- From: Steven Rowat <steven_rowat@sunshine.net>
- Date: Thu, 9 Jun 2016 06:50:56 -0700
- To: public-credentials@w3.org, Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
After seeing that Eric has just suggested "Entity Credential" for the 'Credential' position in the model in another thread, I also suggest then "Entity Profile" for the 'Identity' position. If Entity Credential is voted and chosen, then Entity Profile becomes a logical choice for the other potion, by much of the same reasoning I gave below. Steven On 6/9/16 6:18 AM, Steven Rowat wrote: > On 6/8/16 6:57 PM, Manu Sporny wrote: >> Please ensure that you're okay with the sample poll above because once >> the polls open on Friday, that's it for this round of terminology >> discussion/voting. > > After viewing the list of "Identity / Profile / Persona" as choices, I > found I wanted one added to the list which I'd prefer: > > Identity Profile > > Why it is better: > 1. It says clearly that this is one fixed embodiment ('profile') of > the defining characteristics ('identity') of the entity in question. > And that there could be any number of others. > 2. In my opinion this is exactly what the Verifiable Claims standard > is attempting to achieve for this position in the model. > 3. This English usage is already widely adopted for this usage in the > psychology community, both alternative and mainstream (Google > "identity profile"). > > Problems with the other options: > > 'Identity' > Joe and others have made a strong case that 'Identity' on its own is > nebulous, and as widely used confuses the entity itself with the > representation of the entity. I would like to add that there's an > analogy to this in patent law, where a patent examiner or judge will > reject an invention unless it's a 'fixed embodiment' of an idea. Just > the idea itself is not patentable. While we're not trying to patent > anything here, I believe the same difference occurs with 'identity' > versus 'identity profile'. The 'identity profile' is the fixed > embodiment, which is what we can get into code. There can be many > different ones, but each is fixed and named. 'Identity' is the idea > that these come from. It's hard to agree on, and best avoided. > > 'Profile' > Possible, but overly vague. A profile is one view of something, but > not just an entity. It could be a rock or a house. A look at something > from one specific angle. But looking at what from what angle? My > 'sports profile', my 'academic profile', are common uses. I think > 'identity profile' narrows it well. > > 'Persona' > Possible, but in common use it's strongly tied to the character of a > human being, and can include a negative connotation (Random House > dictionary: "the mask or façade presented to satisfy the demands of > the situation"). It's also so common as to have many many connections: > 328 million hits on Google, versus 414 thousand for "Identity > Profile". Already used by Mozilla as their Persona login system. Taken > together I think there's a strong chance of it being overly vague, > misleading, and/or confusing with other uses. Best avoided IMO. > > > Steven > > > > > > >> >> -- manu >> > >
Received on Thursday, 9 June 2016 13:51:28 UTC