Field note

Which details should each field include?

Useful field documentation often includes exact name, readable label, definition, role, type, unit, allowed values, missing values, universe, source, derivation, owner, status, and review date.

Core identity and meaning

A folio starts with the exact name as it appears in the file, a readable label, and a definition that names the concept, its scope and what it excludes. Add the role, which is how the field is used (identifier, dimension, measure, date-time, flag or free text), and the declared type you intend readers to rely on. Those five carry most of the interpretive weight; everything else refines them.

Values and missingness

Measures need a unit or an explicit statement that they are unitless, and coded fields need every allowed code with a label and a meaning. Separately, list every token that means a value is absent and say what each one means, because unknown, refused, not applicable and not asked are different states. The universe says which rows the field was collected for at all.

Maintenance evidence

Record the source method, any derivation, an owning role, a review status and the date of the last review. These are what let a reader six months later judge how much of the document to trust and whom to ask about the rest. An authored example can help, but only when you typed it yourself and confirmed it is safe to publish.

Worked example from the sample project

Compare two folios in the sample. The field trunk_cm carries a readable label, a definition naming the circumference and the survey team's stated measuring height, the measure role, a declared number type, the unit centimetres, a universe statement and a reviewed status. The field access_note carries a name, a free-text role and a needs-review status, and that is close to all it carries.

Neither of those is wrong. The first is finished and the second is honestly unfinished, and a reader can tell the difference at a glance, which is the point. A dictionary where every field looks equally complete is less useful than one that admits where the work has not been done.

What this does not do

A populated folio is not a verified folio; every property is an authored claim.
The rubric is a completeness prompt, not a standard any repository recognises.
Filling every box does not make a definition true.

Do this in the studio

Fill the properties a reader would have to ask you about, and leave the rest visibly empty.

Open the Field folios station and pick the field readers misunderstand most.
Write the definition, then add role, type, unit, universe and source.
Set the status honestly; needs-review is a useful answer.

Open the studio at the Field folios station