Data space participation

Participation in a data space is based on fulfilling all the policies, rules and procedures that are mandatory for membership. In its simplest form, these may just be technical or automatically verifiable policies. In more advanced cases, these can be more complex policies and rules that potentially require lengthy workflows with human interaction to verify eligibility to join a data space (e.g., a signed legal contract with a central operating company, membership in industry associations).

The procedure to join a space will likely include the following steps for the applicant (details can vary due to the design and purpose of the data space):

1. Candidate discovers the data space and a description of the data space that specifies its participation requirements. This can be achieved through human interaction, a website of the data space, finding the DID of the data space in some registry or through automated, machine-readable discovery protocols of existing participants among other things.

2. Candidate reads the requirements and receives information about the policies and rules of the data space, as well as technical configuration information for endpoints and protocols.

3. Candidate evaluates the policies and rules and prepares additional information needed for the requirements when applying for membership in the data space.

4. When all information and necessary proofs are collected, the candidate applies for membership through the onboarding services defined by the DSGA (for example, one or more onboarding credential issuer services). The technical implementation may vary based on the requirements.

5. The onboarding services request proofs for all policies. This might include VCs and proof of technical capabilities, but also workflows including human interaction (e.g., signing a membership contract).

6. Once all policies have been satisfactorily processed, the onboarding service issues a VC/proof of membership and sends it to the candidate, moving them from applicant to participant.

7. The new participant sets up all the necessary technical components for participation in the data space.

8. The application process is complete, the participant can start interacting with other participants (sharing data, browsing the catalog(s) for data assets of others, negotiating data contracts).