ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

HAL (open archive)

HAL (Hyper Articles en Ligne) is a big website where grown-ups like scientists and researchers can put their work for others to see. It's kind of like a giant toy box full of cool projects that lots of people can play with and learn from.

Imagine that you made a really neat painting or drew a really cool picture. You want to show it to your friends so they can see how awesome it is too. HAL is like that, but for grown-ups who make really important stuff like scientific papers or research studies.

When someone wants to share their work on HAL, they first have to make sure it's put together just right. They need to make sure they have all of the information they want to share in one place and they need to make sure it's easy for others to understand. This is kind of like putting a puzzle together or building a really fancy Lego set.

Once they've got everything put together, they can put it on HAL for everyone to see. That way, other smart grown-ups can read it, learn from it, and build on it to create even more cool things. It's like sharing your toys with all of your friends so they can make even better toys.