Re: Human readable credentials?

Hi all,

Just to add that we have been using this approach (PDF + JSON metadata)
from 2016 in order to anchor credentials on the blockchain (the latter is
instead of an eiDAS compatible solution that Leonard suggested).

We have been considering moving the JSON metadata part to VC JSON(-LD)
metadata for quite some time but waiting for a more holistic approach (i.e.
DIDs, revocation registries that are not as mature as we would like*).

While we have a presentation part already (by using PDF) I would like to
add that I agree with Jeremy that some kind of standardisation for VCs
presentation makes sense.

Best regards,
Kostas

* Mostly lurking in the list due to lack of time but we were/are
considering contributing in the revocation part and elsewhere.

On Mon, Jun 8, 2020 at 9:51 PM Leonard Rosenthol <lrosenth@adobe.com> wrote:

> The assumption here is that the JSON representation is the “container” for
> all aspects of the credential.   I will put forth, as I did on the call
> today, that using a rich (open standard) container format such as PDF for
> the container would be a better solution when **both** PDF + JSON are
> required.
>
>
>
> PDF provides you a single *binary* container for both the
> human-consumable presentation + the JSON-LD (or XML, as we noted on the
> call today) for machine consumption.  All of which can be certified/sealed
> according to eIDAS standards (ie. PAdES) for compliance with relevant
> laws/regulations.  It’s also fully compatible with device & cloud-based
> search engines, to ensure that the content can/will be indexed.
>
>
>
> And this isn’t a new idea.  Governments such as the US, the EU and Brazil
> have been doing this for decades!   For example, each copy of the US Census
> from the US GPO is distributed as a certified PDF with the data embedded.
> So you can read it as a human, extract machine readable information – all
> while ensuring that the information has not been tampered with.
>
>
>
> Leonard
>
>
>
> *From: *Jeremy Townson <jeremy.townson@gmail.com>
> *Date: *Monday, June 8, 2020 at 12:48 PM
> *To: *"W3C Credentials CG (Public List)" <public-credentials@w3.org>
> *Subject: *Human readable credentials?
> *Resent-From: *<public-credentials@w3.org>
> *Resent-Date: *Monday, June 8, 2020 at 12:47 PM
>
>
>
> I have a question for the group about displaying credentials to humans.
> Credentials, being JSON, are machine readable, okay, but when the machine
> is told to display the credential on screen, what does the machine do?
>
>
>
> Does this matter? It would appear so.. A holder may wish to make a visual
> check of a credential he holds. An issuer may wish their credentials to
> display their logo, etc. In fact, one can imagine it being useful to
> display virtually any credential, except possibly login credentials and
> that kind of thing.
>
>
>
> Since credentials have emerged from linked data on the web, one idea would
> be to continue to do what the web does generally and have a web page render
> a credential. But the integrity of that web page and of the credential are
> guaranteed in different ways. How then would the view and the credential be
> tied to the same issuer?
>
>
>
> It seems you could address this question in two ways. One would be to
> embed the view data into the credential itself. For example, a credential
> could contain a field like "view": "*some mime message or whatever*".
> Another would be to use a content-addressable link, such as a hashlink,
> where the content contains the same info.
>
>
>
> The problem here is neither of those approaches are standard in the data
> model. Seemingly, it would be useful if they were standard because an
> arbitrary wallet, given an arbitrary credential would know how to display
> it.
>
>
>
> So finally, my question. What ways are people using to display
> credentials, are they robust and is there any best approach that might be
> worthy enough to standardise?
>
>
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Jeremy Townson
>
>
>
> ps: I've enjoyed watching the CG list file through my inbox. It seems a
> very coherent group, which hopefully gives as good a chance of success in
> this world.
>
>
>
> pps: To introduce myself, I have been working on a Scala implementation of
> the VC data model.
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Konstantinos A. Karasavvas
Software Architect, Blockchain Engineer, Researcher, Educator
http://kkarasavvas.com/