01 · ATTENTION
Is anyone looking?
External attention signals help identify where editorial opportunity may be forming. They are indicators, never evidence.
24SIGNAL · METHODOLOGY
From signal to decision.
24SIGNAL separates attention, freshness, novelty, evidence and factual readiness into observable states before a story reaches publication.
01 · THE CORE PRINCIPLE
Attention is not truth.
A signal can be important because people are discussing it. That does not make it verified. A story can be perfectly documented and still have little current editorial opportunity. The methodology keeps these dimensions separate so that the system does not confuse audience attention with factual certainty.
02 · FRESHNESS
Is the window open?
Time changes the value of information. Freshness gives every story a temporal context instead of treating all discoveries equally.
03 · NOVELTY
Is this actually new?
Repeated observations are grouped around an underlying story so that the system can distinguish new information from repetition.
02 · SIGNAL DIMENSIONS
Multiple signals. One editorial state.
The methodology combines independent dimensions rather than hiding everything behind one opaque number. The objective is to understand why a story entered the workflow and what remains unresolved.
Conceptual model: these dimensions inform editorial state; they are not presented as a single universal truth score.
03 · EVIDENCE BEFORE NARRATIVE
The writer is not the source of truth.
Once a story becomes interesting enough to investigate, the methodology changes mode. The system moves from opportunity detection to evidence resolution. Claims are connected to supporting material, conflicting information can remain unresolved, and the factual state is stabilized before narrative generation.
FACT LOCK
The factual layer exists separately from the final prose. Writing is downstream from evidence, not the place where uncertain information is silently transformed into certainty.
DISCOVEREDSignal detectedInteresting enough to enter the workflow.
ANALYZEDContext evaluatedOpportunity and story structure examined.
VERIFIEDEvidence resolvedClaims have supporting material.
FACT LOCKEDState stabilizedNarrative can now be generated from the factual layer.
04 · THE DECISION GATE
Not every signal deserves a story. Not every story deserves publication.
The methodology deliberately includes stop conditions. Missing evidence, unstable facts or failed quality checks can keep a story inside the system rather than forcing it toward publication.
The gate is a control mechanism, not a guarantee of editorial quality or audience performance.
05 · OBSERVABILITY
From “the AI generated it” to “this is why it exists.”
A methodology becomes operational when the journey of a story can be inspected: where it originated, how it was clustered, which signals affected its priority, what evidence was resolved, whether the factual state was locked and why the publication gate passed or stopped.
“A signal tells the system what may deserve attention. Evidence determines what the system is allowed to say.”