Fact database

Fact database

A recent thread on foundation-l ("universal citation index") caused me to seek this page out.

It strikes me that one very valuable function could be if this were strictly about simplifying the citation process.

Let's say, for example, that several articles mention a particular fact that might be controversial and thus needs very solid citation (and possibly multiple citations). Rather than tediously including the citations in every article, and having discussion in every article, a new fact entry could be created in a database (similar to a wiki page, but very brief like a wiktionary entry). The citations could be attached to the fact, the fact could be referenced in the article, and the article (when rendered) would pull the citations via reference by the fact database rather than including them directly.

RobLa - fact database02:06, 20 July 2010