From c271bb0e709d8c945bd51b2be9c6340a4a4a811c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rasmus Dahlberg Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2022 14:56:56 +0100 Subject: persisted pads from meeting minutes --- .../2022-01-18-proposal-author-reader-terminology | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+) create mode 100644 archive/2022-01-18-proposal-author-reader-terminology (limited to 'archive/2022-01-18-proposal-author-reader-terminology') diff --git a/archive/2022-01-18-proposal-author-reader-terminology b/archive/2022-01-18-proposal-author-reader-terminology new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb447d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/archive/2022-01-18-proposal-author-reader-terminology @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +Start using the terminology "author" and "reader" proposal + +Background +--- +Figure 1 in doc/design.md refers to + + a) the party producing a signed checksum as "Signer", and + b) the party verifying a signed checksum as "Verifier". + +This is fine in isolation, but less appropriate when looking at it from a +broader Sigsum perspective. For example, a "Signer" may also be a "Submitter". +It seems like we are mixing terminology for roles and concrete actors here. + +The above is also ambiguous. For example, logs and witnesses sign things; +witnesses and monitors verify things. + +Proposal +--- +1) Replace "Signer" with "Author" when we are talking about a concrete party. + +According to Wikipedia's definition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Author), an +'author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose +authorship determines responsibility for what was created'. This seems +appropriate for us. + +The term "author" has been used in academic litterature before us for similar +purposes: + * "In the setting of transparency logging [18] as depicted in Fig. 1, the + author generates events intended for recipients that describe data + processing by the author as it takes place" + * Link to paper: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-45741-3_7 + +2) Replace "Verifier" with "Reader" when we are talking about a concrete party. + +According to Wikipedia's definition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading), +"[r]eading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, +etc., especially by sight or touch". Although the latter is not a perfect +description for us, the first part is quite close and we could argue that we are +in the "etc" category. + +The main idea here is that it should feel intuitive that an author has readers. -- cgit v1.2.3