DRAFT JSON-LD Working Group Charter
The mission of the JSON-LD Working Group is to maintain and extend the family of JSON-LD 1.1 Recommendations and related Working Group Notes.
This proposed charter is available on GitHub . Feel free to raise issues .
Charter Status | See the group status page and detailed change history . |
---|---|
Start date | [dd monthname yyyy] (date of the "Call for Participation", when the charter is approved) |
End date | [dd monthname yyyy] (Start date + 2 years) |
Chairs | Benjamin Young (Digital Bazaar) |
Team Contacts | Pierre-Antoine Champin (0.1 FTE ) |
Meeting Schedule |
Teleconferences:
On
an
as-needed
basis,
at
least
every
quarter.
Face-to-face: we will meet during the W3C's annual Technical Plenary week; additional face-to-face meetings may be scheduled by consent of the participants, usually no more than 3 per year. |
Motivation and Background
JSON-LD
(JavaScript
Object
Notation
for
Linked
Data)
is
a
widely
used
method
of
encoding
linked
data
Linked
Data
using
JSON.
The
encoding
is
used
used
mostly
Use
of
JSON-LD
has
grown
and
expanded
over
the
last
decade
(since
it's
first
publication
as
a
W3C
Recommendation
in
2014
).
JSON-LD
remains
a
popular
choice
for
search
engine
optimization
activities
but
ecoding
SEO
-focused
structured
data
in
Web
pages.
JSON-LD
has
also
become
a
foundational
format
for
applications
social
media
(ActivityStreams),
Internet
of
Things
data
(Web
of
Things
Description),
Verifiable
Credentials,
and
Software
Bill
of
Materials
(SPDX).
This
growth
in
the
applied
use
of
JSON-LD
has
resulted
in
community
interest
in
additional
expressions
of
JSON-LD's
underlying
Linked
Data
structure
into
other
formats.
YAML-LD
has
been
created
by
the
JSON
for
Linking
Data
Community
Group
for
easing
human
authoring
and
providing
a
clearer
path
for
using
Linked
Data
applied
to
popular
YAML-based
documents
such
as
biomedical
informatics,
infrastructure
as
code,
static
site
front
matter,
and
representing
provenance
information.
API
documentation
formats.
Additionally,
a
need
has
arised
in
the
Verifiable
Credentials
space
for
providing
a
more
compressed
expression
of
JSON-LD,
and
work
on
CBOR-LD
was
begun
in
the
JSON-LD
CG.
The hope of this new more inclusively focused JSON-LD WG is to meet the demand of the broader JSON-LD community by strengthening the foundational JSON-LD specifications and aligning it with the latest RDF 1.2 specifications, growing the family of JSON-LD related formats which orbit around the JSON-LD processing model, and specifing improved context retrieval methods for greater clarity and stability.
Scope
The
Working
Group
will
extend
the
recommendations
defining
the
JSON-LD
specifications
(i.e.,
JSON-LD
1.1
,
JSON-LD
1.1
API
,
JSON-LD
1.1
Framing
)
with
the
features
introduced
by
RDF-star
RDF
1.2
in
addition
to
open
Errata
and
requested
features
as
noted
on
the
groups
Project
Management
Page
.
These
specifications
together
provide
a
JSON
format
for
Linked
Open
Data
to
interoperate
at
web-scale,
in
a
method
which
is
familiar
to
and
usable
by
web-focused
software
engineers.
It
The
Working
Group
will
also
develop
new
Recommendation
Track
deliverables,
based
on
work
incubated
by
the
JSON
for
Linking
Data
Community
Group
,
specifying
the
use
of
JSON-LD
algorithms
with
similar
formats
(YAML,
CBOR,
and
more).
The
Working
group
Group
is
expected
to
coordinate
with
the
JSON
for
Linking
Data
Community
Group
on
consensus-based
proposals
related
to
content
changes
for
the
JSON-LD
Working
Group
Deliverables.
The
Chairs
of
this
group
may
choose
to
reject
proposals
that
are
incompatible
with
this
Charter.
