Solid is a voluntary global technical specification for building interoperable software.
Solid is led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and originated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It is a non-commerical, open source collaboration between thousands of contributors from across the globe. Solid works on three levels:
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Login: users identify themselves using a WebID which is a domain name based alternative to a password. Ideally the user owns the domain used to identify themselves. This avoids the need for user login credentials being held by 3rd parties. Pods: users store their unique data on Pods (personal online data stores) rather than centralised data stores e.g. Google, Facebook. Users can have multiple Pods. Data generated while using Solid-compliant applications or services is stored on the
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Pod independently of the application or service. This means that data can be moved freely to other services or apps without constraint.
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Apps: Solid-compliant apps and services have granular access to user data meaning they only get a specific type of data, for a specific purpose and for a set timeframe. This means users have much greater control over how their data is accessed.
Read Solid's mission, vision, and values
Solid is an open source project which anyone can contribute. Read more about how collective decisions about Solid are made.
This week on Solid is a great place to read about the latest developments.
Anyone can implement the Solid specification.
Find out who is working on Solid implementations and let others know about how you are implementing Solid on the App, Pod, and Identity Provider listings.
You can also use or contribute to the Solid documentation explaining how to implement the Solid specification.
There are multiple Solid prototypes that you can use and and explore already.
In order to try out some of the Solid, you will first need to get a WebID and a Pod. You can also self host your Pod rather than opt for a Pod provider. Once you have set your WebID and Pod you can use Solid applications.
Contact the Solid Manager on info@solidproject.org