Solid London Meetup: Introduction

Solid London Meetup
Introduction

Ruben Verborgh

Ghent University – imec

This is for everyone #london2012 #oneweb #openingceremony @webfoundation @w3c
Tim Berners-Lee July 27, 2012

[photo of a birthday cake] — ©2017 Dark Dwarf

With Solid, we aim to
reshape the relationship
between people, their data,
and the apps they use.

Solid restores choice
on the Web.

Universality and innovation
Apps, data, and people
Decentralized developer experience

Universality and innovation
Apps, data, and people
Decentralized developer experience

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

The Web brings freedom of expression
to everyone across the world.

Anyone can say anything about anything.
We all have our own spaces,
so we don’t have to agree.
We can link to opinions of others
to discuss about them.

People started their own blogs and sites,
sharing things on their own terms.

A generation of social platforms
helped people interact and share.

The Web brings permissionless innovation
at a global scale.

Anyone can build anything for any reason.
You don’t need anyone’s permission
to join the Web and launch a new idea.
- not the case in app stores

Permissionless innovation has brought
unprecedented creativity to the world.

Our data has become centralized
in a handful of Web platforms.

people’s personal blogs
are now on Facebook and Twitter
- great user experience
- but we lost control
far-reaching consequences for privacy
endangers the Web’s universality
- Sign in with Facebook to see this content.
- Facebook works better with the native app.

Within the walled gardens of social media,
you have to move either data or people.

The current massive centralization
hurts diversity, innovation, and choice.

if you can build 1 API integration
- will it be facebook.com or private-identity-provider.org?
developers depend on centralized platforms
for data and identity
- …or they have to become such a platform themselves
people lose control of their data
and cannot easily switch to other apps
- innovation cannot attract locked-in customers

Universality and innovation
Apps, data, and people
Decentralized developer experience

Solid is about choice.

The Solid ecosystem enables people to pick the apps they need, while
storing their data wherever they want.

People control their data, and share it
with the apps and people they choose.

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.

Solid is not a company or organisation.
Solid is not (just) software.

Solid is an ecosystem
- standards enable interoperability
Solid is a movement
- shifting the app builder mindset
Solid is a community
- different people, companies, and organisations

Anyone can build or host
software for Solid.

a server at home and/or
at your workplace
rent server space
use one of the
free community servers

The Solid server acts as a data pod
that stores and guards your data.

a regular Web server
- with support for access control
- with support for Linked Data
application-agnostic
- build any application
- application-specific logic resides in clients
just like your website
- your data can be opened with any app

A typical data pod can contain
any data you create or need online.

profile 👤
photos 🖼
comments 🗣
likes 👍
… ✨

Solid clients are browser or native apps
that read from or write to your data pod.

you give apps permission
- choose very precisely what they can access
friends give you permission
- choose very precisely what you can access
apps deliver a unified experience
- browse your friends’ pictures along with yours

Any app you can envision,
you can build with Solid.

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

Universality and innovation
Apps, data, and people
Decentralized developer experience

Decentralized apps have many back-ends. Back-ends work with many apps.

Interoperability challenges in Solid
are solved through Linked Data in RDF.

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?

With JSON-LD, every piece of data
can link to any other piece of data.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "id":        "#ruben-likes-solidlondon2019",
  "type":      "Like",
  "actor":     "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me",
  "object":    "https://www.meetup.com/Solid-London/events/260820462/#this",
  "published": "2019-05-22T18:00:00Z"
}

Data shapes and their semantics
enable layered compatibility.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "id":        "#ruben-likes-fosdem2019",
  "type":      "Like",
  "actor":     "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me",
  "object":    "https://www.meetup.com/Solid-London/events/260820462/#this",
  "published": "2019-05-22T18:00:00Z"
}

Different source data
can be concatenated.

