Project case study · Document systems · knowledge in context
ORMD
A link can say more than ‘go here.’ Open Relational Markdown explores documents whose connections carry meaning: supports, challenges, extends.
A link with a point of view.
links:
- id: observation
rel: supports
to: "#claim"
Consider [[observation]].This observation gives the claim a reason to be believed.
The question
What gets lost when a document becomes a file?
A document contains more than its paragraphs. It has sources, authorship, revisions, and relationships to other arguments. Ordinary links preserve the destination, but often lose the reason for the connection.
ORMD puts structured relationship metadata beside readable Markdown. A human can read the prose; a tool can follow a link and understand what role it plays.
The system
What holds it together
Readable at rest
The document begins as plain text, with familiar Markdown and a YAML metadata block.
Meaningful links
Relationship types express why one piece of material connects to another.
Portable structure
The design uses established text and packaging conventions rather than requiring a single editor.
Visible lineage
Authorship, versioning, and document lifecycle are part of the format's design concerns.
How it moves
Read the words. Follow the argument.
A small amount of structure makes a connection available to both readers and tools.
- Write
Keep ordinary prose
Author in Markdown using familiar headings, paragraphs, and references.
- Relate
State why the link exists
Give a relationship an identifier, a type, and a target in the metadata.
- Follow
Connect the reference to its role
An inline reference points to the structured relationship.
- Carry
Keep context with the work
Portable documents make that structure available beyond one application.
Readable in an ordinary editor
Explicit types and targets
Links with a declared role
A shared idea
The constellation, inside a document
This site connects works through editorial relationships. ORMD asks a similar question at the scale of an argument: what becomes possible when the edges are as meaningful as the nodes?
The aim is to preserve context when knowledge moves between people and tools. The format remains an evolving project; the example above illustrates the relationship notation.
Nearby in the constellation
Connected threads
Nexes
Living documents can provide a substrate for shared human-AI work.
shares language problemRP-Lang
Both seek representations that preserve relational structure.
related toHuman-AI Creative Collaboration Framework
Both frame AI as a participant in structured creative work.
shares themeRP-Lang
Both make relationships explicit in a readable notation.