#interoperability

Doug argues that to maintain high standards, digital communication systems should be designed to allow self-hosting but not require it. He uses the example of XMPP as a standard that enables interoperability between communication tools, ensuring choice and preventing reliance on a single service. Doug also emphasizes the importance of open standards in communication tools, likening them to infrastructure and advocating for their adoption and mandation.

Google introduced v0.1 of the Open Knowledge Format (OKF), a standard that represents knowledge as a directory of markdown files with YAML frontmatter and a minimal set of conventions for interoperability. OKF is minimally opinionated, separates knowledge producers from consumers, and is not tied to any platform or proprietary system. The author found it a natural fit for their Substrate tool and implemented support immediately.