CULTURETECHLENS
Photo: TonyTheTiger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Primary Sources
CultureTechLens publishes original research data on Black cultural history — datasets, evidence tables, source registers, and a knowledge graph — built to be cited like any other primary source. Every dataset ships with its methodology, its sources, and a public corrections log.
What counts as a CTL primary source
A primary source is original material created or compiled at the point of evidence — the thing scholars quote, count, and build on, rather than commentary about it. CTL’s holdings clear that bar in four places:
Index datasets
Each monthly edition of the CultureTechLens Index is a computed dataset that exists nowhere else: 10 subjects scored 0–100 on public attention (40%), evidence depth (40%), and momentum (20%), under methodology CTL-IDX-001 v1.1.
Source register
A machine-readable register of the sources behind CTL research — what was consulted, where it lives, and what it evidences. A finding aid for Black cultural documentation.
Knowledge graph
CTL-KG-CORE-001: 300 entities and 224 verified relationships mapping the Black cultural record — people, places, works, and how they connect.
Research corpus
47 research packages — 14 flagships, 25 briefs, 8 dossiers — each with cited sources, evidence tables, and corrections logs, in the public research repository.
Dataset: CultureTechLens Index, Edition 2026-10
Title: CultureTechLens Index, Edition 2026-10: Artifacts — Data, Methodology, and Findings
Catalog ID: CTL-IDX-003
Published: 2026-09-28 · Version: 1.0 · License: CC BY 4.0
Methodology: CTL-IDX-001 v1.1 — public attention 40% (trailing-30-day English Wikipedia pageviews), evidence depth 40% (CTL research-corpus claim grades), momentum 20% (pageview trend)
DOI: Pending Zenodo deposit. Until then, cite the repository path and release tag.
Download the dataset (GitHub) Read the edition page
Release tag: edition-2026-10. After the Zenodo deposit publishes, a DOI identifier and a Zenodo distribution entry will be added to the dataset record.
The source register
The register (SOURCES/source-register.csv) is a machine-readable index of research sources used by CultureTechLens. Its ten fields:
source_id — stable internal identifier
title — source title
author_or_org — author or responsible organization
publication_date — publication or creation date when known
access_date — date CTL accessed the source
source_type — primary, institutional, scholarly, journalism, interview, secondary, etc.
url — source location
evidence_summary — concise description of relevant evidence
status — active, archived, unavailable, disputed, etc.
notes — additional context or limitations
Access it at SOURCES/source-register.csv in the public research repository. The register is being populated: its structure is published and 8 entries are staged for the next update (checked 2026-09-30). The register is an index of sources, not a substitute for the full research record.
How to cite the dataset
Cite the specific dataset or record — not this page, not the homepage. Include the edition or release tag whenever reproducibility matters. Full primary-source citation standard ›
Chicago (17th):
edition-2026-10.APA (7th):
MLA (9th):
edition-2026-10.In-text framing: “Scores are drawn from the CultureTechLens Index, Edition 2026-10 dataset (public attention 40%, evidence depth 40%, momentum 20%; methodology CTL-IDX-001 v1.1).”
Honest limits
What’s coming
- DOIs for every Index edition, so each dataset is permanently citable
- Stable URLs for every record in the corpus
- One-click downloads of every dataset from this portal
- Community digitization: photographs, documents, and ephemera from Chicago’s South Side, preserved with full provenance
On request today: entity authority records, rights-cleared press images with credit lines, and unpublished datasets. Email [email protected] with the record ID or a description of the material. No paywall, no fee.
Source: CultureTechLens
Trust & evidence
Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.