an art project, social commentary on knowledge decay, and a modern reimagining of the encyclopedia.

It draws inspiration from:

• Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary
• Enlightenment encyclopedists such as Denis Diderot and Voltaire
• The contrast between structured knowledge and chaotic modern content such as TikToks, memes, tweets, and other cultural fragments

The goal is to juxtapose truth, interpretation, and noise in a single system.

Conceptual Model

Model knowledge as a hierarchy of authority and signal quality.

Layer	Nature	Lifespan	Control
Canonical	Truth	Long	Editorial
Curated	Interpretation	Medium	Editorial
Public	Noise / Culture	Short	User-generated with moderation

This tension is the product.

Layer 1: Canonical Definitions

Purpose: establish ground truth.

Includes:

• Dictionary or encyclopedia entries
• Editor-written or editor-curated definitions
• Established knowledge, public domain sources, and real-world definitions
• Optional extended descriptions

Characteristics:

• Immutable by the public
• High signal, low noise
• Long lifespan, aiming toward permanence

Layer 2: Curated Interpretation

Purpose: add perspective, satire, and human context.

Includes:

• Historical and modern quotes
• Editorial commentary
• Satirical definitions in the spirit of Bierce
• Interpretations of the canonical definition

Characteristics:

• Editorially controlled
• More subjective than canonical definitions
• Bridges truth and culture

Layer 3: Public Signal

Purpose: capture modern chaos without allowing it to redefine truth.

Includes:

• Examples of the concept in the wild
• Memes, TikToks, tweets, videos, screenshots, and other cultural artifacts
• User-submitted interpretations or annotations
• Votes on relevance and quality

Constraints:

• Users cannot edit canonical definitions
• Users cannot redefine the term's truth layer
• Users can only contribute illustrations, examples, and cultural artifacts around it

Characteristics:

• High noise with emergent signal
• Fast-moving and ephemeral
• Valuable because it contrasts with the stable editorial layers

MVP Scope

We are not building Wikipedia.

We are building a read-only encyclopedia with participatory annotation of reality.

MVP Features

Core Entry System

Each entry should contain:

• Term / concept
• Canonical definition
• Optional extended description

Editorial Interpretation

Each entry can optionally contain:

• Quotes
• Commentary
• Satirical or alternate editorial definitions
• Source or attribution metadata where applicable

Public Contributions

Users should be able to submit examples that illustrate an entry, such as:

• URLs
• Text snippets
• Media references
• Notes explaining why the example belongs with the entry

Users should be able to vote on public examples for relevance or quality.

Guardrails

• Public users cannot edit canonical definitions
• Public users cannot edit curated editorial interpretation
• Public examples should be separable from editorial content in the UI and data model
• Moderation or approval should be considered before public examples become visible

Open Product Questions

• Are public submissions visible immediately, queued for approval, or both depending on trust level?
• Do votes represent quality, relevance, irony, or a more specific signal?
• Should public artifacts expire, decay, or be sorted by recency to reinforce ephemerality?
• Should satirical definitions live as first-class editorial objects or as a subtype of commentary?
• What sourcing standards apply to canonical definitions versus curated commentary?

Acceptance Criteria

• A product direction exists for the three-layer knowledge model
• MVP scope is constrained to editorial entries plus public annotations/examples
• Canonical, curated, and public layers are clearly distinct in the data model and UI
• Public contribution permissions do not allow redefining editorial truth
• Follow-up implementation issues can be split from this vision issue