Glossary
The vocabulary of RSM ID
One definition for each term, used on every page of this site and traced to the section of the specification that governs it.
- RSM ID is the encompassing identity infrastructure.
- RID identifies.
- RRN names.
- RSN identifies a Semantic Space.
- The registry preserves identity and authority.
- The resolver connects identifiers to permitted representations.
- Locus serves authoritative knowledge.
- Atlas explores relationships.
- RSM ID
What makes these capabilities work together?
The universal identity infrastructure of RSM, governed by RSM Core.
The integrated identity system that defines and preserves canonical resource identification, registered naming, controlled issuance, authority delegation, identity records, identity lifecycle, trusted bindings, and federated resolution through one contract.
Not to be confused with A fourth identifier type, a replacement for the RID, or the name of a resolver website. RSM ID governs identity — not the meaning, content, ownership, or behaviour of the resource.
- RIDRSM Identifier
Which exact thing are we talking about?
The permanent canonical identifier of one resource referent.
A registered prefix and an issuer-generated suffix, written <prefix>.<suffix>. It identifies one and only one referent and is never reassigned. It deliberately contains no type, space, place, owner, or location.
Not to be confused with A web address, a database key, a content hash, or a name.
- RRNRSM Resource Name
Under which structured name is that thing registered?
A registered, structured name that maps to exactly one RID.
A human-readable and machine-parseable name of the form rrn:<realm>:<authority>:<jurisdiction>:<space>:<kind>/<resource-id>. It records the namespace and issuance context. A resource may gain successor names over time; a name is never reassigned to an unrelated resource.
Not to be confused with The identity itself. The RID is permanent; names can be superseded.
- RSNRSM Space Name
Which governed Semantic Space is being identified?
A specialized RRN, of kind “space”, that identifies a Semantic Space.
A specialized RRN whose kind is space. The Semantic Space it names also has its own RID, which is the space’s permanent identity.
Not to be confused with A separate naming scheme, a hostname, or the Locus deployment that currently serves the space.
- RSM Identity Record
The durable registry record of one RID’s registration, lifecycle, naming, provenance, and authoritative bindings.
The durable, registry-level envelope keyed by RID. It binds the RID to one referent descriptor and preserves the issuing namespace, lifecycle, issuance provenance, registered names and their history, authoritative space bindings, and audit events.
Not to be confused with A second identity, or the resource itself. It holds no required copy of the resource body and is not evidence of ownership.
- Identity Registry
Preserves identity, namespace allocation, authority, historical mappings, and lifecycle information.
Four logical registries — prefixes, authorities, resource identities, and Semantic Spaces — that preserve registration, uniqueness, namespace delegation, lifecycle, historical names, and resolution metadata. They may share one implementation at first and may later be distributed.
Not to be confused with A universal content database. Authoritative content stays with its Semantic Space.
- ResolutionRSM Resolution Protocol
What trustworthy information is currently available about it?
Retrieving verified, policy-permitted identity metadata and representations.
A resolver validates the RID, verifies its prefix and authority, locates the identity record, determines lifecycle and permissible disclosure, selects a representation, and returns metadata, a representation, a permitted redirect, or a typed status.
Not to be confused with Fetching a file or following a URL redirect.
- Resolver
Connects identifiers to verified, policy-permitted identity information and available representations.
A service that accepts an RID — or a registered RRN, RSN, or HTTPS identifier, mapped to the RID first — and carries out resolution against trusted registry information. Any conforming resolver may resolve an RID; a public gateway is a convenience, not the sole authority over every resource.
Not to be confused with The authority over a resource. Operating a resolver, or a server that claims to host a resource, does not make anyone its authority.
- RSM Web Identifier
A stable HTTPS representation of an RID.
An HTTPS URL that gives an RID web interoperability. The specifications propose the pattern https://rsmid.org/<rid>; the hostname is proposed and is not an operational resolver. Any conforming resolver may resolve the same RID.
