Re: tracking state changes in a temporal read-write web

FWIW:

I found cmap-tools[1]  which had some RDF Tools[2], but i haven't figured
that out...

[1]https://cmap.ihmc.us/
[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=cmap+tools+%22RDF%22

On Sat, 22 May 2021 at 03:53, Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
wrote:

> On 5/21/21 12:18 PM, Melvin Carvalho wrote:
>
>
>
> On Fri, 21 May 2021 at 16:14, Kingsley Idehen <kidehen@openlinksw.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 5/21/21 7:34 AM, Melvin Carvalho wrote:
>>
>> this is the outline of a strategy to track state changes in a temporal
>> read-write web
>>
>> by no means the only strategy, but an aim to generalize some of the
>> recent discussions
>>
>> 1. Data as a declarative state machine
>>
>> The data can be considered as a declarative state machine, offering state
>> transitions
>>
>> Simple case is one document, but it's useful to have multiple documents
>> over a set of quads (linked data) or directory tree (file system)
>>
>> It seems standard practice to track this data using a hash function. So
>> the first step would be to hash the document or tree or knowledge base into
>> a chain of hashes.  Git or other VCS systems do this, similarly with single
>> documents you could take a sha2, for example, and maintain a chain of
>> hashes that way
>>
>> 2. Bootstrapping a timestamp server to witness hashes
>>
>> Robust global timestamp servers have existed for over a decade,
>> popularized by the bitcoin project, often referred to as block chains,
>> because data is tied to those timestamps in the form of 'blocks' of data.
>> Users compete for space on those blocks based on an auction basis, as they
>> are a finite resource, to make them spam resistant
>>
>> The chain of hashes described in (1) can be tracked on the blocks of the
>> timestamp server, which tend to have a common transaction format.
>>
>> What is needed is hash1,hash2,hash3...hashn to be sequenced in time from
>> a definitive start, or genesis.  That genesis can become an identifier for
>> the chain of linked data which we wish to securely witness.
>>
>> Block chains typically follow a transaction in time from spent ->
>> unspent.  The terminology is that of inputs and outputs.  This can be
>> thought of as source and destination.
>>
>> The transactions are identified as cryptographic hashes, with an array of
>> outputs.  In order for a timestamp server to track a chain of linked data,
>> we need to construct a URI for the linked data hashes (hash1,2...n) and for
>> the block chain transactions (tx1,2,...) with the first tx being a genesis
>> identifier
>>
>> Gaps needed to fill:  create URIs for hash1,2,...n.  Create URIs for
>> tx1,2...n
>>
>> 3. Two way links between state machines
>>
>> Two way links between those state machines ensure strong coupling between
>> the two systems providing a bootstrap.  So from the case of the linked
>> data, you need a pointer to the transaction URI.  And from the block chain
>> you need a pointer to the hash URI.
>>
>> From a block chain there's a couple of ways to do this, one is the
>> so-called OP_RETURN which allows you to embed data in at transaction.  The
>> other is known as 'tweaking' a public key on order to add a hash
>> (hash1,2...n in the web chain)
>>
>> Linking from linked data to a transaction, once you have a URI can be
>> done in a number of ways.  But as linked data is designed to link to other
>> URIs it's quite doable by putting it onto the data structure.  Another
>> technique, for example in VCS is to put a link in the commit message, as
>> commit messages are part of the chained tree
>>
>> 4. Ensuring Temporal Integrity
>>
>> Once (1), (2), (3) are in place.  Change can be made to the state
>> machine, and new hashes generated.  With the example of git we can commit
>> hashes to a file system, or a centralized server such as github
>>
>> But, If we want to commit at web scale, we can do so as follows:
>>
>> Firstly generate a hash of the new state.  Then move the transaction in
>> the block chain along to point to this new state.  The transaction itself
>> has PKI based ownership rights which have a variety of ways to manage and
>> transfer ownership including so-called "multi sig" ownership where any N of
>> a given M actors need to agree on a transition
>>
>> Finally, point the web chain back to this new transaction once it is
>> confirmed
>>
>> This will progress the web chain in time and mirror it on the underlying
>> time stamp server
>>
>> The resulting system creates a temporal read write web state machine
>> anchored to the strong assurances of an underlying timestamp server
>>
>> This is a sketch outline of something that could be turned into a
>> prototype or MVP, and also illustrating the gaps in technology that we
>> need, namely to create two URI schemes, to hash web state, and describe
>> state transitions, for data and for agents
>>
>> Appreciate this is a sketch outline right now, feedback welcome!
>>
>>
>> Great explanation!
>>
>> *Challenge:*
>>
>> Persisting this in a form that available for easy recall.
>>
>> *Suggestions:*
>>
>> 1. Documentation using RDF sentences in a document
>>
>> 2. A visual diagram to complement -- e.g., using http://draw.io
>>
>> *Example:*
>>
>> 1.
>> http://www.openlinksw.com/data/turtle/general/knowledge-graph-manifestation-turtle-jsonld.html
>> -- I constructed that for explaining Hypertext, Hyperdata, Hypermedia etc.,
>> in relation to Knowledge Graphs; that all started from a draw.io diagram
>> .
>>
>
> Good thoughts, I can add some diagrams to explain things better
>
> Couple of inspiration of images I'd like to make:
>
> https://www.commerceblock.com/images/mainstay.png
>
> And Figure 1. from this white paper (which has quite related ideas)
>
>
> https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipns/ipfs.commerceblock.com/commerceblock-whitepaper-mainstay.pdf
>
> I'm not great with graphics, nor can afford to hire someone, but I've
> asked an artist friend to see if they can help
>
> I'll give draw.io a look tho
>
>
>
> You can also just draw with pencil and paper, then scan and share it i.e.,
> someone else could make a rendition using draw.io or similar tools. Key
> thing here is to inject illustrations into the discourse since "a picture
> speaks a thousand words" etc :)
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Kingsley Idehen 
> Founder & CEO
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