Documents / Report
This white paper, sponsored by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office and hosted with Associated Universities, Inc. and Florida State University, synthesizes a workshop held August 5 and 6, 2025, that brought together 40 participants. The workshop examined how to collect, standardize, link and analyze UAP narrative reports. It calls for standard metadata templates, human oversight of AI tools, triage of reports, preservation of historical records, better public reporting portals and further workshops.
10 Recommended actionable next steps To advance the systematic study of UAP reports and maximize the value of narrative data, the following actions should be prioritized: • Develop standardized metadata templates. Standardized metadata should capture core contextual information while enabling interoperability across agencies and research groups. Crosswalks between existing schemas will help bridge disciplinary and organizational differences. • Adopt a hybrid approach where qualitative expertise and human oversight complement AI. AI methods can be useful for filtering, transcription, and pattern detection, but human-in- the-loop infrastructures are essential to help to reduce bias, ensure contextual accuracy, and improve reliability when working with subjective or sparse data. • Avoid “reinventing the wheel.” Tools and standards can be adapted from other scientific fields such as genetics, astronomy, and digital archives. This includes modular metadata standards, APIs, and citizen science models that can scale efficiently. • Create systems to triage reports. Reports can be categorized based on credibility, richness of detail, and corroborating data streams for investigative efficiency. Recognize potential biases in weighting professional/trained sources (pilots, military) while ensuring that diverse experiences are preserved for future analysis. • Capture the meaning and context of reports. Social science expertise and methods should be implemented alongside quantitative approaches to ensure that experiential and narrative dimensions are not lost to purely quantitative or technical analysis. This may include structured interviews, oral histories, and phenomenological coding, among others. • Continue to preserve and digitize historical reports. Collection of high-quality, new/contemporary data should be prioritized while preserving and drawing insight from potentially valuable historical records. A dual focus allows for long-term continuity but avoids paralysis from the complexity of older archives. • Enhance public reporting portals. Cross-organizational collaboration can help balance open participation with safeguards against hoaxes and disinformation. Features such as including both narrative and structured questions, optional metadata, and “refuse to answer” options can improve data quality while encouraging participation. • Convene additional workshops and collaborative opportunities. A strong need was identified to continue shaping governance structures, standardizing practices, and building an interdisciplinary community of practice.
Report, from the aaro collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 17 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.