Term

Source-native table

A source-native table preserves the shape of a corpus and exposes its source-specific identifiers and fields.

Definition

Source-native tables keep source-specific identifiers and fields visible, such as HN IDs, Reddit comment IDs, Mastodon account IDs, paper keys, scores, and timestamps.

Why it matters

  • UseIt makes source-specific queries faster to write.
  • UseIt prevents provenance from getting lost in a broad projection.
  • UseIt lets users filter with the fields a source actually provides.

Keep in mind

  • NoteUse a source-native table whenever a source-specific field matters.
  • NotePrefer indexed source-native fields over JSON scans.

Related

Sources Schema atlas