Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is a very good description of how the ATmosphere protocol actually works, with the bulk of the focus on the personal data store (PDS) and how records are actually stored and named. Some of the most interesting bits are elided, like the central role of the Relay (and why it's a big problem if one relay 'throttles' another), as well as some of the intricacies of DID and how the hash plays a role in certifying data (hint: it looks a lot like blockchain). But that's just me complaining. I really like the way this article refocuses the reader from apps to files to records (and, implicitly, to data). 

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2026
Last Updated: Jul 01, 2026 12:59 p.m.

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