Evidencing Claims By Combining Citations

Note

To learn more about the fundamentals of dates and timelines in Security Force Monitor’s approach read How Dates Work first.

Example

Citations establish that light infantry divisions of Myanmar are made up of three tactical operations commands, each of which in turn command battalions. For the 99 Light Infantry Division citations establish there are the following tactical operations commands under it: 991 Tactical Operations Command, 992 Tactical Operations Command, and the 993 Tactical Operations Command. Thus all tactical operations commands exist in the Monitor’s dataset. However, citations often reference battalions as being a part of the 99 Light Infantry Division, without specifying which tactical operations command the particular battalion is under. Because of this, even though all possible tactical operations commands are known and represented in the data, the Monitor has created an “Unknown” unit, the Unknown Tactical Operations Command (99 Light Infantry Division). Any citation that states a battalion is part of the 99 Light Infantry Division, without referencing a tactical operations command, is used to evidence a Relation between the battalion and the Unknown Tactical Operations Command (99 Light Infantry Division). Of course, the supporting citations that establish battalions are under tactical operations command would also be entered in the citation:refs:claim for the claim, and an explanatory note would be entered in public_notes:meta.

Parent Units Assuming Poistioning and Classifications

Unit Classifications

Classifications are “pushed up” to parent units or the relation:related_unit:refs:assertion units, meaning that a Unit should have all of the unit:classifications:assertion of any subordinate Unit. For example, the Unit representing the head of state or head of government which acts as commander-in-chief of the armed forces would have a unit:classifications:assertion of Military, among others.

Positionings

Every Positioning should be “pushed up” to parent units or the relation:related_unit:refs:assertion units, which have a Relation that overlaps any Positioning claim for any subordinate Unit.

Example

The Myanmar Army contains ten light infantry divisions which control battalions. A citation references the 79 Infantry Battalion operating in Lashio Township on 2020-04-24, giving that battalion a Positioning for Lashio Township on 2020-04-24. Other citations establish a Relation between the 79 Infantry Battalion and the 99 Light Infantry Division before and after the Positioning of the battalion to Lashio Township. In this case, a Positioning claim for 99 Light Infantry Division operating in Lashio Township on 2020-04-24 should be created. The claim would be evidenced by the original citation for the 79 Infantry Battalion Positioning in Lashio Township, along with all of the citations evidencing the Relation between the 79 Infantry Battalion and the 99 Light Infantry Division. Best practice is to add a public_notes:meta to this claim as well to explain the connection for a general audience.