Self-study sequence

Sixteen weeks from observation to defensible release

This is the authored self-study sequence, with explicit preparation, seminar, studio, reading, laboratory, and evidence-gate routes. Offering dates, instructors, venue, and recordings are not announced.

Seminar: 16 × 90 min
Studio: 16 × 90 min
Core route: 70–80 min · account-free and local-first

Weekly schedule

All 16 weeks include a complete online lecture synchronized from the controlled Markdown source, plus a downloadable notes, transcript, slide-script, case, manifest, and validator package. Human review, timed rehearsal, and classroom pilot remain pending.

Detailed sixteen-week self-study sequence for GEO Advanced Studies
Week	Topic and question	Authored material	Lab or gate
W01Observe	What GEO is—and is notWhat is the actual object of optimization?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 4 h 20 min	L01 Lab L01 ZIP
W02Observe	Evidence before expressionWhich source can support which claim?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 4 h 30 min	L04 Lab L04 ZIP
W03Observe	Discovery, indexing, and retrievalCan the system obtain the source at all?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 10 min	L03 Lab L03 ZIP
W04Observe	Ranking and context selectionWhy does an eligible source enter the context?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 20 min	L03 Lab L03 ZIP
W05Explain	Generation, citation, and absorptionWas a source merely displayed, or did it shape the answer?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h	L04 Lab L04 ZIP
W06Explain	Queries as a measurement instrumentWhat distribution do the prompts represent?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 15 min	L02 Lab L02 ZIP
W07Explain	Metrics, uncertainty, and repeated observationWhen is a visibility change repeatable?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 30 min	L06 Lab L06 ZIP
W08Explain	From observation to identificationCan the change be attributed to the intervention?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 30 min	L05 Lab L05 ZIP L06 Lab L06 ZIP
W09Intervene	Evidence-rich content architectureHow can structure improve use without distorting facts?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 30 min	L05 Lab L05 ZIP
W10Intervene	Entities, authority, and source ecosystemsHow does a fact become corroborated beyond one owned page?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h	L05 Lab L05 ZIP
W11Intervene	Multilingual, multimodal, and agentic surfacesWhat changes when the source is an image or the system can act?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h	L07 Lab L07 ZIP
W12Intervene	Optimization under competing queriesWhich gain survives a portfolio of intents?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 20 min	L05 Lab L05 ZIP
W13Validate	Field experiments and monitoringHow do we learn under a changing platform?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 6 h	L06 Lab L06 ZIP
W14Validate	Manipulation, poisoning, and defenseWhen does optimization become system abuse?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 30 min	L07 Lab L07 ZIP
W15Validate	Fair attribution and mechanism designCan visibility incentives reward useful evidence?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 5 h 20 min	L07 Lab L07 ZIP
W16Validate	Capstone synthesis and defenseWhat would make the result worth trusting?	Lecture Notes Transcript Slides ZIP Authored package · human review and timed pilot pending 18–30 h capstone total	L08 Lab L08 ZIP

Four research phases

Observe · Weeks 01–04

Objects, evidence, and the information pipeline

Define what can be observed before making claims about a closed system. Build the query, source, claim, response, and event objects that every later analysis reuses.

Gate artifactAuditable surface map + Claim–Evidence–Source ledger

Explain · Weeks 05–08

Attribution, measurement, and identification

Separate retrieval from use, citation from absorption, repeated-sampling variance from drift, and an observed association from an intervention effect.

Gate artifactVisibility protocol + metric specification + pre-analysis plan

Intervene · Weeks 09–12

Evidence engineering across source ecosystems

Design bounded interventions in content, entities, metadata, and multimodal assets while preserving factual integrity and a reversible change record.

Gate artifactVersioned intervention package + ablation design

Validate · Weeks 13–16

Experiments, safety, incentives, and synthesis

Estimate effects under drift, test failure modes, audit manipulation risk, and defend an evidence-backed result without overstating external validity.

Gate artifactReproducibility bundle + governance memo + oral defense

Begin the sequence

Start with the research object, not the tactic

Week 01 establishes the evidence boundary and system card reused by every later assignment.

Open Week 01