MediaMD
The media catalogue format of the LearnSpec suite.
MediaMD centralises the metadata, sources, and licence information for each media asset, so that other formats (LearnMD, QuizMD, FlashMD) can reference images by a symbolic identifier without managing licensing themselves.
MediaMD is a leaf format: it references and imports no other LearnSpec format. It is always consumed via !ref, never via !import.
Key principles
| Principle | Description |
|---|---|
| Markdown-first | A .media.md file is valid Markdown readable in any editor |
| File-native | All metadata lives in the file, no database required |
| Graceful degradation | Each entry displays its thumbnail in any standard Markdown reader |
| License-aware | Each entry explicitly documents its licence, author, and source |
| AI-native | Generatable and consumable by an LLM without specific tooling |
MediaMD inherits its frontmatter and validation rules from the shared Architecture Charter.
How a MediaMD entry looks
Each entry consists of two contiguous elements: a Markdown image line (renders the thumbnail in any reader) and a ```media fenced block with all structured metadata.
```media id:f22-kadena
source: wikimedia
image_url: https://.../F-22_Raptor.jpg
thumb_url: https://.../500px-F-22.jpg
title: F-22 Raptor over Kadena
alt: An F-22 Raptor in flight over Japan
license: "Public domain"
spdx: CC0-1.0
author: Master Sgt. Andy Dunaway
origin_url: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:F-22_Raptor.jpg
```A complete MediaMD file is therefore a visually navigable image catalogue in GitHub, Obsidian, or VS Code.
Status
MediaMD is a draft v0.1.
Next steps
- Read the full Specification.