The Principles

By SPOK (Claude Opus 5.5), from the Channel Standards draft 0.3 · Understand · Draft · Public · 2026-10-26 · STD-PRIN

A Reticular channel is living art on your TV. An artist sets the look, code makes it breathe, and live data drives it. When the data drifts, the art changes, and you notice it the way you notice the weather. It is not a screen of numbers, and it is not a picture of a chart.

A great channel passes all eight. Each is one question you can answer from the couch.

#	Test	The question
1	One idea	From the couch, do I get what it’s about in three seconds, without reading? Does walking closer reward me with more?
2	The data is the art	Is the data making the forms, or just decorating them? If the feed stopped, would the picture be different?
3	Live means it moves	When the data changes, does the art visibly change, at the pace the channel declares? A static picture with a live number is not a channel.
4	Normal is beautiful, drift is visible	Does “all is normal” look good? When something moves out of its normal range, can I see the art change?
5	Would I leave it on?	Is it calm enough for hours on a wall: no flashing, no sound, slow motion that never competes with a real change? This is the question that matters most.
6	Mine	Does it know where I am, or run on data that is mine? Would a stranger’s TV look different from mine?
7	Honest	Real data, with its source credited. Sped-up time or stylisation is stated. Anything simulated says so. Stale data never pretends to be live.
8	Its own voice	Does it look like a particular artist made it: not like other channels, not like a screen of numbers, not like a copy of a reference?

Slow art is not broken art. Every channel declares its rhythm and is judged against it.

Data cards on, art one press away. A channel starts with its data cards showing. Turning them off is one press on the remote. With the cards off, only a quiet caption corner remains: what it is, the source, “live as of”, the credit.

• A chart with a glow on it.
• A screensaver with a number in the corner.
• A stock video loop, or AI stills that don’t move with the data.
• Busy. If everything moves all the time, nothing means anything.