Outputs layer plan
Structured layer for non-publication hard-tech, design-tech, media-production, theatre-technology, game, exhibition, software, dataset, and professional-practice artifacts that evidence DePaul resource use or technical capability.
Report date: 2026-05-31
Registry: data/outputs.yaml
Person links: data/person_output_links.yaml
Resource links: data/output_resource_links.yaml
Export: scripts/export_graph_tables.py → data/graph_exports/
See also: Publications layer plan · Publication intake rules · Output intake rules · Output data intake template
Current state: 18 outputs (seed OUT-001–005 + batch 1 OUT-006–012 + batch 2 OUT-013–018) · 15 person–output links (14 graph-included) · 12 output–resource links.
1. Why an Outputs layer is needed in addition to Publications
The Publications layer works well for peer-reviewed scholarly outputs with DOI/metadata and conservative person–publication linking. It should not be forced to absorb:
- theatrical and media production credits
- games, interactive experiences, and AR/VR projects
- exhibitions, installations, and documentary films
- software, datasets, hardware prototypes, and deployed systems
- professional proceedings, conference presentations, and public technical documentation
- curricular build projects and community-engaged technical work
Batch 1–4 publication discovery excluded many of these by design (e.g., Tsui Insert Coin documentary, Binder professional lighting credits, SCA Project Bluelight films, Schrank pre-DePaul AR games). The pilot review explicitly recommended documenting non-peer outputs separately.
Outputs are evidence objects — not publicity blurbs, not a complete creative-works inventory.
2. DePaul areas likely to need this layer
| Area | Example output types | Map relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Theatre School (TTS) | Theatrical productions, lighting/sound design credits, USITT proceedings | TTS-001 shops, TTS-002 venues, TTS-003 programs |
| School of Music (MUS) | Recordings, performances with documented tech infrastructure | MUS studios, recording facilities |
| CDM game & interactive media | Games, AR/VR experiences, playtest builds | CDM-012 VAD Lab, CDM-022 HexLab, UNI-006 |
| School of Design / SPARK | Installations, data-viz civic projects, exhibitions | UNI-003 SPARK, CDM-001 IRL |
| Makerspaces & fabrication | Hardware prototypes, curricular build projects | CDM-001, CDM-005, ART shops |
| Community-engaged technical projects | Deployed sensing systems, mapping tools | SPARK, GIS (UNI-014), Steans partners |
| Media production & sound recording | Project Bluelight films, SCA productions, game audio | CDM-016 Cinespace, CDM-020 post-production |
| Jarvis / innovation centers | Exhibits, documentaries, demo systems | CDM-003 Jarvis Student Center |
3. Inclusion criteria
Include an output when all apply:
- Hard-tech or resource-map utility — documents use of a mapped facility, instrument, lab, production stage, fabrication shop, computing cluster, or deployed technical system
- DePaul connection — creator/director/producer matches a
people.yamlrecord with explicit role evidence - Evidence in intake — title, year, type, and connection quoted from official DePaul pages, production pages, or repo-cited sources
- Not better modeled as a publication — peer-reviewed journal/conference papers stay in
publications.yaml
4. Exclusion criteria
Exclude outputs that:
- Have no plausible link to a map resource, grant, or technical capability
- Are pure publicity with no facility/methods/technology detail
- Document only author affiliation or center membership without output-specific resource text
- Duplicate a publication already in
publications.yaml(unless documented migration with review notes) - Come from bulk harvest without per-record evidence review
- Are personal portfolios not linked from official DePaul sources
5. Distinction: publication · grant · resource · output
| Entity | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Publication | Peer-reviewed or formal scholarly output (journal, proceedings with scholarly bar, book with ISBN/DOI) | PUB-010 ZITO x-ray paper |
| Grant | Funded activity record (URC, Steans, equipment grant) | GRA-010 Kozlowski manuscript grant |
| Resource | Facility, lab, instrument cluster, or infrastructure node in the map | CDM-016 Cinespace Studios |
| Output | Creative, technical, or professional artifact evidencing resource use or capability | OUT-001 The Lagoon (Project Bluelight at Cinespace) |
A grant may fund an output; an output may use a resource; a person may direct an output and author a publication — these are separate edge types.
