Re: Terminology poll

On 2017-06-23 6:42 AM, Manu Sporny wrote:
> On 06/22/2017 01:28 PM, Steven Rowat wrote:
>wouldn't it seem best to have a separate main word for each of
>> those parts? E.G.  Holder+Subject, or Controller+Subject
> 
> We probably don't want to do this for the following reasons:
> 
> 1) we don't follow the X/Y naming pattern anywhere else,

That seems a weak reason, relative to the need to distinguish two 
roles that are clearly separate and will appear an appreciable part of 
the time.

> 2) it may not be clear that we're talking about a single thing when
>     spoken out loud (e.g. at conferences),

Same argument as above.

> 3) it reveals more complexity than we want to with our base terminology.

I agree that *if* the technology underneath can handle the split role 
cleanly and easily, without any loss of function, then this would be 
good. Is this true?


> Role 3 has to exist at all times in the Verifiable Claims ecosystem
> because you can't have a Verifiable Claim without a Subject. The
> importance of Roles in the ecosystem (using your list above) is:
> 
> 1. Subject (required)
> 2. Issuer (required to create VCs)
> 3. Evaluator (required to analyze VCs)
> 4. Controller (required to receive/transmit VCs)

I think one of us misunderstood here; I'm trying to understand your 
statement. And perhaps we both misunderstood.

I'm afraid this possibility of splitting Role 2 (Role B) into two 
parts has made discussing the situation almost impossible, since we 
don't have the terms solid yet for what we want to know is split or not.

I find now I agree that having this Role 2 split 'off the table' 
during this poll if possible is good.

But, to do that, we still have to specify which of the Role 2 parts 
our poll term is going to refer to. That is, not talking about the 
Role 2 split might be convenient, but it's really there, underneath, 
and we still need to realize that when we're choosing terms—or else 
the term we choose might not work in the split-term scenarios.

 From my understanding Role B really has these two parts:
i) The entity that legally controls the credential data.
ii) The entity that the credential data is about.

Sometimes they are identical, and sometimes they aren't.

I believe having some guidance, in the poll, about how the word we 
choose for Role B will be applied to these two functions will allow us 
to choose the word more accurately, if we're only choosing one word.

(And, if it turns out this can't be done clearly, then maybe it will 
be simpler to actually offer an X/Y for Role B, and choose both terms 
at the same time).


Steven

Received on Friday, 23 June 2017 18:39:34 UTC