In Scope
In
addition
to
Errata
and
synchronization
with
the
RDF-star
RDF
&
SPARQL
Working
Group,
the
following
features
tracked
on
the
Project
Management
Page
are
in-scope
for
updates
to
the
core
JSON-LD
specifications:
specifications.
The
Working
Group
will
also
consider
allowing
new
features
).
@default
in
@context
(issue
w3c-json-ld-syntax#328
).
Expansion
does
not
take
property-scoped
contexts
for
nested
properties
into
account
(issue
w3c/json-ld-api#380
).
Fix
context
processing
for
reverse
terms(issue
).
Fix
context
processing
for
reverse
terms
(PR
w3c/json-ld-api#566
).
Framing
nexted
graphs
(issue
w3c/json-ld-framing#150
).
Graph-aliased
keywords
don't
work
as
containers
(issue
w3c/json-ld-api#536
).
Integer
JSON
value
should
be
able
to
expand
to
IRI
(issue
w3c/json-ld-api#509
).
Language
map
with
global
context
(issue
w3c/json-ld-framing#126
).
Language-maps
don't
allow
separate
base
direction
(issue
w3c/json-ld-syntax#280
).
Lists,
sets,
and
multisets
(issue
w3c/json-ld-api#473
).
Make
it
easier
these
recommendations,
according
to
keep
semantics
Section
6.3.11.4
of
object-oriented
models
(issue
w3c/json-ld-syntax#376
).
Nested
properties
and
compaction
(issue
w3c/json-ld-api#391
).
Pattern
Matching
(issue
w3c/json-ld-framing#118
).
Reframing
Relationships
(issue
w3c/json-ld-framing#73
).
Several
frames
in
the
same
frame
document
(issue
w3c/json-ld-framing#38
).
Specify
a
node
type
when
interpreting
JSON
as
JSON-LD
(issue
w3c/json-ld-syntax#386
).
Support
multiple
IRIs
for
@reverse
(issue
w3c/json-ld-syntax#372
).
Type
Coercion
/
Node
Conversion:
@coerce
keyword
or
similar
(issue
w3c/json-ld-syntax#335
).
Miscellaneous
test
improvements.
W3C
process
,
in
order
to
render
future
evolutions
easier.
Out of Scope
The following features are out of scope, and will not be addressed by this Working Group.
- RDF Dataset Normalization.
- Linked Data Signatures.
Deliverables
Updated document status is available on the group publication status page .
Draft state indicates the state of the deliverable at the time of the charter approval.
Normative Specifications
The Working Group will deliver the following W3C normative specifications:
- JSON-LD 1.2
-
Latest publication: 07 May 2020Draft State: W3C Recommendation
Reference Draft: https://www.w3.org/TR/2020/REC-json-ld11-20200716/
Latest publication: 07 May 2020
Associated Call for Exclusion 5 March 2020, ended on 4 May 2020
Produced under Working Group Charter: https://www.w3.org/2018/03/jsonld-wg-charter.html - JSON-LD 1.2 Processing Algorithms and API
-
Latest publication: 07 May 2020Draft State: W3C Recommendation
Reference Draft: https://www.w3.org/TR/2020/REC-json-ld11-api-20200716/
Latest publication: 07 May 2020
Associated Call for Exclusion 5 March 2020, ended on 4 May 2020
Produced under Working Group Charter: https://www.w3.org/2018/03/jsonld-wg-charter.html - JSON-LD 1.2 Framing
-
Latest publication: 07 May 2020Draft State: W3C Recommendation
Reference Draft: https://www.w3.org/TR/2020/REC-json-ld11-framing-20200716/
Latest publication: 07 May 2020
Associated Call for Exclusion 12 December 2019, ended on 10 February 2020
Produced under Working Group Charter: https://www.w3.org/2018/03/jsonld-wg-charter.html
The Working Group will also deliver the following W3C normative specifications:
- CBOR-LD 1.0
-
CBOR is a compact binary data serialization and messaging format. This specification defines CBOR-LD, a CBOR-based format to serialize Linked Data. The encoding is designed to leverage the existing JSON-LD ecosystem, to provide a compact serialization format for those seeking efficient encoding schemes for Linked Data.
