Re: What is a WebID?

On 11/9/23 9:21 AM, Nathan Rixham wrote:
>
> On Thu, Nov 9, 2023 at 2:17 PM Kingsley Idehen 
> <kidehen@openlinksw.com> wrote:
>
>
>     On 11/9/23 8:57 AM, Melvin Carvalho wrote:
>     > FWIW: when we defined WebID at TPAC, TimBL explicitly said no 303s.
>
>     Because he knows what he is talking about, since he designed the
>     components that lead to the World Wide Web.
>
>     An HTTP URI that names an Agent unambiguously simply needs a "#"
>     tacked
>     on to it.
>
>     You make the URI (pointer) from the Profile Doc URL (address).
>
>     As I keep on trying to explain to you, right now the Web is full of
>     WebIDs that resolve to WebID-Profile documents using this importance
>     piece of Web magic.
>
>     The whole thing "just works" and it's happening without or without a
>     WebID spec from anyone.
>
>     ChatGPT and similar tools already understand this stuff too, so whom
>     exactly is some alternative spec going to bring on board?
>
>
> You said it yourself:
>
> >  having a MUST for RDF-Turtle (solely) compromised a powerful
> conceptual abstraction
>
> > JSON and/or JSON-LD are the formats that developers will use because
> there are a boatload of tools out their to aid their productivity.
>
> to implement a specification requires Turtle, but most developers use 
> JSON(-LD), and the MUST precludes them or defines they must implement 
> conneg to turtle


WebID-Profile doc doesn't need MUST for Turtle, since that's an alien 
notation and serialization format to Web Developers. Basically, there 
aren't enough tools to bring said developers on board.

A WebID is totally independent of Turtle and any other notation or 
serialization format. I just wish it was never conflated with Turtle, as 
the strange response to it being conflated with RDF/XML.  That approach 
to these matters has never worked, and will never work.

A WebID is an identifier for unambiguously naming Agents. That's all 
there should be to the matter.

WebID-Profile Documents and Authentication Protocols are a different matter.

>
> This is why a respec is needed, to define webid without a media type 
> constraint (x a Agent) - superset


Possibly, but I fear that's headed to creating even more confusion -- 
since the basic definition still remains unclear, strangely.


> Then to define a subspec (webid-json(-ld)) that can be liberated of 
> the the requirement for tutle - even if some other subspec like 
> webid-rdf requires conneg & at least tutle, say in SOLID)


What's wrong with establishing the following:

1. WebID -- an identifier for unambiguously naming an Agent

2. WebID-Profile Document -- a document that describes an Agent named 
using a WebID

3. WebID-TLS -- an authentication protocol for verifying credentials 
expressed in an WebID-Profile Document

4. WebID-OpenIDConnect+OAuth -- an authentication protocol for verifying 
credentials expressed in an WebID-Profile Document

That then gels nicely with Solid where the following are loosely coupled:

1. Identity -- via an identifier, in the form of a WebID that 
unambiguously names an Agent.

2. Identification -- via a credentials expressed in profile document 
that coalesce around a WebID via an entity relationship graph.

3. Authentication -- verification of credentials in a profile document 
that coalesce around a WebID.

4. Authorization -- access controls tested against a verified WebID


BTW -- everything I've outlined above has been implemented in our 
Virtuoso platform for longer tham I even care to remember these days.

-- 
Regards,

Kingsley Idehen 
Founder & CEO
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