The Origins
How in god's green earth did this even happen?
CITE: The Citation Format Itself
Field of Origin: Field Covered:
Basic Concepts
CommIT Iterative Trace of Emergence or CITE is a citation and mutation documentation format developed within the CommIT framework. Unlike traditional citation systems (APA, MLA, etc.), CITE is not concerned solely with attribution or academic validation. Instead, it tracks the evolution of ideas as they are stripped from origin, decontextualized, and repurposed functionally within new systems. CITE was created to hold iterative intellectual honesty as a structural requirement—not a moral aspiration.
It is inspired by:
Traditional citation formats (APA/MLA for structure)
Wikipedia (for open-source verifiability)
Twitter’s Community Notes (for modular context and challengeable insight that is community-involved)
Strip to Function
A citation format, when reduced to core function, serves four purposes:
Trace the origin of an idea
Validate its credibility
Allow others to challenge it
Maintain transparency about use
CITE strips away the elitism, rigidity, and non-functional decor of traditional systems while preserving traceability and scrutiny. At its core, CITE is a modular structure for tracking how a concept evolved from source → function → system. It encodes mutation as an intentional part of knowledge design. In a way, it makes knowledge have a version control where people can collaborate and trace information mutation from its origin. It makes sure knowledge is actually used with accountability by design and not just stuck in a dusting library.
Warped to Use
The Way CITE is Formatted
Each Entry is structured as Information Blocks so:
Title Field of Origin Field Covered on this Block:
Basic Concepts - What are the basics of the idea? How does it work?
Strip to Function - What is the core functionality of the idea when the context is stripped?
Warped to Use - How It was used or transformed into a new idea
Citation APA Format citation of the original material, and other origins of concept that was alchemized
In CommIT, CITE serves as the default epistemic DNA format—a system that holds contributors accountable by design, not enforcement. It replaces centralized bibliographies with modular, self-contained citation units, ensuring every idea is:
Traceable, with a clear lineage of transformation
Deconstructed and rebuilt with visible intention
Auditable, enabling scrutiny at any point in its lifecycle
Open, citing only publicly accessible sources—no paywalls, no gatekeeping
Why CITE Isn’t Just About Credibility—It’s About Visibility of Thought
In an age where AI can generate polished text instantly, the challenge isn’t producing content—it’s proving you actually thought. CITE doesn't merely enforce citation ethics; it acts as a cognitive fingerprinting system. It reveals how raw ideas mutate, how they're digested, challenged, and reconstructed. Even if AI is used as a thinking partner, CITE traces the human behind the synthesis. It rewards cognitive transparency over eloquence, reasoning chains over isolated brilliance, and makes it possible to distinguish shallow generation from authentic engagement. Ironically, you might even use AI to help phrase the result—but the structure of CITE ensures your unique thinking still shows through. That’s the point. It makes intellectual effort visible—even when the tools get smarter.
Each CITE block operates as a mini-Cycle:
Initiation → Challenge → Mutation → Documentation → Review→Update→Repeat Capturing not just what was cited, but how it was reformed. These units, known as CITE Blocks, are designed to be modular, mutable, and permanently exposed to scrutiny. They are expected to evolve—or expire. As facts shift and understandings refine, outdated blocks must be updated or phased out. Obsolescence is not failure; it is function. The system thrives by shedding what no longer holds relevance.
Even this CITE block—by design—is subject to that same fate.
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