Input documents:- CBOR-LD , Final Community Group Report ( 2024-xx-xx ), adopted from the JSON for Linking Data Community Group
- JSON-LD 1.1. in CBOR , Editor's Draft (2022-12-06), adopted from previous JSON-LD Working Group
Expected completion: CR in Q4
20242026 - YAML-LD 1.0
-
This document defines YAML-LD, a set of conventions built on top of YAML, which outlines how to serialize Linked Data as YAML based on JSON-LD syntax, semantics, and APIs.
Input document: YAML-LD , Final Community Group Report (2023-12-06), adopted from the JSON for Linking Data Community Group
Expected completion: CR in Q4
20242026
Other Deliverables
Other non-normative documents may be created and/or maintained such as:
- Application profile of JSON-LD to enable efficient streaming parsers.
- Test suites and implementation reports for the specifications.
-
Best
practices
for
use
and
implementation
of
JSON-LD
1.1. Best practices for supporting multiple languages in JSON, based on JSON-LD value objects1.1 and 1.2.
Timeline
-
September 2022:November 2025: First teleconference -
Q4 2024Q2 2026- FPWD of CBOR-LD
- FPWD of YAML-LD
-
Q2 2025Q4 2026- FPWD of JSON-LD 1.2
- FPWD of JSON-LD 1.2 API
- FPWD of JSON-LD 1.2 Framing
- Candidate Recommendation of CBOR-LD
- Candidate Recommendation of YAML-LD
-
Q3 2025Q1 2027- Recommendation of CBOR-LD
- Recommendation of YAML-LD
-
Q4 2025Q3 2027- Candidate Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.2
- Candidate Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.2 API
- Candidate Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.2 Framing
-
Q1 2026Q4 2027- Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.2
- Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.2 API
- Recommendation of JSON-LD 1.2 Framing
Success Criteria
In order to advance to Proposed Recommendation , each normative specification is expected to have at least two independent interoperable implementations of every feature defined in the specification, where interoperability can be verified by passing open test suites.
There should be testing plans for each specification, starting from the earliest drafts.
To promote interoperability, all changes made to specifications in Candidate Recommendation or to features that have deployed implementations should have tests .
Each specification should contain separate sections detailing all known security and privacy implications for implementers, Web authors, and end users.
This Working Group expects to follow the TAG Web Platform Design Principles .
Coordination
For all specifications, this Working Group will seek horizontal review for accessibility, internationalization, privacy, and security with the relevant Working and Interest Groups, and with the TAG . Invitation for review must be issued during each major standards-track document transition, including FPWD . The Working Group is encouraged to engage collaboratively with the horizontal review groups throughout development of each specification. The Working Group is advised to seek a review at least 3 months before first entering CR and is encouraged to proactively notify the horizontal review groups when major changes occur in a specification following a review.
Additional technical coordination with the following Groups will be made, per the W3C Process Document :
W3C Groups
- JSON for Linking Data Community Group
- As mentioned in the scope section, the Working group is expected to coordinate with this Community Group on consensus-based proposals related to content changes for the JSON-LD Working Group Deliverables. The Chairs of this group may choose to reject proposals that are incompatible with this Charter.
-
Verifiable Credentials Working Group Coordination on named graph indexing and other concerns regarding support for normalization and digital signatures. RDF Dataset Canonicalization and Hash Working Group The work of this Group will include defining RDF Dataset Canonicalization algorithms.RDF-StarRDF & SPARQL Working Group - The work of this Group will the ability to concisely represent and query statements about statements.
-
Verifiable
Credentials
CommunityWorking Group -
Coordination
on
variousnamed graph indexing and other concerns regardingthe usage of JSON-LD in Verifiable Credentials. Schema.org Community Group The Schema.org CG will be regularly solicitedsupport forreviewsnormalization andcomments throughout the advancement of the JSON-LD 1.1 Recommendation.digital signatures. - Decentralized Identifiers Working Group
- Coordination on various concerns regarding the JSON-LD encoding of DID Documents.
- Web of Things Working Group
- Coordination of various topics concerning the use of JSON-LD by the WoT Thing Description.
