# What criteria do you use to collect project data? We include an `Organization`, `Group`, `Activity`, `Artifact`, or `Individual` in our [Data](/about/elements/data.md) based on two main criteria: * **Is it focused on innovation in national security?** * **Does it help us understand innovation in national security?** To give you an even better sense of this (since we expect a lot of people will have many different views on the subject), we go into more detail below. ## Definitions Our entire project is build on some very widely-debated terms, so let's give you a sense of how we define them first: ### `Innovation` Our simplified version of this term is "*Something new that adds value for someone*" (see [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation) or [ISO 56000:2020](https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:56000:ed-1:v1:en)) - this requires three elements: **novelty**, **value**, and a **user**. Two out of three doesn't cut it, but we certainly recognize that much of what people call `Innovation` is really just `Technology` (which is `Novelty` and potential `Value` that may be awaiting a `User`) or perhaps the key feature is context, which might be the trigger for meeting the `Novelty` criterion (such as an existing approach reintroduced in new circumstances). When in doubt, we want to be generous about applying this term, since those three core variables are constantly changing; something that was `Innovation` one day might not be `Innovation` the next day and our [Goals](/about/goals.md) do not include "being the arbiter of dictionary entries." :wink: ### **`National Security`** This term is even more contested than `Innovation`, so we punted and defined it by a structural feature that everyone can agree on: [the National Security Council](https://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/). Although that entity changes periodically, its members comprise what the government considers to be the core of a national security apparatus. Thus, we consider it to be the foundation for our definition, which looks the most like [what ThoughtCo says](https://www.thoughtco.com/national-security-definition-and-examples-5197450): "*the ability of a country’s government to protect its citizens, economy, and other institutions.*" If you want to dip your toe into the political side of this term (*careful!*), check out different perspectives from [The Center for Strategic and International Studies](https://www.csis.org/programs/international-security-program/civics-national-security-imperative), [The Aspen Institute](https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/we-must-expand-the-definition-of-national-security/), and [The Heritage Foundation](https://www.heritage.org/military-strength-essays/2015-essays/what-national-security). Or go straight to [the National Security Act of 1947](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_of_1947) and see where it all started (maybe top-up that coffee first, though). :coffee: ## Adding Data Given that background, here is how we actually apply the [#definitions](#definitions "mention") to the [Data](/about/elements/data.md): ### Innovation Entities To break this angle down further, we again ask a couple of questions: 1. If someone came to us asking about national security innovation, would we direct them towards that `Entity`? 2. Would that `Entity` want individuals asking them about national security innovation? If both answers are "yes", we consider that entity a part of the national security innovation ecosystem, and we will include it in our dataset with an `Innovation` as one of the [Tags](/about/elements/data/tags.md) (which makes it easy to sort out those [Entities](/about/elements/data/entities.md)from among the many others that exist as infrastructure or for context). ### Infrastructure Entities We know that there is much more to understanding this ecosystem (one of our [Goals](/about/goals.md)) than just seeing [Entities](/about/elements/data/entities.md) that are explicitly tied to `Innovation`, which is why we also have many whose main inclusion is to show [Connections](/about/elements/data/connections.md) across the government bureaucracy or other such factors that shape how `Innovation` actually occurs in `National Security`. Such an `Entity` will not have `Innovation` listed in the `Tags`, but we might include an `Entity` that does not pass our [#innovation-entities](#innovation-entities "mention") test under this reasoning. This also allows us to deal with the crush of people who are very interested in having their `Entity` on the [Graph](/about/elements/graph.md) and do not care about the project [Goals](/about/goals.md) because we can just filter them out using different `Views`. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.natsec.io/frequently-asked-questions/what-criteria-do-you-use-to-collect-project-data.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. 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