Source of Trust Initiative

The Source of Trust Initiative (SoTI) develops, maintains, and publishes open Source of Trust specifications. Its role is Publisher and Maintainer of the Source of Trust specifications. The initiative provides a place for documenting definitions, examining their foundations, and refining a shared vocabulary for trustworthy information sources.

Source of Trust is the concept described by the specifications. SoTI is the initiative responsible for their development and publication.

Purpose and Work

SoTI maintains the specification texts, terminology, references, and publication history. Development takes place in the public specification repository, under the Source of Trust GitHub organization. The website presents the current documents; version tags preserve published specification snapshots.

The project is in Early Development. Its work focuses on clear definitions, evidence-based reasoning, and descriptions that different providers and technical implementations can use. Original specification and documentation content is available under CC0 1.0 Universal.

Editorial Responsibility

Stefan Mayr — Founder and Initial Editor currently holds publishing and editorial responsibility. He coordinates the review of proposed changes, maintains the texts and references, and oversees publication.

SoTI’s current organizational form is an open project with no separate legal personality. Responsibility is exercised by the named editor and recorded through the project’s public work. Updates to editorial responsibilities will be documented here.

Participation and Decisions

Participants can open an issue to identify a problem, question, or proposed improvement, or submit a pull request with a concrete change. Proposals should identify the affected text, explain their rationale, and provide supporting references where appropriate. The contribution guide describes editorial and licensing expectations.

The initial editor reviews proposals for clarity, consistency, evidence, and implementation neutrality. Editorial decisions and their rationale are recorded in the relevant issue or pull request; accepted changes are recorded in Git history and the changelog. Participants can raise alternative interpretations or new evidence through the same public channels.

Supporting Organizations

The Source of Trust Initiative welcomes organizations interested in contributing to the development and adoption of open specifications for trustworthy information sources.

Organizations can participate through technical contributions, specification reviews, research, reference implementations, and public discussions.

Participation is open, and contributions are documented transparently.

Principles of Development

• Traceable reasoning: connect substantive claims to inspectable sources and distinguish original synthesis from cited findings.
• Open discussion: make proposals, review, and the reasons for editorial decisions available through the public repository.
• Clear responsibility: identify who edits and publishes the documents and record changes in those roles.
• Implementation neutrality: describe source properties and assessment practices in terms applicable to different tools and providers.
• Continuity: retain published version snapshots and document revisions so readers can follow the development of the specifications.