3rd Generation GATF Purpose

The purpose of the GSWG Governance Architecture Task Force (GATF) in its third iteration is to further develop ToIP specifications, tools, templates, and guides for governance of digital trust ecosystems.

In this capacity, the GATF acts as the “R&D arm” for the Ecosystem and Governance Working Group, identifying and exploring areas of opportunity or challenge for governance of ToIP compatible ecosystems.

A major focus of this third generation for GATF is the role of governance in establishing, maintaining and verifying trustworthy interactions across independent ToIP compatible ecosystems.

Past Deliverables

First Generation

The first generation of the GATF, completed in December 2021, developed the foundational requirements for all ToIP-compatible governance frameworks (summarized in this ToIP blog post). Deliverables included:

1. ToIP Governance Architecture Specification—a specification of the overall layer-independent requirements that any ToIP-compliant governance framework must meet.

2. ToIP Governance Metamodel—a specification for the standard model for ToIP-compliant governance frameworks.

3. ToIP Governance Metamodel  Companion Guide—the "instruction manual" for the above.

4. ToIP Governance Framework Matrix—a tool for governing authorities to plan and organize their work on developing their own ToIP-compliant governance frameworks.

5. ToIP Governance Framework Matrix Companion Guide—the "instruction manual" for the above.

Second Generation

The second generation of the GATF, completed in December 2024, tackled further specifications and companion guides for specific governance framework components (such as developing an example set of requirements for credential issuers), as well as acting as the curator of the development of the third generation diagrams for the ToIP architecture.

• Issuers Requirements Guide for Governance Frameworks of Verifiable Credentials (Approved Jan 30 2024))

• Governance Architecture Methodology: Version 01

• Towards a mental model for governance - ToIP slide format (discussion document)

• @Neil Thomson - Do we need a link to the museum pass work here too?

Leadership

This list has been reset. Please add your name to this list if you wish to be a lead of the second-generation GATF:

• @John Phillips 

Members

This list has been reset. Please add your name to this list if you wish to participate:

• @John Phillips

• @Drummond Reed

• @sankarshan

• @Neil Thomson

Meeting Schedule

This TF schedules meetings as needed. Each meeting will be announced on the GSWG mailing list and the #governance-architecture-tf Slack channel.

THESE DATES/TIMES ARE BEING REVIEWED AND ARE SUBJECT TO (RE)CONFIRMATION FOR 2025

Index of Meeting Notes and Recordings

There are two GATF meetings:

• Wednesday at 16:00 PT / 19:00 ET/ Thursday 00:00 UTC / 01:00 CET / 10:00 AEST
  Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/94290110805?pwd=OEVhd2IwUUxTblNtYUNOVEtGaUNBUT09

• Thursday at 00:00 PT / 03:00 ET / 08:00 UTC / 09:00 CET / 18:00 AEST
  Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/97765626957?pwd=L2RFRmczTlpoWS9RQkhwaUdjaVpHdz09

The meetings are available on the ToIP meeting calendar
ToIP Meeting Calendar (LF hosted)

Deliverables

The follow topics are research and development areas identified for 3rd Gen GATF attention. For each topic, the consideration is “the role and implementation of governance in …”

1. Trustworthy interactions across independent ecosystems

2. Verifiers in cross-ecosystem governance

3. Enabling cross-ecosystem meaning exchange (vocabulary and semantics)

4. Trustworthy governance architecture for verifiable identifiers

Each of these deliverables is expected to be a white paper in the first instance, and then, depending on the findings, subsequent documentation such as guidelines and/or new governance meta documentation

Approach

The GATF should operate like an R&D facility where we need to make sure we tackle the right kind of problems given our purpose and focus and available skillset.

The GATF will operate a Kanban type model of proposed activities, planned (backlog) activities, activities being worked on, and “done” or completed activities. The entry of an activity into the proposed activities for the group can be made by any member of the group. Progression to planned (backlog) list will require that another member second the activity. The proposer and seconder are expected to lead the activity with support from the group.

It is considered essential that the ToIP and GATF both learns from and (if/when appropriate) informs existing trust ecosystem activities. The aim of GATF is to identify and/or create practical, actionable advice that leads to greater adoption of the ToIP governance model. Learning from what is happening in the real world is essential in achieving this outcome. This means that “education” may be a standing activity in the “doing” column. We can add details about the specific education being shared/generated for each meeting.

Milestones

Key milestones for the third-generation deliverables will be determined once the TF gets underway.

Intellectual Property Rights (Copyright, Patent, Source Code)

As a Task Force (TF) of the Governance Stack WG (GSWG), the GATF inherits the IPR terms from the GSWG JDF Charter. These include:

• Copyright mode: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. 

• Patent mode: W3C Mode (based on the W3C Patent Policy).

• Source code: Apache 2.0, available at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html. The GSWG TA TF is not expected to produce source code.

Mailing List and Communications

This task force uses the following for communications

• Mailing List: This TF does not currently maintain a separate mailing list (but one can be added if needed).

• Slack: This TF has its own dedicated Slack channel: #governance-architecture-tf