Re: GS1's work on identifiers, resolvers and resources

Phil - I’m interested in a couple of topics you touched on.

> it would be really to have a running example throughout - that would make
the whole thing easier to understand I'd say.

This is a great readability suggestion. To clarify resolution, do you mean
running examples using a specific did method (e.g btcr, which is a good
candidate because it is simple and not tied to a vendor)? Not necessarily
getting into (in this doc) implementation details of how btcr achieves it,
but something along the lines of: "for example, given this btcr input,
you'd expect this output, and see more details here"

Second, it sounds like an interesting parallel you mention with GTIN. And
+1 for exploring usability implications that you call out.

My motive: while I haven’t paid attention to DID resolution progress in a
while, the idea of matrix parameters and possible developer usability
implications (because they seem less standard) is something I keep meaning
to revisit. Yours sounds like a great forcing function for this discussion.

On Mon, Nov 18, 2019 at 1:27 PM Michael Herman (Parallelspace) <
mwherman@parallelspace.net> wrote:

> Phil, I like your examples.  We need more of them.
>
>
>
> Although the results are formatted in HTML (to make them easier to read
> for a retail consumer), each *linkType* is actually the name of a
> Credential (Credential Type) associated with the Subject's (product's)
> Digital Identifier (e.g. gtin/09506000134352) that, in turn, serves as the
> underlying data for building the web page – that is, each linkType or
> Credential represents different (possibly overlapping) collections of
> Claims (name-value pairs) for the Subject product (and its web page).
>
>
>
> We need more of these real-life non-fungble entities (NFE) examples.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Michael Herman
>
> Self-Sovereign Blockchain Architect
>
> Hyperonomy Digital Identity Lab
>
> Parallelspace Corporation
>
>
>
> [image: Trusted Digital Web Certificate 0.1]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phil Archer <phil.archer@gs1.org>
> Sent: November 18, 2019 7:37 AM
> To: Credentials Community Group <public-credentials@w3.org>
> Subject: GS1's work on identifiers, resolvers and resources
>
>
>
> TL;DR - concepts of resolving identifiers to multiple possible
> destinations is being actively discussed elsewhere as well as here and
> there *may* be room for some commonality of approach with DID resolution.
> There's likely to be some ISO work in this area soon.
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> I finally (finally!) got around to reading the resolution spec which is
> very interesting if difficult to read. As a suggestion, because you're
> writing something abstract that only becomes real for a given DID Method,
> it would be really to have a running example throughout - that would make
> the whole thing easier to understand I'd say.
>
>
>
> Anyway...
>
>
>
> GS1 has been issuing identifiers for 45 years, the best known of which is
> what we nowadays call the GTIN but you may know it as the EAN/UPC or simply
> 'barcode.' My work is primarily about making those identifiers resolvable
> on the Web so that things like this will work:
>
>
>
> https://id.gs1.org/gtin/09506000134352
>
>
>
> which is a concrete example of the more general
>
>
>
> https://{resolver}/{idType}/{idValue}
>
>
>
> We can add things like batch numbers, serial numbers, expiry dates and
> more but that'll do for now.
>
>
>
> If you resolve a GTIN (product barcode) and you're a consumer, you're
> probably after something like a product information page - which is what
> you get if you click that first link. As that's a food item, you might want
> to find something like a recipe idea for that product
>
>
>
> https://id.gs1.org/gtin/09506000134352?linkType=recipeInfo
>
>
>
> or product sustainability information
>
>
>
> https://id.gs1.org/gtin/09506000134352?linkType=productSustainabilityInfo
>
>
>
> If you're a developer, you might want all the links available for a given
> item, which is what you get if you click
>
>
>
> https://id.gs1.org/gtin/09506000134352?linkType=all
>
>
>
> (conneg gives you that in HTML or JSON, with JSON-LD coming soon).
>
>
>
> So there's a difference with DIDs: in the GS1 context, the default that
> makes sense is to pass you on to 'something directly useful' rather than a
> document that contains links to things that might be useful but you can get
> the machine readable list of stuff if you want. In contrast, DIDs give you
> the machine readable document by default and redirect you somewhere else if
> you really want it.
>
>
>
> But there's a lot of common thinking there, no?
>
>
>
> Btw, I'll make a comment in GH about the notion of a resolver description
> file - we have such a thing
>
>
>
> https://id.gs1.org/.well-known/gs1resolver
>
>
>
> and we have things like one resolver redirecting to another if it doesn't
> have info about the identified item, and we're thinking that, in future, we
> might define a format for a small data file that can help you find the
> right resolver for your identifier without going through multiple HTTP
> redirects.
>
>
>
> GS1 is working with HTTP, so the thinking is all Webby and Link Data.
>
> Try this, for example
>
>
>
> curl -I https://id.gs1.org/gtin/09506000134352
>
> HTTP/1.1 307 Temporary Redirect
>
> Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2019 12:22:21 GMT
>
> Server: Apache/2.4.38 (Debian)
>
> X-Powered-By: PHP/7.3.11
>
> Link: <https://dalgiardino.com/risotto-rice-with-mushrooms/>; rel="pip";
> type="text/html"; hreflang="en"; title="Product information page", <
> https://dalgiardino.com/mushroom-squash-risotto/>; rel="recipeinfo";
> type="text/html"; hreflang="en"; title="Recipe website", <
> https://dalgiardino.com/where-to-buy/>; rel="hasretailers";
> type="text/html"; hreflang="en"; title="Retailers", <
> https://dalgiardino.com/about/>; rel="productsustainabilityinfo";
> type="text/html"; hreflang="en"; title="sustainability and recycling"
>
> Location: https://dalgiardino.com/risotto-rice-with-mushrooms/
>
> Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
>
> Access-Control-Allow-Methods: HEAD, GET, OPTIONS
>
> Access-Control-Expose-Headers: Link, Content-Length
>
> Cache-Control: max-age=0, no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate
>
> Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
>
>
>
> Note the HTTP Link Header that has all the available links in it,
> including what we can linkTypes (@rel values), titles and hreflang
> attributes.
>
>
>
> We can add more than just the linkType in the query params, we can also
> have a 'context' which can be anything, but location is a typical use case
> (tell me about this product in the UK cf. this product in France) and we
> support Accept and Accept-Language HTTP request headers. That's a bunch of
> parameters that form a matrix of possible redirections :-)
>
>
>
> Related conversations are going on elsewhere that I think are likely to
> lead to some standardisation work at ISO before long. From GS1's POV, that
> will be important and I hope ideas around resolvers, defaults,
> redirections, link types etc. will be part of that discussion - but it's
> too early to offer any concrete info as yet.
>
>
>
> Chapter and verse on what we call GS1 Digital Link is in a draft standard
> at
> https://www.gs1.org/sites/default/files/docs/gsmp/gs1_digital_link_1.1_comrev_version_786.pdf
> .
>
> Chapter 8 is about resolvers.
>
>
>
> Enough for one email.
>
>
>
> I'm happy to talk more about any of this if people want, but equally happy
> to keep quiet.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
>
>
> Phil
>
>
>
> --
>
> Phil Archer
>
> Director, Web Solutions, GS1
>
> https://www.gs1.org
>
>
>
> https://philarcher.org
>
> +44 (0)7887 767755
>
> @philarcher1
>
> Skype: philarcher
>
> A word on abbreviations I sometimes use in email:
>
> https://philarcher.org/diary/2019/emailabbreviations/
>
>
>
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