-
RDF-DEV CGCredentials Community Group -
Coordination
on
various
aspectsconcerns regarding the usage offuture RDF core specifications. RDF JavaScript Libraries CG Coordination on various opportunities forJSON-LDsupportinRDF.js related libraries and community projects.Verifiable Credentials.
Participation
To be successful, this Working Group is expected to have 6 or more active participants for its duration, including representatives from the key implementors of this specification, and active Editors and Test Leads for each specification. The Chairs, specification Editors, and Test Leads are expected to contribute half of a working day per week towards the Working Group. There is no minimum requirement for other Participants.
The group encourages questions, comments and issues on its public mailing lists and document repositories, as described in Communication .
The group also welcomes non-Members to contribute technical submissions for consideration upon their agreement to the terms of the W3C Patent Policy .
Participants in the group are required (by the W3C Process ) to follow the W3C Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct .
Communication
Technical discussions for this Working Group are conducted in public : the meeting minutes from teleconference and face-to-face meetings will be archived for public review, and technical discussions and issue tracking will be conducted in a manner that can be both read and written to by the general public. Working Drafts and Editor's Drafts of specifications will be developed in public repositories and may permit direct public contribution requests. The meetings themselves are not open to public participation, however.
Information about the group (including details about deliverables, issues, actions, status, participants, and meetings) will be available from the JSON-LD Working Group home page.
Most JSON-LD Working Group teleconferences will focus on discussion of particular specifications, and will be conducted on an as-needed basis.
This group primarily conducts its technical work on GitHub issues . The public is invited to review, discuss and contribute to this work.
The group may use a Member-confidential mailing list for administrative purposes and, at the discretion of the Chairs and members of the group, for member-only discussions in special cases when a participant requests such a discussion.
Decision Policy
This group will seek to make decisions through consensus and due process, per the W3C Process Document (section 5.2.1, Consensus) . Typically, an editor or other participant makes an initial proposal, which is then refined in discussion with members of the group and other reviewers, and consensus emerges with little formal voting being required.
However, if a decision is necessary for timely progress and consensus is not achieved after careful consideration of the range of views presented, the Chairs may call for a group vote and record a decision along with any objections.
To afford asynchronous decisions and organizational deliberation, any resolution (including publication decisions) taken in a face-to-face meeting or teleconference will be considered provisional. A call for consensus (CfC) will be issued for all resolutions (for example, via email, GitHub issue or web-based survey), with a response period of 10 working days , depending on the chair's evaluation of the group consensus on the issue. If no objections are raised by the end of the response period, the resolution will be considered to have consensus as a resolution of the Working Group.
All decisions made by the group should be considered resolved unless and until new information becomes available or unless reopened at the discretion of the Chairs or the Director.
This charter is written in accordance with the W3C Process Document (Section 5.2.3, Deciding by Vote) and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.
Patent Policy
This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (Version of 15 September 2020). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Web specifications that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis. For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the licensing information .
Licensing
This Working Group will use the W3C Software and Document license for all its deliverables.
About this Charter
This charter has been created according to section 3.4 of the Process Document . In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.
Charter History
The following table lists details of all changes from the initial charter, per the W3C Process Document (section 4.3, Advisory Committee Review of a Charter) :
Charter Period | Start Date | End Date | Changes |
---|---|---|---|
Initial Charter | 15 June 2018 | 15 June 2020 | none |
Maintenance WG Charter | 12 August 2020 | 31 August 2022 | New Charter approved on 12 August 2020 |
Change of staff contact | 23 June 2021 | 31 August 2022 | |
Extension | 1 September 2022 | 30 November 2022 | |
Rechartered | 19 January 2023 | 31 January 2025 |
Switch to Patent Policy 2020. Added RCH and RDF-Star to coordination section |
Change of staff contact | 09 February 2024, Pierre-Antoine Champin appointed as new staff contact | ||
Chair re-appointed | 17 January 2024, Benjamin Young re-appointed as the group chair | ||
Rechartered LINK TBD | TBD | 30 March 2026 | Add new deliverable |
Change log
Changes to this document are documented in this section.