Decentralised Identity Dispatch Protocol (DCIDDP)

Introduction

The Decentralised Identity Dispatch Protocol (DCIDDP) is a protocol that allows for dispenson of name and pronoun information in a decentralised manner, for rendering in a user interface. The protocol is designed to be simple, lightweight, and easy to implement.

Protocol

The Protocol can function over HTTP, HTTPS, or any other protocol that supports the transmission of JSON data. The protocol is based on a few JSON data types, which are described below.

JSON Data Types

The System

System objects represent entire plural systems and contain the following fields:

• id (string): A unique identifier for the system.
• homeserver (string): The homeserver of the system.
• name (string): The name of the system.
• members (array of Member objects): The members of the system.
• collectivePronouns (array of Pronoun objects): The collective pronouns of the system.
• collectiveName (string): The collective name of the system.
• isSinglet (boolean): Whether the system is a singlet system.

Member

Member objects represent individual members of a system and contain the following fields:

• id (string): A unique identifier for the member.
• name (string): The name of the member.
• pronouns (array of Pronoun objects): The pronouns of the member.

Pronoun

Pronoun objects represent pronouns and contain the following fields:

• subject (string): The subject pronoun.
• object (string): The object pronoun.
• possessiveDeterminer (string): The possessive determiner.
• possessivePronoun (string): The possessive pronoun.
• reflexive (string): The reflexive pronoun.

Certain pronoun pairs can be used as a shorthand for common pronouns:

• he/him is equivalent to he/him/his/his/himself.
• she/her is equivalent to she/her/her/hers/herself.
• they/them is equivalent to they/them/their/theirs/themself.
• it/it is equivalent to it/it/its/its/itself.
• he/they is equivalent to he/him/his/his/himself and they/them/their/theirs/themself.
• she/they is equivalent to she/her/her/hers/herself and they/them/their/theirs/themself.
• he/she is equivalent to he/him/his/his/himself and she/her/her/hers/herself.
• he/she/they is equivalent to he/him/his/his/himself, she/her/her/hers/herself, and they/them/their/theirs/themself.
• any is a special pronoun that can be used to indicate that any pronoun is acceptable.

Singlet Members

Not all people have to be parts of plural systems, but the designation of the protocol assumes everyone as a part of a system. The isSinglet field in the System object can be used to indicate that the system is a singlet system, and the members field must have exactly one Member object in that case.

Endpoints

This is a decentralised protocol and every server-side implentation can have its own endpoints. However, there must be a few endpoints that are common to all implementations:

• GET /systems: This endpoint must return a list of all systems that are registered with the server.
• GET /system/<systemName>: This endpoint must return the system object for the system with the name <systemName>.
• GET /member/<systemName>/<memberName>: This endpoint must return the member object for the member with the name <memberName> in the system with the name <systemName>.

The following endpoints are also required, but they require authentication:

• POST /system/new: This endpoint must use a partial system object that has no members to register a new system with the server.

Partial System Object

• name (string): The name of the system.

• collectivePronouns (array of Pronoun objects): The collective pronouns of the system.

• collectiveName (string): The collective name of the system.

• isSinglet (boolean): Whether the system is a singlet system.

• POST /member/<systemName>/new: This endpoint must use a member object to register a new member with the server.