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Subject: XDI Glossary - Terms (1 of 3)
XDI TC Members: I had an action item coming out of the last telecon to do an update to the proposed XDI glossary to incorporate the key functional concepts that have appeared in use cases. This updated glossary is appended to this message and also appears in the XRI/XDI wikiweb at http://xrixdi.idcommons.net/moin.cgi/XdiGlossary). As always at this stage in the development of a new specification, creating this glossary was a highly enlightening exercise. My key conclusions: 1) It's quite short, which I hope reflects the "simplicity on the other side of complexity" we are seeking in the XDI specs. 2) It's also short because it builds on top of the XRI glossary. Not surprisingly, a number of the key terms there are also key terms here. 3) It generalizes to just four primary actors/roles - Data Authorities (DAs) and Identifier Authorities (IAs), XDI Service Providers (XSPs), and XDI Service Consumers (XSCs) (note than any particular entity may be all four at different times or in different capacities). These generalizations seem to fit all the use cases I've tested against so far (see action items, below). 4) The terms "XDI link" and "XDI link contract" have proved so useful that I have included them here. I would argue that at this stage in our work they can be treated purely as functional constructs, not architectural constructs. An XDI link is just a data sharing relationship of some kind between two XDI resources an XDI link contract the control data that describes that relationship, regardless of the form it takes in the final specs. I've also composed some scenarios just to illustrate this glossary. To prevent this message from getting too long, I'm sending that as a follow-on message. =Drummond ***INITIAL XDI GLOSSARY*** IMPORTANT: This glossary is an EXTENSION of the glossary in the XRI 1.0 specification (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/5109/xri-syntax-resolutio n-1.0-cd.pdf). It inherits all terms from that specification. Several of the most important terms('identifier', 'community', 'resource', and 'resource representation') have been copied here for clarity. Authority: A resource that controls other resources. Community (or Identifier Community): The set of resources that share a common identifier authority, often (but not always) a common root authority. Technically, the set of resources whose identifiers form a directed graph or tree. Control Data: A type of data that is used to control the sharing of other types of data. Control data may be recursive and control the sharing of itself. Data: Any information that when associated with an identifier becomes a resource. See a list of different /DataCategories. Data Authority (DA): A resource that asserts authority over data and can delegate control over data to another resource. People and organizations are the most obvious types of data authorities, but people and organizations can delegate authority to software agents and applications, which then become Delegated Authorites. Delegated Authority: An Authority that has been granted control over a set of resources by another Authority. Identifier (from XRI 1.0 Spec): Per [RFC2396bis], anything that "embodies the information required to distinguish what is being identified from all other things within its scope of identification." In UML terms, an identifier is an attribute of a resource (the identifier context) that forms an association with another resource (the identifier target). The general term "identifier" does not specify whether the identifier is abstract or concrete, absolute or relative, persistent or reassignable, human-friendly or machine-friendly, delegated or local, or resolvable or self-referential. Identifier Authority (IA): A type of Data Authority that has authority over the assignment of identifiers, including the assignment of identifiers to other Identifier Authorities (delegation). Because XRI syntax supports unlimited delegation, the term "Identifier Authority" can be used to refer to an identifier authority at any level. Policy: The set of rules or conditions used by an Authority to control interactions with a resource. All policies are either human-readable or machine-readable Control Data. Resource (from XRI 1.0 Spec): Per [RFC2396bis], "anything that can be named or described." Resources are of two types: network resources (those that are network addressable) and non-network resources (those that exist entirely independent of a network). Network resources are themselves of two types: direct resources (resources which are their entire embodiment) or resource representations (see Resource Representation). Resource Representation (from XRI 1.0 Spec): A network resource that represents the attributes of another resource. A resource representation may represent either another network resource (such as a machine or an application) or a non-network resource (such as a person, organization, or concept). XDI Account: An XDI resource representing a Data Authority hosted by an XDI Service Provider (XSP) acting as a Delegated Authority. XDI Community: The set of Authorities that share a common XDI link contract governing their XDI data sharing relationships. XDI Link: A data sharing relationship between two XDI resources. XDI links may exist between XDI resources under the control of a single Data Authority, or between different Data Authorities. XDI links within a single Data Authority may not require an XDI link contract, but XDI links between different data authorities will generally require an XDI link contract. XDI Link Contract: An XDI resource that controls the sharing of data across an XDI link. XDI link contracts may control any aspect of an XDI data sharing relationship. See /DataCategories. XDI Resource: A network resource (see Resource) that is addressable by at least one XRI and has at least one XDI interface offered by an XDI Service Provider. XDI Service Consumer (XSC): An Authority that requests interactions with an XDI resource via an XDI interface. XDI Service Provider (XSP): An Authority that controls the interactions with an XDI resource via an XDI interface. XRI: An Extensible Resource Identifier, a URI-compatible abstract identifier as defined by the XRI 1.0 specification (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/5109/xri-syntax-resolutio n-1.0-cd.pdf) developed by the OASIS XRI TC (http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xri).
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