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- - If the web is like a well-designed building, the Solid Profile - is its lobby - the place the public can discover which parts of - the interior the building's owner has given consent for them to - see, where the owner can hide or put on display parts of their - identity as they see fit. + If the web is like a well-designed building, the Solid Profile can be likened to the lobby, serving as a public space where visitors can discover which parts of the building's interior the owner has given consent for them to see.
-- A social agent - a person or organization - can establish an - identity in the Solid ecosystem by obtaining a unique identifier - called a WebID and by describing themselves in a set of - documents associated with the WebID. These documents, referred - to here collectively as a Solid Profile, both describe the - social agent and provide links to their resources. + The Solid ecosystem enables a social agent, such as an individual or an organization, to establish an identity by obtaining a unique identifier, called a WebID. The associated Solid Profile serves as a starting point for applications to access information related to the social agent.
- A Solid profile, like most Solid resources, can include a - combination of publicly readable data, data restricted to named - audiences, and data meant only for the social agent themselves. - For example, Keisha's Solid profile might list her name - publicly, her phone number only for friends, and the - configuration settings for her "notes to self" only for apps - operating on her own behalf. Solid supports these options by - splitting the profile into documents with separate access - restrictions. So the first task of an application may be to load - all of the profile documents it has access to or load them on a - need to basis. + There are different circumstances under which profiles are used or shared, including:
-- Profiles can contain, and apps are free to follow, any kind of - links to related documents. In order to promote interoperability - and limit the burden on apps, this specification recommends a - limited number of related documents which a profile ought to - contain so that apps can discover them. -
-- The discovery process starts with the WebID, a URI that points - to exactly one document, referred to here as a WebID Profile - Document. This document can be expected to contain pointers to a - Preferences File Document containing settings & resources - meant only for the WebID owner, Type Index Documents containing - links to specific types of resources, and might also contain - Extended Profile Documents containing additional information - about the WebID owner. The documents which make up a Solid - Profile are illustrated below and described in more detail in - Discovering a complete Solid profile. -
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- - Once an application has loaded all of the needed profile documents, it - can then look for a fixed set of predicates holding information - about the structure and location of the WebID owner's resources. - The predicates listed below are used throughout this document. -
-| Predicate | -Information conveyed | -
|---|---|
solid:oidcIssuer |
- location(s) where the WebID owner logs in | -
pim:storage |
- location(s) of the WebID owner's storage space(s) | -
- solid:instance,
- solid:instanceContainer
- |
- locations of specific types of resources | -
ldp:inbox |
- location of the WebID owner's Solid inbox | -
In order to support these different use cases, access to the Solid profile document itself, or any of the linked associated documents, might be limited to certain groups, agents, or applications.
+This specification is for:
- - -- This document does not cover the WebID authentication process - (see - Solid Protocol's Authentication - [SOLID-PROTOCOL]) or data specific to a given type of social agent (see - forthcoming [Creating Personal Profiles]TBD and [Creating - Organizational Profiles]TBD)). Alternate discovery processes - (for example [proposed Interoperability-Spec]TBD) are also out - of scope for this document although they will be mentioned where - relevant. -
+ Profiles can contain, and apps are free to follow, any kind of + links to related documents. In order to promote interoperability + and limit the burden on apps, this specification recommends a + limited number of related documents which a profile ought to + contain so that apps can discover them. +
++ The discovery process starts with the WebID, a URI that points to exactly one document, referred to here as a WebID + Profile Document [WEBID]. + This document can be expected to contain pointers to a Preferences File Document + containing settings and resources meant only for the WebID owner, Type + Index Documents containing links to specific types of resources, and might also contain Extended Profile + Documents containing additional information about the WebID owner. The documents which make up a Solid Profile are + illustrated below. +
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+