Re: VC HTTP API Renaming Choices (was: Re: Bikeshed: Renaming the VC HTTP API)

My read on the general topic, or "thing" we are trying to name is this - we
have Verifiable Credentials - we need a documented, standard, and open way
of creating, sharing, storing, revoking, and all the other things that we
would do with VCs as defined in the VC Spec at a system to system level.
This is effectively stating that we need an API for systems to exchange and
perform operations involving VCs.  This may be RESTful (as it is basically
defined now) over HTTPS, or may potentially use other protocols, but REST
is a good place to start from a documentation and ease of implementation
perspective.

This is why I would lean towards naming that is descriptive of the problem
we are trying to solve, that also does not box us into
unnecessary constraints or corners as things evolve over time.  I also like
naming that is professional in the sense that it does not raise eyebrows
when introducing the spec to a new audience at an enterprise or
government level.  Further, naming that is not technical only in nature, or
that uses only technical terms that are in wide use in a business context
is also desirable for discussion involving key stakeholders who may have a
non-programmer mindset or experience set.

For me, names like:
Verifiable Credential API
and
Verifiable Credential Exchange
along with a few others fit these criteria well.

Of course, all that being said Credential McCredential Face (or similar)
for meme reasons only should always be embedded as an easter egg
somewhere in the comments of any given HTML spec.

Mike Prorock
CTO, Founder
https://mesur.io/



On Tue, Aug 3, 2021 at 10:50 AM Michael Herman (Trusted Digital Web) <
mwherman@parallelspace.net> wrote:

> For this naming process to be effective/useful, I believe it's important
> (maybe it isn't) to have a strong mutual understanding of the "thing" we're
> trying to name. I don't think we have this consensus.
>
> For example, I haven't seen a answer to the scope of this protocol ...e.g
> agent-to-storage, agent-to-agent, etc. Note: in the context of this
> discussion, an HTTP endpoint is a form of agent.
>
> Michael
>
> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
> *Sent:* Sunday, August 1, 2021 2:37:03 PM
> *To:* public-credentials@w3.org <public-credentials@w3.org>
> *Subject:* VC HTTP API Renaming Choices (was: Re: Bikeshed: Renaming the
> VC HTTP API)
>
> On 7/20/21 6:27 PM, Mike Varley wrote:
> > This vc-wapi is interfering with my waci but not my fapi, gets along
> pretty
> > well with chapi but now I need a gnap. Rar.
>
> Hi all, I've scanned the thread and extracted all the suggestions that I
> saw:
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/10BIb91NgoL_eu3a-4d8FZLcJjtfIg--oRq3VYq1hfK4/edit#
>
> I'm sure I missed a few, please add them to the list. We'll collect more
> options for another week and then run a ranked choice vote poll to gather
> some
> data on the community's preferred direction.
>
> If the outcome is something like "Veri McCredentialFace", we'll have to
> regroup (and question each of our life choices that led us to that moment).
>
> Please submit any other VC HTTP API renaming options before August 7th
> 2021 in
> the document listed above.
>
> -- manu
>
> --
> Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/
> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> News: Digital Bazaar Announces New Case Studies (2021)
> https://www.digitalbazaar.com/
>
>
>