InfoML: A Proposed Standard for Storing "Chunks" of Information

Gregg Williams

For the past three years, I have been working on an XML application (a "format" for storing information) called !InfoML. My intent was to create a standard XML format for storing discrete "chunks" of information and/or pointers to other "chunks" of information, optionally adding appropriate metadata. Each such unit of information is called an /infocard/. Because of the extensibility of the !InfoML format, developers and end users can attach "add-on" content to any standard infocard (think of adding "sticky notes" to a regular notecard) without destroying the ability of !InfoML-friendly software to recognize and manipulate it correctly. A developer who extends !InfoML controls the resulting format, but data conforming to this format is still accessible by any software written to manipulate infocards.

!InfoML is very readable (as much as XML can be) and easy to understand, and a minimal infocard (comprising a title, some content, and some keywords) has a very simple format. However, !InfoML can store a rich set of metadata relating to the infocard's main content--enough, for example, to create a bibliography entry for the content being cited.

I'm in the process of building an open-source outlining tool that, because of its design, is more versatile than existing outlining software. In addition, I am promoting the adoption of !InfoML in the hope that others will design software to read and write infocards. And the more tools that exist for processing infocards, the more valuable the data becomes.

The !InfoML schema has been released under a Creative Commons license; its intent is to allow anyone to use the !InfoML format for any purpose. InfoML has a web site, http://www.infoml.org, though the site is currently in the process of being updated. The latest version of !InfoML is 0.86, which is radically different from the 0.83 version currently on the site.

If you're interested in learning more about !InfoML or contributing to its evolution, please contact me at gregg13 AT-SIGN innerpaths.net.