Bigger than Big Data:
Decentralized personal data on the Web

People choose where they store
every single piece of data they produce.

They can grant apps and people access
to very specific parts of their data.

Separating app and storage competition
drives permissionless innovation.

The traditional way of building apps
does not work well with decentralization.

Building apps over decentralized data
requires different app techniques.

Solid is an ecosystem of data and apps
that work seamlessly together.

• data pods
  • profile
  • photos
  • comments
  • likes
  • viewing statistics
  • …
• applications
  • news reader
  • video player
  • document collaboration
  • …
• standards
  • HTTP
  • URL
  • Resource Description Framework
  • Linked Data Platform
  • Linked Data Notifications
  • …

Linked Data in the RDF model
solves crucial challenges for Solid.

• 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?

Through URLs and RDF, every piece of data
can link to any other piece of data.

PREFIX as: <https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#>
PREFIX xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>
<#ruben-likes-ebdvf2018> a as:Like;
  as:actor  <https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me>;
  as:object <https://www.european-big-data-value-forum.eu/#this>;
  as:published "2018-11-14T14:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime.

Shapes (and hopefully soon semantics)
enable layered compatibility.

PREFIX as: <https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#>
PREFIX xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>
<#ruben-likes-ebdvf2018> a as:Like;
  as:actor  <https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me>;
  as:object <https://www.european-big-data-value-forum.eu/#this>;
  as:published "2018-11-14T14:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime.

Different source data can be concatenated
(but let’s track provenance).

PREFIX as: <https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#>
PREFIX xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#>
<#ruben-likes-ebdvf2018> a as:Like;
  as:actor  <https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me>;
  as:object <https://www.european-big-data-value-forum.eu/#this>;
  as:published "2018-11-14T14:00:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime.
<#bart-likes-ebdvf2018> a as:Like;
  as:actor  <https://example.org/bart/#me>;
  as:object <https://www.european-big-data-value-forum.eu/#this>;
  as:published "2018-11-14T14:05:00Z"^^xsd:dateTime.

Will we lose access to customers’ data
we need for analytics?

• No. Their version becomes the source of truth.
• Media companies can still keep a copy,
  but don’t have to.
  • We can argue that it is our data too.
  • Storage might be expensive under GDPR.

Can we trust data that comes
from consumers?

• No.
• Yes.
  • The source can digitally sign the data.

What should we do if
we are not collecting data anymore?

• Relax.
• Focus on what you really want to do.
  • …which is most likely not data harvesting.

There will not be less data.
There will be more.

• Not just the data you generate.
• Data from many other sources.