1 of 29

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs)�& Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)

A Non Technical Discussion�

Helen Garneau

Vice President of Marketing

helen@sovrin.org

CCG Call�October 8, 2019

2 of 29

Session Objectives

Audience Segmentation�Segment the nontechnical audience and determine their needs and ideal outcomes for the interaction

Simplify Key Terms �Identify examples of problematic language in the decentralized identity community space and why

Connecting the dots�Libraries, tools and resources to help articulate and educate

3 of 29

Objective 1

Audience Segmentation

4 of 29

Identify your Audience first

Each audience has a different knowledge base, �different needs and different expectations. �

Minimum necessary information
Be aware of the ‘nod and smile problem’
Most journalists don’t speak in tech

Successful communication begins with figuring out what it is you want to say to who and why.

Identify your Audience first

Each audience has a different knowledge base and different needs and expectations.

- Is your writing aimed at

-Experts

- Other devs/architects/biz dev in SSI/DID/VC� - Are they heads of department/companies/budget but lack technical backgrounds?

- Are they brand-new to this entire world and is looking for the basics? - lots of our blog readers

Minimum necessary information- You can convey technical meanings quickly and clearly by figuring out what is the minimum the audience needs to understand and take away. You don’t want to waste the reader’s time; you don’t want to bore them with unnecessary detail, unnecessary words, and unnecessary complexity.
The nod and Smile problem - People (incl analysts/c-suite/business process/ product managers) are often reluctant to admit they don’t understand technical concepts, even when it seems that they are the type of people who should know what those technical concepts mean.

Forrester has a great report on B2B engagement that says “The content on nearly every B2B website we studied talks mostly about the company and its offerings, drowning potential buyers in jargon-filled descriptions or self-serving subject matter.”

Most journalists don’t speak in tech. - your acronyms and terms are not helpful when trying to explain fundamentals

What are some of the audience segments we should consider when we write?

What are some examples of recent interactions, either in-person, on twitter, or in presentations

5 of 29

Omit Irrelevant Detail

Readers of the Lord of the Rings don’t need to know which finger of which hand the ring goes on. It is just not critical to the plot.

What are the critical plot elements to this technology? �What can be left out and for which audience?

6 of 29

“Develop empathy.�A focus on operational efficiency incentivizes employees to obsess over what is good for the company and ignore how policies and processes irritate the customer. Sadly, few companies consistently practice the steps they need to build and apply empathy: Most employees never learn to dismantle judgment; ask good questions; listen actively; integrate what they hear into understanding; and then imagine new solutions.”

Ignite Customer-Centric Thinking Companywide��Advanced Level: Mindset Practices For Marketing Innovation��

-Laura Ramos and Jim Nail� Forrester� July 26, 2019

7 of 29

Definitions

Key Use Cases

Features

Objective 2

Simplify Key Terms

8 of 29

Key Terms

………….

9 of 29

Problems of Online Digital Identity

The Proximity Problem—The proximity problem is as old as the familiar cartoon with the caption "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Because we're not interacting with people physically, our traditional means of knowing who we are dealing with are useless. In their place, we've substituted username/password-based authentication schemes. The result is that people's identity information is replicated in multiple identity silos around the internet.

�The Scale Problem—Digital identity currently relies on hubs of identity information. We login using Facebook or Google—huge identity providers—to gain access to many other sites and services. But for every place that uses one of these big identity providers, there are dozens that will never be part of the social login system. Many businesses are leery of giving up control of their customer information to another business that might decide to change things up next week. This is the same concern that was holding back online services in the days of CompuServe during the 1980s.

�The Flexibility Problem—Many of the so-called "identity solutions" in play today are limited by fixed schema or attribute sets. For example, GOV.UK Verify is a universal identity assurance system for UK citizens, but it has a limited data set. And it's unlikely that it could reasonably expand whatever schema it has to cover all use cases, even if they were inclined to do so.

�The Privacy Problem—Current digital identity solutions rely on collections of data which are often collected without the data subject's knowledge. The data is replicated over and over again in different systems. Third parties use universal identifiers like Social Security Numbers or phone numbers to correlate identity information, again without the subject's knowledge.

�The Consent Problem—Worse still, the data in these thousands of identity silos is often shared with other companies or organizations without the data subject’s consent. Sometimes this is done in the service of the subject, but more often it's done in the service of the bottom line of the organization who controls the silo. Selling data is big business.