6. Warnings: overclaiming resource use
- Do not link an output to a resource because the director also leads that lab
- Do not infer Cinespace use from generic SCA affiliation
- Do not treat “Jarvis-adjacent” or “SPARK director coauthor” as facility evidence
- Profile method lists and center contact pages are not sufficient (same lesson as publication–resource links)
- Grant abstracts may guide discovery but do not prove an output used a specific facility
7. Warnings: publicity pages as evidence
DePaul news and school marketing pages may describe projects vividly but omit facility specifics. Accept publicity as evidence only when it quotes:
- named facility or lab use
- production location (e.g., Cinespace stages)
- instrument, software, or deployed system tied to a mapped resource
Otherwise record the output as candidate_status: maybe or include_in_graph: false pending methods/production notes.
8. Warnings: credits as collaboration edges
- Shared production credit does not create person–person collaboration edges
- Co-presence in a department, center, or program does not imply shared facility access
- Person–output edges record documented roles (director, designer, technical_director); they do not infer cross-unit collaboration
9. Suggested future sources for output discovery
Use in this order (future passes only):
| Source | Use when |
|---|---|
| Official DePaul project pages | Project Bluelight, SPARK projects, lab highlighted outputs |
| Official school/department news | Production announcements naming facilities |
| Production pages | Theatre season, Cinespace handbook, game showcase |
| Festival/exhibition pages | USITT, game festivals, museum partnerships (when DePaul-linked) |
| Software repositories | When URL is on official DePaul lab/project page |
| Game/project pages | VAD Lab, HexLab, DIGI showcases |
| Conference programs | Professional/design-tech proceedings (non-peer-reviewed bar) |
| Course showcase pages | IRL, TTS, GAM capstone documentation |
| Faculty portfolios | Only when clearly official or linked from depaul.edu |
Avoid: broad web search, IMDB-only credits, student portfolios without DePaul program link.
10. Recommended pilot cohort for output discovery
Prioritize people and clusters where publication discovery already found excluded non-scholarly artifacts:
| Priority | People / cluster | Rationale | Likely output types |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PER-062 Joshua Tsui (Jarvis Center) | Pilot excluded Insert Coin documentary, Midway exhibit | media_production, exhibition |
| 2 | PER-112 Christine Binder + TTS faculty | Publication batch excluded professional lighting credits | production_credit, theatrical_production |
| 3 | PER-064 Schrank, PER-065 Wetzel (VAD/HexLab) | BragFish AR deferred; game/XR cluster has zero pubs | game, ar_vr_experience, interactive_media |
| 4 | PER-023 Wagner (SPARK) | Qualitative pub weak for map; civic viz projects may fit outputs | community_project, public_documentation |
| 5 | SCA Cinespace roster (PER-107–109, PER-072, PER-040) | Additional Bluelight titles beyond seed five | media_production |
| 6 | PER-101 Matteson, PER-102 Liang (Industrial Design) | No hard-tech pubs; IRL fabrication projects | hardware_prototype, curricular_project |
| 7 | MUS recording faculty | Low publication signal; studio outputs | sound_recording, media_production |
Batch size: 8–10 people; 1–2 outputs per person at conservative evidence bar. Quality review pass after each batch (mirror publications workflow).
Seed records (2026-05-31): OUT-001 … OUT-005 — Project Bluelight films with explicit Cinespace (CDM-016) evidence from people.yaml.
Batches 1–2 (2026-05-31 – 2026-06-01): OUT-006 … OUT-018 — see outputs-quality-review.md and output-intake-rules.md.
Lessons from Outputs batch 1
Discovery batch 1 (Tsui, Schrank, Wetzel, Wagner, Bluelight roster) added seven outputs with conservative person and resource linking. Quality review excluded POL-008 (Wagner → Plant digital twin) from the graph while keeping OUT-008 and ORL-006 — person–output and output–resource evidence must be evaluated separately.
| Lesson | Takeaway |
|---|---|
| Project Bluelight / Cinespace | ORL-001–005 links are strong because output–resource evidence is explicit (production at Cinespace / CDM-016). |
| SPARK projects | ORL-006–008 are strong when the SPARK project page or DePaul press release names the facility connection; person links still require the person named on that output. |
| Person on the specific output | Beyond the Loan (press names Wagner) vs Plant digital twin (SPARK page does not name Wagner) — same center director, different person–output bar. |
| Plant digital twin | Illustrates splitting output artifact + output–resource (valid) from person–output (excluded when not named). |
| Hub monitoring | UNI-003 (three SPARK output–resource edges) and CDM-016 (five Bluelight edges) are real hubs with explicit text; monitor for weak inferred edges before adding more. |
Full intake rules: output-intake-rules.md.
Regeneration commands
python3 scripts/refresh_all.py
python3 scripts/export_graph_tables.py
Empty or sparse Outputs YAML files export header-only CSVs without error.
Schema pass. No public Outputs tab, no Neo4j import.