Lexicon

The following is a list of terms and their definitions used in the context of this project. It will be updated as new terms are introduced. The goal is to provide a clear understanding of the terms used in the project and get everyone on the same page. Most terms are associated with SOLID (Social Linked Data).

A

• ACL (Access Control List): A list of permissions attached to an object that specifies which users or system processes can access that object and what operations they can perform. (Optional)
• Action: The operations that can be performed on a resource (e.g., Read, Write, Append, Control).
• Agent: An entity (usually a person, group, or application) that can perform actions on resources.
• ACP (Access Control Policy): A policy-based access control mechanism that allows more fine-grained and flexible access control compared to ACL.
• Append: The permission to add new data to a resource.

C

• Constraint: A limitation or restriction placed on a rule or action.
• Container: A type of resource in Solid that can hold other resources, similar to a directory in a file system.
• Context: The environment or setting in which a resource or action exists or occurs.
• Control: The permission to manage access to a resource, including setting permissions for other users. (Related: ACL)

D

• Data Pod: Personal online datastore where users store their data in a Solid ecosystem. Each pod is controlled by the individual it belongs to and is hosted by a certain provider.

F

• FOAF (Friend of a Friend): A machine-readable ontology describing persons, their activities, and their relations to other people and objects. (Ontology: a formal representation of a set of concepts within a domain and the relationships between those concepts)

I

• Identity Provider: A service that manages the identity information and authentication of users in a Solid ecosystem. (Related: Data Pods)
• Index Page: A resource in a Solid pod that provides an entry point for navigating other resources within the pod.
• Interoperability: The ability of different systems and organizations to work together (inter-operate) by using standardized data formats and protocols.

L

• LDP (Linked Data Platform): A set of W3C standards for building interoperable web applications using Linked Data principles.
• Linked Data: A method of publishing structured data so that it can be interlinked and become more useful through semantic queries.

M

• Matcher: A component or process that selects resources or data based on specified criteria.

O

• Object: In RDF, the object is the third part of a triple that describes the value or entity related to the subject via the predicate.

Example: In the triple <John, hasFriend, Jane>, "Jane" is the object.

• Origin: The source domain or URL from which a request is made.
• Owner: The individual or entity that has control over a resource or Solid pod.

P

• Permission: The authorization given to a user or application to access and manipulate resources within a Solid pod.
• Policy: A set of rules or permissions that govern access to resources.
• Policy Type/User Type: Categories or roles that determine the policies applicable to different users or groups.
• Profile: A resource that describes a Solid user, typically containing information about the user and links to other resources.
• Properties: Characteristics or attributes of a resource.
• Prohibition: A restriction or denial of certain actions on a resource.

R

• RDF (Resource Description Framework): A standard model for data interchange on the web, which Solid uses to structure and link data.
• Read: The permission to view a resource.
• Resource: Any item (file, document, data) stored in a Solid pod, which can be accessed or manipulated through Solid protocols.
• Rule: A statement that defines conditions and constraints for actions and permissions.

S

• Solid (Social Linked Data): A web decentralization project, aiming to give users control over their personal data by storing it in decentralized pods.
• Solid App: An application designed to interact with Solid pods and utilize Solid protocols for data access and management.
• Solid Client: An application or user agent that interacts with a Solid server to read and write data.
• Solid-OIDC (OpenID Connect): An authentication layer on top of the OAuth 2.0 protocol, used for secure, federated login in the Solid ecosystem.
• Solid Protocol: A set of conventions for building decentralized web applications that interact with Solid pods.
• Solid Server: A server that hosts Solid pods and provides interfaces for accessing and managing the data within them.
• SPARQL (SPARQL Protocol and RDF Query Language): A query language for databases, able to retrieve and manipulate data stored in RDF format.
• Storage: The location or space where data in a Solid pod is kept.

T

• Target: The resource or entity on which an action is performed.
• Triple: The atomic data entity in RDF, consisting of a subject, predicate, and object. It's used to make statements about resources.

Example: <John, hasFriend, Jane>

• Turtle (Terse RDF Triple Language): A syntax for writing RDF data in a compact and readable format.

Example: <http://example.org/bob> <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/knows> <http://example.org/alice>

U

• URI (Uniform Resource Identifier): A string of characters that unambiguously identifies a particular resource.

Example: http://example.org/resource

• IRI (Internationalized Resource Identifier): Similar to a URI, but it allows a wider range of characters, including those from non-Latin scripts, making it more globally accessible.

Example: http://例子.测试/资源 which is a Chinese domain name and path

V

• Vocabulary: A set of terms used to describe concepts and relationships within a specific domain, important for creating interoperable linked data.

W

• WAC (Web Access Control): A method for defining access control rules for resources on the web, used within Solid for managing permissions. (Related: ACL) Web Access Control Explainer
• WebID: A unique identifier that denotes a person's identity in the Solid ecosystem, usually a URL that points to a profile document.
• WebID-TLS: An authentication protocol using client-side TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates to authenticate users based on their WebID.
• Write: The permission to modify or add to a resource.