Issuepedia:Analytical toolkit

Issuepedia's analytical toolkit is a sort of umbrella category for anything which helps to analyze information on issues. It includes (but is not limited to) the following:

Types of Articles

 * Concept articles explain ideas with which some readers may not be familiar; their existence allows other articles to make use of those ideas without pausing for a lengthy and diverting explanation, while other readers have the option of reading the explanation first and then return to read the referring article from the beginning without needing to interrupt the flow of thought.
 * Opinion articles give notice of what some people already think, with explanations as appropriate, thus eliminating the need for guesswork and greatly decreasing the effectiveness of straw man arguments
 * Rhetorical tools are techniques whereby arguments may be artificially strengthened beyond their inherent value. As with drugs, they can be used both to cheat (think of sporting events) or to save a valid line of reasoning from an undeserved death. Either way, it is important to be able to recognize and counter them.

Software
We are very interested in developing software ideas which could aid in the discussion of issues. See Dispute Resolution Technology.