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

RE 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

Your reference "at a system to system level" IMO is confusing/ambiguous unless "system" is equivalent to "agent".

IMO, I believe there is:

1. a VC storage-level *API* for creating and otherwise managing VCs in local storage ...a VC storage kernel or microkernel ... typically a directly called object based in interface (or very lightweight internal/private RPC interface ...for managing the storage-level lifecycle of a VC. A Wallet or Trusted Digital Assistant would use this API to access VCs in local storage.

... very different from ...

2. an inter-Agent-level protocol for requesting from another Agent for credentials to be created, shared, revoked, etc. ... typically HTTP-based ...for managing the life cycle of a VC as a business object.

Here's an example of a VC-based *storage-level API*: https://youtu.be/FFv4WZ0p3aY

Michael Herman

Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

________________________________
From: Mike Prorock <mprorock@mesur.io>
Sent: Tuesday, August 3, 2021 9:06:56 AM
To: Michael Herman (Trusted Digital Web) <mwherman@parallelspace.net>
Cc: public-credentials@w3.org <public-credentials@w3.org>; Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com>
Subject: 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<mailto: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<mailto:msporny@digitalbazaar.com>>
Sent: Sunday, August 1, 2021 2:37:03 PM
To: public-credentials@w3.org<mailto:public-credentials@w3.org> <public-credentials@w3.org<mailto: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/