{
  "@context":  "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "@graph": [{
    "type":      "Like",
    "actor":     "https://ruben.verborgh.org/profile/#me",
    "object":    "https://www.meetup.com/Solid-London/events/260820462/#this",
    "published": "2019-05-22T18:00:00Z"
  },{
    "type":      "Like",
    "actor":     "https://example.org/people/paul#me",
    "object":    "https://www.meetup.com/Solid-London/events/260820462/#this",
    "published": "2019-05-22T18:30:00Z"
  }]
}

The developer experience is the most
crucial factor for Solid success.

front-end developers build
the apps people see
together with UX designers,
they bring Solid to people
enabling developers
means enabling ourselves

Simple tasks should be simple,
complex tasks should be manageable.

People think RDF is a pain
because it is complicated.
The truth is even worse.

RDF is painfully simplistic,
but it allows you to work with real-world data
and problems that are horribly complicated.
Dan Brickley & Libby Miller

What are the cool kids doing?

React
Vue.js
Angular

React makes building Solid apps
an easy and fun experience.

<LoggedIn>
  <p>Welcome, <Value src="user.firstName"/></p>
  <Image src="user.image" defaultSrc="profile.svg"/>
  <ul>
    <li><Link href="user.inbox">Your inbox</Link></li>
    <li><Link href="user.homepage">Your homepage</Link></li>
  </ul>
  <h2>Your friends</h2>
  <List src="user.friends.firstName"/>
</LoggedIn>

Universality and innovation
Apps, data, and people
Decentralized developer experience

The best way to predict
the future is to invent it.
Alan Kay

[photo of Alan Kay] — ©2008 jeanbaptisteparis

The best way to invent
the future is to predict it.
John Perry Barlow

[photo of John Perry Barlow] — ©2007 Joi Ito

Solid London Meetup Introduction

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

The Web brings freedom of expression to everyone across the world.

People started their own blogs and sites, sharing things on their own terms.

A generation of social platforms helped people interact and share.

The Web brings permissionless innovation at a global scale.

Permissionless innovation has brought unprecedented creativity to the world.

Our data has become centralized in a handful of Web platforms.

Within the walled gardens of social media, you have to move either data or people.

The current massive centralization hurts diversity, innovation, and choice.

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.

Solid is not a company or organisation. Solid is not (just) software.

Anyone can build or host software for Solid.

The Solid server acts as a data pod that stores and guards your data.

A typical data pod can contain any data you create or need online.

Solid clients are browser or native apps that read from or write to your data pod.

Any app you can envision, you can build with Solid.

Decentralized apps have many back-ends. Back-ends work with many apps.

Interoperability challenges in Solid are solved through Linked Data in RDF.

With JSON-LD, every piece of data can link to any other piece of data.

Data shapes and their semantics enable layered compatibility.

Different source data can be concatenated.

The developer experience is the most crucial factor for Solid success.

Simple tasks should be simple, complex tasks should be manageable.

What are the cool kids doing?

React makes building Solid apps an easy and fun experience.

Solid London Meetup Introduction

Solid London Meetup
Introduction

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

The Web brings freedom of expression
to everyone across the world.

People started their own blogs and sites,
sharing things on their own terms.

A generation of social platforms
helped people interact and share.

The Web brings permissionless innovation
at a global scale.

Permissionless innovation has brought
unprecedented creativity to the world.

Our data has become centralized
in a handful of Web platforms.

Within the walled gardens of social media,
you have to move either data or people.

The current massive centralization
hurts diversity, innovation, and choice.

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.

Solid is not a company or organisation.
Solid is not (just) software.

Anyone can build or host
software for Solid.

The Solid server acts as a data pod
that stores and guards your data.

A typical data pod can contain
any data you create or need online.

Solid clients are browser or native apps
that read from or write to your data pod.

Any app you can envision,
you can build with Solid.

Interoperability challenges in Solid
are solved through Linked Data in RDF.

With JSON-LD, every piece of data
can link to any other piece of data.

Data shapes and their semantics
enable layered compatibility.

Different source data
can be concatenated.

The developer experience is the most
crucial factor for Solid success.

Simple tasks should be simple,
complex tasks should be manageable.

React makes building Solid apps
an easy and fun experience.

Solid London Meetup
Introduction