Not to be confused with The identity. The RID remains authoritative; the URL is an entry point.
- Semantic Space
An independently governed logical knowledge environment, with its own RID and RSN.
A governed logical resource responsible for the authoritative records of the resources it holds. It answers which knowledge and governance environment is responsible for a resource’s authoritative record. Proposed initial spaces are RSM, Wellzai, and Musewoods.
Not to be confused with A process, database, container, hostname, or application front end.
- Locus
The proposed engine that serves authoritative resource knowledge for Semantic Spaces.
A proposed lightweight engine that operates a Semantic Space: storing resources, metadata, relationships, revisions, and provenance. It consumes RID, RRN, RSN, and resolution contracts from RSM Core and does not redefine them.
Not to be confused with The global identity registry, which Locus is not required to implement.
- Atlas
The proposed explorer of federated Semantic Spaces.
A proposed exploration layer that uses canonical RIDs to reconcile references and traverse cross-space relationships, preserving the authority and provenance of what it aggregates.
Not to be confused with A source of canonical knowledge. Aggregated data remains attributed to its source.
- RSM Core
The standards authority that owns the RSM ID specification.
Owns the normative identity, naming, and resolution specification and its logical modules. Consuming applications may not change its grammar or comparison semantics without an approved revision. 451 Labs is the initial steward.
- Prefix
The registered issuance namespace at the start of an RID.
One to sixteen decimal digits, globally unique in the registry and never reused. It does not name a server and does not reveal a resource’s current owner. The 451 prefix is proposed and not yet registered.
- Resource referent
The distinguishable entity that an RID identifies.
Anything represented in the RSM universe — digital, physical, conceptual, organizational, ecological, social, or computational. It need not be public or retrievable to have an identity.
- Representation
One view of a resource returned by resolution, such as a landing page or JSON-LD.
A form in which information about a resource is supplied. Several representations — varying by media type, language, or access rights — may describe the same referent; none of them is the referent.
Not to be confused with The resource. A watershed is not the HTML page describing it.
- Identity lifecycle
The registry status of an RID: active, deprecated, superseded, retired, or reserved.
An explicit registry state of the identity, distinct from an application’s publication states such as draft or archived. Retirement keeps the RID reserved forever.
- Federation
Independently operated Semantic Spaces connected by shared identity and resolution.
Spaces that keep their own databases, software, and governance while sharing registered authority and resolution protocols. Search results may be combined using the RID as the deduplication key; similar descriptions are never merged without a verified equivalence.
Commonly conflated
Each pair names two things the specification keeps apart.
RSM ID is not RID
RSM ID is the identity system. The RID is the permanent identifier within it; RSM ID is not itself an identifier type.
RID is not RRN
The RID is permanent and opaque. An RRN is a registered name that maps to exactly one RID and can be succeeded by another name.
RSN is not a Locus deployment
An RSN names a governed Semantic Space, which has its own RID. The process, host, or database serving it is a binding that can change.
Resource identity is not a representation
The RID identifies the referent. A landing page or JSON-LD document is one view of it: a watershed is not the HTML page describing it.
Identity authority is not ownership
Issuing an RID, or administering a namespace or space, confers no legal ownership, consent, or right of access or disclosure.
Identity registration is not authentication
A registered RID identifies a resource. It does not establish who is asking, and it is not proof of possession or authority.
Naming jurisdiction is not present-day legal jurisdiction
The jurisdiction segment of an RRN records where the name was issued and never moves. Current legal jurisdiction is separate, changing governance metadata.
RSM vocabulary identifiers is not RSM Resource Names
Terms such as rsm:Place or rsm:relationship/stewards classify and relate resources. An rrn: name is a registered name for one resource, mapped to its RID.
Semantic equivalence is not identical canonical identity
Similar descriptions, or an asserted sameAs link, do not make two records one identity. Only the same RID, or an authorized equivalence decision backed by evidence, does.