Xplris

xplris (eks-PLOR-is) is about exploring history. It is an entirely new approach for simultaneously exploring competing narratives for the same historical event. xplris is a non-profit organization dedicated to setting up a globally usable and collaboratively editable, interactive open data platform for contemporary and historical information. However, history is inherently non-linear. Therefore our platform allows contributors to record the relationships of actors and events in their geographical and historical context. Based on that store of information, everyone is free to interactively explore a plurality of identities, points of view, and geographical and temporal scales instead of a linear and decontextualized chronological narrative. Our innovation is a history-aware graph-based knowledge model that can record facts on the same footing as their sources and potential disputes between different claims and their sources. Notably, disputed claims are recorded and not deleted. Together, this approach not only addresses the challenge of misinformation more effectively, but it also reverses the dynamics: truth becomes easy, misinformation becomes more cumbersome. We seek to explore the multifaceted nature of history as a foundation for education and continued productive conversation between people of different points of view. People from all walks of life, from all over the planet, potentially speaking any language. We have a shared history and an increasingly shared future.