diff --git a/lib/instrumentation/otel/Readme.md b/lib/instrumentation/otel/Readme.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..468706fe24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/instrumentation/otel/Readme.md
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+## Notes
+
++ OTEL refers to observability concerns as "signals". Traces, Metrics, and Logs are all examples of different signals.
++ It is worthwhile to read through https://opentelemetry.io/docs/concepts/signals/traces/
++ Traces, or transactions, are collections of "spans": https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/overview/#traces
++ Contexts are used to store the state of traces: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/overview/#context-propagation
++ Propagators are used to serialize spans (and other signals): https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/overview/#propagators
++ Resources are descriptors of entities being instrumented, e.g a Docker container and its associated metadata: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/resource/sdk/
+
+## Concept Map
+
++ NR_Transaction => OTEL_Trace
++ NR_Segment => OTEL_Span
++ NR_Span => OTEL_Span
+
+## References
+
+OTEL:
++ Span spec: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/trace/api/#span
++ SpanContext spec: https://opentelemetry.io/docs/specs/otel/trace/api/#spancontext
+
+NR:
++ Trace spec: https://source.datanerd.us/agents/agent-specs/blob/main/Transaction-Trace-LEGACY.md
++ Span events: https://source.datanerd.us/agents/agent-specs/blob/main/Span-Events.md
+
+## Identifiers
+
++ Trace id:
+  + OTEL: 16-byte array of random bytes
+  + NR: