Your data on the Web
Solid & Linked Data

Before the Web

• Exchanging information was hard
  • different hardware
  • different software
• Innovation was hard
  • For which machines do we build?
  • For which operating systems do we build?

The Web strives to be universal
through independence of many factors.

• Anyone can use the Web, regardless of:

  hardware

  desktop

  phone

  tablet

  watch

  …

  software

  operating system

  browser

  app

  …

• Developers are free to innovate.
  • Build for the Web.
  • Standards provide interoperability.

Individual links are allowed to break
so the entire Web does not

Tim Berners-Lee

Released royalty-free in 1993

The Web brings permissionless innovation
at a global scale

• Anyone can build anything for any reason
• The technologies are open
• You don’t need anyone’s permission
  to join the Web and launch a new idea

The Web brings freedom of expression
to everyone across the world

• Anyone can say anything about anything
• We can link to opinions of others
  to discuss about them
• The “Web 2.0” ideas transition users
  from consumers to prosumers

The Web enabled unprecedented creativity

The browser wars

best viewed with

Our data has become stuck

• Former personal blogs
  are now on Facebook and Twitter
  • great user experience
  • but we lost control
  • and the Web lost its data
• Data became stuck in silos
  • not centered around the users that create it
  • but centered on the platforms that use it

Ironically, permissionless innovation
even allows platforms that prevent it.

The Facebook founder has no intention of
allowing anyone to build anything on his platform
that does not have his express approval.

Having profited mightily from the Web’s openness,
he has kicked away the ladder that elevated him
to his current eminence.

John Naughton, The Guardian

How dependent are you
on the Google ecosystem?

The Guardian this weekend

Rule One for any online venture is
to acquire large numbers of users quickly
so that you can harness the power
of network effects to keep them
inside your walled garden.

these systems are not interoperable:
you can’t easily take your “social graph”
(your network of contacts) with you.

John Naughton, The Guardian

The Solid project

• Spearheaded by Tim Berners-Lee
  as a way to take back control
• Solid provides a way of building Web apps
  that let people keep control of their data
• Solid builds on existing W3C standards
  
  • It is not a new Web:
  • it builds on top of the existing Web.

Separating applications and data

• Typical platforms nowadays store data
  inseparably from an application.
  • If we need to access the data, we cannot choose our app.
  • If we need to use the app, we can’t choose our data source.
• By separating data from apps,
  we create independent choices.
  • We can give data the portability
    that the Web enables for our documents

User perspective:
we can control and share our data

Application perspective:
Innovation on a Web scale

Where does this data go?

• To separate applications and data ...
• the user must have a space on the Web

The Solid Pod

Interoperability between Solid Pods
is enabled through standardization

• Solid builds on existing Web standards
• The standards cover:
  • data pods
  • applications or services
  • identity
• Standards enable the interactions
  between data, apps, and identities

Your data pod can contain
any data you create online

• profile 👤
• media 🖼
• comments 🗣
• likes 👍
• … ✨

You control which applications
can interact with your pod

• You can give read and/or write permissions
  for specific pieces of data to:
  • applications
  • other people
  • automated agents
• Applications deliver an integrated experience
  • They can integrate your data,
    with other sources from all over the Web

Any app you can envision,
you can build with Solid

• calendar 📅
• social feed 👥
• photo sharing 📸
• conference organization system 🎤
• … ✨

Applications can integrate data
from many sources

Interconnectivity is key

A point about trust

• Trust requires provenance of data
  • Apps can keep track of the source of data
  • Apps can allow you to ignore untrusted data
• Verification enables trust in data
  • There is value in providing data verification
  • Signatures provide trust in provenance

Our data needs to scale to the Web!

Interoperability challenges in Solid
are solved through Linked Data.

• If we all store our own data,
  how do we connect it to others’ data?
• How can apps share data,
  without too many prior agreements?
• How do we integrate data
  from multiple data pods?

I want to like a blog!

On Facebook?

On Twitter?

On Tumblr?

On the Web!

If I like your blog, I need a way
to connect my like to your blog.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "id":        "#ruben-likes-blog",
  "type":      "Like",
  "actor":     "https://pod.rubendedecker.be/profile/card#me",
  "object":    "https://ruben.verborgh.org/blog/",
  "published": "2019-04-25T08:00:00Z"
}

My like needs a univeral meaning
so different apps can reuse it

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "id":        "#ruben-likes-blog",
  "type":      "Like",
  "actor":     "https://pod.rubendedecker.be/profile/card#me",
  "object":    "https://ruben.verborgh.org/blog/",
  "published": "2019-04-25T08:00:00Z"
}

Data from different sources
can be easily be combined.

{ "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "@graph": [{
    "type":      "Like",
    "actor":     "https://pod.rubendedecker.be/profile/card#me",
    "object":    "https://ruben.verborgh.org/blog/",
    "published": "2023-01-22T08:00:00Z"
  },{
    "type":      "Like",
    "actor":     "https://example.org/people/patrick#me",
    "object":    "https://ruben.verborgh.org/blog/",
    "published": "2023-02-21T09:05:00Z"
  }]
}

My data forms a graph on the Web

Interactions create new connections

An ever expanding graph of data

You can take part!

Host your documents from your Pod

Empower your data on a Web scale