A Demonstration of the Solid Platform for Social Web Applications

TLDR

Solid is a decentralized platform that stores users’ data in personal online datastores (pods) independent of applications, enabling users to control access, switch providers, and allowing apps to access data anywhere via defined protocols and decentralized authentication. The authors aim to demonstrate Solid’s utility from the perspectives of end users and application developers. They employ a set of Solid servers and multiple web applications that interact with those servers. Experiencing a concrete platform such as Solid provides valuable insight into the power of a decentralized social Web.

Abstract

Solid is a decentralized platform for social Web applications. In the Solid platform, users' data is managed independently of the applications that create and consume this data. Each user stores their data in a Web-accessible personal online datastore (or pod). Each user can have one or more pods from different pod providers, and can easily switch between providers. Applications access data in users' pods using well defined protocols, and a decentralized authentication and access control mechanism guarantees the privacy of the data. In this decentralized architecture, applications can operate on users' data wherever it is stored. Users control access to their data, and have the option to switch between applications at any time. We will demonstrate the utility of Solid and how it is experienced from the point of view of end users and application developers. For this, we will use a set of Solid servers and multiple Web applications that use these servers. We believe that experience with a concrete platform such as Solid is highly valuable in truly appreciating the power of a decentralized social Web.