Definition
Plain language
One small piece of a story — a single action, excuse, or reaction — that can be delivered in its own message.
As stated in the literature
An atomic narrative unit in the benchmark's construction; identical shard sets are held constant while the disclosure schedule (single-turn vs. five-turn ordering) is varied.
Also called: shards
Why it matters: Breaking a story into interchangeable pieces lets researchers keep the facts identical while changing only the order and pacing of how they are revealed.
For example, "I slammed the door," "I had been up since 5 a.m.," and "they started crying" are three shards of the same argument that can be sent as three separate messages.
Heard on the show
“To build the different versions, the researchers broke each conflict into what they call shards.”Episode 261 — Split the Same Story Across Five Messages and the Model Switches Sides