categories

Categories Directory

This directory contains JSON files that define keyword categories. Each category represents a distinct topic area that generates significant public discourse.

File Structure

Each category file follows this structure:

{
  "Category Name": {
    "weight": 7-9,
    "description": "Category description",
    "keywords": {
      "term": {
        "weight": 0-10,
        "description": "Term description"
      }
    }
  }
}

Weight System

These keywords were weighted by Sonnet 3.5 using Cline in VS Code.

Category Weights

• Weight 9-10: High-intensity topics (e.g., Race Relations, Reproductive Health)
• Weight 8: Significant topics (e.g., Social Policy)
• Weight 7: Important topics (e.g., US Government Institutions)

Keyword Weights

Keywords within each category follow this distribution:

• Weight 8-10: ~15% (most critical terms)
  • 10: Reserved for presidents and highest impact terms
  • Highly polarizing figures and critical policy terms
  • Frequent, significant terms
• Weight 7: ~25% (frequently discussed terms)
• Weight 6: ~30% (common terms)
• Weight 5 and below: ~30% (regular and basic terms)

Special Categories

New Developments

new-developments.json tracks emerging political figures and developing stories. Terms may graduate to permanent categories as their significance stabilizes.

World Leaders

world-leaders.json maintains a list of international leaders with weight 0 to exclude them from muting while preserving their reference information for easy muting.

Political Figures

Both full names (us-political-figures-full-name.json) and single names (us-political-figures-single-name.json) are tracked separately with consistent weights across both files.

Maintenance Guidelines

1. Weight Distribution

   • Regularly audit weight distributions within categories
   • Maintain target percentages while preserving appropriate weights for critical terms
   • Consider both frequency and polarization when assigning weights

2. Updates

   • Monitor new-developments.json for emerging figures and stories
   • Graduate terms to permanent categories when appropriate
   • Keep political figure weights consistent across full/single name files
   • Maintain weight 0 for world leaders

3. Adding New Terms

   • Place in most relevant category
   • Assign initial weight based on current impact and polarization
   • Add to both name variants if a political figure
   • Include clear, consistent descriptions

4. File Organization

   • Maintain alphabetical order within files
   • Keep descriptions concise and factual
   • Ensure JSON validity
   • Include both common variants of terms where applicable

Performance Considerations

The weight system enables smart selection at different scales:

• 100 keywords: Highest weights only
• 300 keywords: High and frequent terms
• 500 keywords: Include common terms
• 1200 keywords: Comprehensive coverage

This graduated system helps optimize performance while maintaining effectiveness at various scales.