FORwiki:Guidelines

The Foresight Wiki publishes articles that reflect opinions of Foresight community members. As it is customary for most wiki websites, FORwiki articles should rely on dependable sources, although self-published sources are also acceptable. Dependable sources are credible materials with a reputation for fact-checking and accuracy, published following a reliable publication process. The authors of dependable sources are generally regarded by the Foresight community as authoritative in relation to the subject at hand. But referencing a FORwiki articles always depends on context, hence common sense and editorial judgment are indispensable. Sources should directly support the information as it is presented in an article and should be appropriate to the claims made in the article. The guidelines for FORwiki content development reflect a method expressed in the pragmatic maxim, according to which the meaning of a concept is determined by the practical consequences of its application. In the words of Charles Sanders Peirce, “if one can define accurately all the conceivable experimental phenomena which the affirmation or denial of a concept could imply one will have a complete definition of the concept, and there is absolutely nothing more in it”[1]. Meaning of a Foresight method or concept is thus a matter of the conceivable experiential consequences of a concept's applying. Yet another pragmatic maxim states that “there can be no difference anywhere that doesn't make a difference elsewhere” (William James) [1]. We further hold that the meaning of a Foresight concept is purposive, that the consequences of a belief includes not only the consequences of the truth of the proposition believed, but also the consequences of the person's believing it.

Dependable Sources
The term "published" is commonly associated with texts. Multimedia materials may also meet the criteria to be considered a dependable source, if they were recorded and broadcast or distributed by a reputable third-party. In order to be considered a dependable source, an archived copy of the media content must exist. Like text sources, multimedia sources must be properly cited. The following specific examples cover only some of the possible types of source dependability, and are not intended to be exhaustive.

Academic
Reputable peer-reviewed publications or by well-regarded academic presses are usually the most dependable sources. However, published research reports or proceedings of academic events are also acceptable. The choice of appropriate sources depends on context and information, and should be clearly attributed where there are conflicting sources. For the Foresight Wiki citation format, see FORwiki:Manual of Style

News Organizations
Material from mainstream news organizations is acceptable, particularly when the topic is a Foresight exercise or the review of a book with Foresight as the subject at hand. However, an opinion piece is accepted only as illustrating the opinion of its author, not as a statement of fact, and should be attributed to the author in-text. In articles about living persons, only material from high-end organizations may be used. Publishing rumors may lead to the speedy deletion of the article.

Self-published Sources
Self-published sources may be used in limited circumstances, when produced by an established expert on the topic of the article whose work has previously been published by dependable sources. Caution is needed, since publishing personal opinions on the topic at hand may lead to the speedy deletion of the article.

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Sources
FORwiki articles should be based on secondary sources. Tertiary sources - such as compendia, encyclopedias, textbooks, and other summarizing sources - may be used to give overviews or summaries. But tertiary sources should not be used in place of secondary sources, which form the main support for the bulk of the article. Also, primary sources should be used with caution, in order to avoid original research. Publishing original research may lead to the speedy deletion of the article. For the Foresight Wiki No Research Rule, see FORwiki:No Research Rule

Specific contexts
The Foresight Wiki platform comes with four pre-defined portals. Even though there are FORwiki articles that are not included in any of these portals - for instance, biographical articles – it is safe to say that they constitute the bulk of the platform, and that which makes Foresight Wiki the way it is. Hence, articles published in either of the portals must respect specific guidelines. Not respecting these guidelines may lead to the speedy deletion of the article.

Portal:Clarifications
Articles from the portal Clarifications approach the fundamentals of Foresight - essential concepts upon which inter-subjective understandings of foresight exercises is constructed. Therefore, these texts must be acknowledged by the community of Foresight practitioners through a validation mechanism. But the Foresight Wiki does not have an embedded peer-review procedure; such a mechanism would turn the platform into just another academic journal. In turn, publishing segments in articles from the portal Clarifications must respect tougher guidelines, and only academic sources are accepted. Typically, an article published in this portal includes: For the Bucharest Dialogues, see FORwiki:Bucharest Dialogues
 * the report of a Bucharest Dialogue on the topic at hand;
 * segments included after the event has taken place, based on published work from dependable sources.

Portal:Practices
Articles from the portal Practices present instances of similar practices from Foresight exercises (so-called “Foresight methods”). Each segment of the article, in which one specific instance of the respective practice is presented, includes an internal link to the narrative of the Foresight exercise in which the practice was implemented. Also, the articles from the portal Practices include content migrated from the FOR-LEARN platform; the FOR-LEARN Guide is a mandatory reference. Typically, an article published in this portal includes:
 * a synopsis of the FOR-LEARN article on the topic at hand;
 * a sequence of segments, each one presenting the practice in the context one specific Foresight exercise.

Portal:Narratives
Articles from the portal Naratives present case studies of Foresight exercises. Such an article would typically include internal links to articles from the portal Clarifications, when the narrative of the Foresight exercise uses a concept that is the topic of an article from that portal, and internal links to articles from the portal Practices, for each practice instantiated in the narrative. Introducing a new article in the portal Naratives implies that new segments will be added to articles from the portal Practices. This is a mandatory task for the article’s author. In the absence of such add-ups, the narrative is considered a stub, and the proper notice label will be placed at the beginning.

Portal:Repository
Articles from the portal Repository present books, volumes, manuals, proceedings published by members of the community of Foresight practitioners. A review will typically include the following elements:
 * meta-data – title, author, publishing house, year, ISBN;
 * keywords – maximum five keywords;
 * description – theme, subject, perspective;
 * added value – original points of view, and new concepts;
 * critical analysis – structure, argument, relevance;
 * reviewer’s name.