# CIVICVS Foundation Document ## Document ID CFD-INDEX-2025 --- ## Title CIVICVS Foundation Index — Core Categories and Exemplars --- ## Purpose To provide a single reference point for all **Foundation Documents (CFDs)** that define the canonical categories of civic artifacts. The Foundation Index ensures that every Civic Analyst, whether self-trained or collaborating with others, works from the same baseline: a stable taxonomy of artifact types, their significance, and their exemplars. --- ## Foundation Categories ### 1. **Conflict of Interest (COI)** * **Document:** CFD-COI-2021-PFIZER-WEF-JSMITH * **Definition:** *Immutable by Origin evidence* revealing structural overlaps between power centers (corporate, political, governance). * **Significance:** COIs explain systemic bias and narrative manipulation. * **Analyst Rule:** Always treat COIs as **primary artifacts**, not background context. --- ### 2. **Contested Immutable Record (CIR)** * **Document:** CFD-CIR-1990-WARREN-TRIBAL-CLAIM * **Definition:** Official records that are immutable in form, but disputed in accuracy or legitimacy, often confronted by counter-artifacts. * **Significance:** CIRs show where institutional, cultural, or scientific authorities remain in permanent tension. * **Analyst Rule:** Preserve all sides — never collapse contested records into a single “truth.” --- ### 3. **Academic Integrity (AI)** * **Document:** CFD-AI-2024-HARVARD-GAY-RESIGNATION * **Definition:** Failures of scholarly integrity (plagiarism, falsification, misconduct) that compromise the civic protocol of knowledge production. * **Significance:** Academic integrity is a civic duty, not a private professional standard. Its collapse destabilizes institutional trust. * **Analyst Rule:** Preserve comparative exhibits and institutional responses as civic artifacts. --- ### 4. **Context Dossier (CTX)** * **Document:** CFD-CTX-2015-2024-HARVARD-DEI-POLICY * **Definition:** Environments of processes and records (policies, funding, governance, law) that frame civic disputes. * **Significance:** Provides structured context for contested civic debates, grounded in immutable processes (admissions, budgets, filings). * **Analyst Rule:** Document the *environment*, not just the event. --- ### 5. **Media Actors (MA)** * **Document:** CFD-MA-2010-2025-NEW-MEDIA-ACTORS * **Definition:** Non-institutional actors who shape discourse (podcasts, influencers, citizen journalists, viral media, fake news, and Civic Analysts). * **Significance:** Media actors produce fragile, mutable narratives that must be preserved and classified without mistaking them for evidence. * **Analyst Rule:** Distinguish between civic noise and civic evidence; elevate the **Civic Analyst** as the corrective actor producing permanence. --- ### 6. **Media Infrastructure (MI)** * **Document:** CFD-MI-2025-MEDIA-INFRASTRUCTURE * **Definition:** The mediums and protocols through which artifacts are created and transmitted (print, proprietary audio/video, centralized and decentralized platforms, forums, private networks, routing protocols). * **Significance:** The infrastructure dictates durability, provenance, and civic legitimacy. * **Analyst Rule:** * Print = preferred, forensic, immutable. * Proprietary media = excluded (profit-driven concealment). * Centralized = fragile, censored, must be archived. * Decentralized = resilient, independence-preserving. * Owner-operated = fragile but true free speech. * Private networks = unreliable and balkanized. * Routing protocols (Tor, IPFS, blockchain) = future durability, but require provenance safeguards. --- ### 7. **Organizational Guise (OG)** * **Document:** CFD-OG-2025-ORGANIZATIONAL-GUISE * **Definition:** Institutions presenting themselves as serving the public good, but whose preserved artifacts reveal misalignment between claimed purpose and actual output. * **Subtypes & Exemplars:** 1. **Facade NGOs** — *Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter* 2. **Pseudo-Governments** — *Homeowners Associations (HOAs)* 3. **State-Subsidized Guise** — *National Public Radio (NPR)* * **Significance:** OGs corrupt civic trust by disguising political, financial, or coercive agendas under moralized branding. * **Analyst Rule:** Always preserve both the claimed purpose (mission statements, branding) and actual outputs (financial filings, audits, measurable services). Misalignment itself is the civic artifact. --- ## Analyst Notes * **Immutability is the anchor:** Whether by origin (COI), by dispute (CIR), or by construction (AI, MA), artifacts must be preserved immutably. * **Separation of roles:** Context Dossiers (CTX) provide structural maps; Artifact Entries (CAE) capture single items; Foundation Documents (CFD) define categories. * **Ethics over morality:** Analysts judge artifacts against ethical protocols (disclosure, integrity, transparency), not moral rhetoric. * **Infrastructure and organization:** Civic Analysts must consider both the **channel** (Media Infrastructure) and the **guise** of institutions when evaluating civic claims. --- ## Civic Consequence The CIVICVS Foundation Index now defines **seven core civic artifact categories**: COI, CIR, AI, CTX, MA, MI, OG. Together, they form the structural backbone of the discipline. With these categories, any civic controversy — from policy disputes to NGO scandals to viral misinformation — can be analyzed within a reproducible, auditable framework that balances artifact permanence, context, actor, infrastructure, and organizational legitimacy. --- ✅ **Status:** Foundation Index updated (2025). **Categories Established:** COI, CIR, AI, CTX, MA, MI, OG.