Phil Windley, Windley.com, �Fixing the 5 problems of digital identity, 10/31/2017�http://www.windley.com/archives/2017/10/fixing_the_five_problems_of_internet_identity.shtml

10 of 29

Simplified

11 of 29

Verifiable Credentials

Verifiable Credentials Data Model 1.0

Expressing verifiable information on the Web

W3C Proposed Recommendation 05 September 2019

12 of 29

Use Metaphors

As Aristotle tells us, metaphor “delights.” It also helps us to visualize complex concepts.��“The likelihood of transforming matter into energy is something akin to shooting birds in a dark country where there are only a few birds.”�� - Albert Einstein, � AAAS winter meeting� Pittsburg 1935

13 of 29

Simplified

14 of 29

DIDs - W3C Definitions

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v0.13 Data Model and Syntaxes�Final Community Group Report 13 August 2019

Decentralized Identifier (DID): A globally unique identifier that does not require a centralized registration authority because it is registered with distributed ledger technology or other form of decentralized network. The generic format of a DID is defined in this specification. A specific DID scheme is defined in a DID method specification.

Use Cases for Decentralized Identifiers Draft Community Group Report 11 February 2019 �W3C Editor's Draft 02 July 2019

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) allow for exceptional user-driven control and overall reliability of publicly resolvable, provable identifiers. While DIDs share many features with extant identity systems, no other system combines all the features designed into DIDs.

15 of 29

Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) v0.13�Data Model and Syntaxes �Final Community Group Report �13 August 2019

What �DIDs Do

16 of 29

What �DIDs Do

Use Cases for Decentralized Identifiers �Draft Community Group Report 11 February 2019 �W3C Editor's Draft 02 July 2019

17 of 29

User Passwordless Authentication

Legal Entity Authentication

Remote Onboarding

Physical Credential Verification

Digital Signatures

Costly Regulatory Data Compliance Policies

Use �Benefits

18 of 29

Fintech

Government

Know Your Customer (KYC)

Banking

NGO

Healthcare

Enterprise

Law

Security

Education

Use �Cases

19 of 29

Sovrin Foundation Use Case Repository

Hyperledger Case Studies

Draft Community Group Report 11 February 2019

Some Sources*��*not all

20 of 29

Objective 3

Connecting the Dots with Style

21 of 29

Embrace a Less Formal Register

In writing, the level of formality is described as a register. For example, academic writing is typically in a formal register: it is impersonal, dry, and often uses the passive voice to convey objectivity.

“Style is personality clothed in words,” said F.L. Lucas, a literary critic who worked at Bletchley Park on code breaking during World War 2.

Journalism is less formal than the academic register and becomes progressively more informal as it moves from a news report to a feature, blog or op-ed. In these, the writer’s voice—their personalities—have more expressive freedom. More subjectivity is allowed.

Letters, memoirs, and some social media posts are informal in register; they are personal and direct, and when written well, leave you feeling as if you can hear the writer speaking directly to you. �

Use simple words and resist the temptation to pack extra meaning into a sentence through relative clauses. You can take technical terms for granted when communicating with an engineer that you cannot with a journalist.�

22 of 29

Which would you prefer to read?

“Inhalation of vapor phase particulate matter chemical contaminants from biomass combustion in domestic settings is a significant contributor to local disease burden.”

“Domestic wood smoke causes local health problems.”

23 of 29

Use Graphics to Explain Complex Processes

24 of 29

What does a DID �look like

25 of 29

Explain the relationship between parties visually

26 of 29

Use Graphics to Explain Complex Processes

27 of 29

General Tips for Writing

Conceptual complexity needs to be unpacked: At the points of greatest complexity, the reader benefits from shorter words, and simpler sentences, even if the journey becomes longer.

If you have to use technical terms, keep them consistent; otherwise, you risk confusing the reader.

Be clear, be brief, but don’t be boring.

Nothing will annoy a reader more than having to read a passage over and over to figure out what it is saying. Chances are they’ll give up.

Pointless repetition and waffle will send them to sleep—or as Voltaire put it, ”the way to become boring is to say everything.”

Brevity gives grace, force, and speed to writing. You want to challenge the reader to be quick on the uptake but give them enough time to let thought unfold.

Word order and emphasis: In English, emphasis falls at the end of a sentence; don’t let weak endings diminish your point. Avoid adding endless subclauses to your main sentence.

A rule-of-thumb: you should be able to comfortably read aloud what you’ve written.

28 of 29

Summary

Convey meaning quickly and clearly by figuring out what is the minimum the audience needs to understand and take away.
Most journalists don’t speak in tech.
Don’t over qualify; know when to stop writing or talking.
Don’t bore the audience with unnecessary detail and unnecessary complexity.
Use simple words and resist the temptation to pack extra meaning into a sentence through relative clauses.
Verbal imagery (metaphor, simile) leads to visualization.
Examples are out there- use them

29 of 29

Don’t be �this guy