Evidence and Technology

What counts as evidence?

Evidence can include calibrated sensor data, original imagery, contemporaneous logs, physical samples with documented provenance, and independent witness records. Quantity alone is not quality: multiple displays can derive from one sensor, and several articles can repeat one unverified source.

Questions to ask

• Is the original file or dataset available?
• Are platform, sensor mode, range, weather, and geometry known?
• Is apparent performance measured or inferred from a screen?
• Has the material been edited, transcoded, or stripped of metadata?
• Were ordinary explanations tested under the same conditions?

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