Finding and Reusing Information

A project description lives with the project. An assessment lives with its publisher. Funding receipts may come from several platforms. To show a useful project page, an application needs to find these pieces and connect them.

This is where indexing services help turn shared records into something people can browse and use.

From individual records to a project view#

If an app knows a record's address, it can read it from the account's PDS. For broader questions, such as “which projects have recent evaluations?”, it usually queries an indexer.

A relay helps carry updates from repositories across the network. An indexer collects records it is interested in and organizes them for queries. It can track links, find evaluations of an activity, and assemble information for a project page.

The app adds the interface: a timeline, an evidence browser, a funding dashboard, or a comparison tool. It may show the same records in a very different way from the app that published them.

Different views can serve different needs#

A community directory may focus on local projects. A research tool may show assessments by a particular group of experts. Both can use Hypercerts without indexing every kind of record or adopting the same ranking method.

This also explains why a missing search result doesn't necessarily mean a record doesn't exist. The index may not cover that account, may not support the record type, or may still be catching up with updates.

When an app presents a total or a summary, it helps to say what it includes and link back to the source records. Readers can then understand the view they are seeing.

Reuse information beyond one app#

Because the record formats are public, a new application can support them without inventing an export format with each existing platform. A project can use one tool for publishing updates and another for sharing its work with funders.

The second app still needs to support the relevant formats and features. Shared records make reuse possible; they don't make every app identical.

People can also move their account to another supported PDS while preserving its DID. The record addresses can stay the same because they identify the account, rather than its current server. Hosting choices can change without giving the project a completely new identity.

Publish what is meant to be shared#

This reuse depends on public records. Keep confidential applications and private personal information in systems suited to that purpose, and publish the information people intend to make available across the network.

Deleting a public record from its source doesn't remove every copy others may have kept. Think of publishing here as sharing information openly, rather than placing it in a private project workspace.

Next: What You Can Build, using these connections as the starting point for your own application.