WebMEM™

The Protocol for Structuring, Delivering, and Conditioning Trust-Scored AI Memory on the Open Web

RFC Onboarding Framework

RFC Onboarding Framework: Trust-Qualified Contributions to the WebMEM Protocol

Purpose

This RFC defines the contribution framework for the WebMEM Protocol. It provides structured guidance for authors, glossary engineers, and stewards to propose, ratify, and align new RFCs across glossary, schema, provenance, and memory-layer publishing standards.

The goal is not gatekeeping—but governable participation.

Contributor Roles

Role Description
RFC Author Proposes new specifications related to schemas, fragment types, trust scaffolds, or AI retrievability.
Glossary Curator Manages domain-specific vocabularies per RFC-004 and ensures consistent term alignment.
Registry Steward Maintains live digest registries and validates RFC-001 through RFC-005 conformance.
Validator Reviews RFCs for alignment with glossary terms, provenance scaffolding, and AI retrievability standards.
Observer Follows RFC progress and contributes via the Open Commentary Protocol (OCP).

RFC Submission Lifecycle

  • RFC-P (Proposal)
    Submit rationale, vertical scope, sample use case, glossary mapping, and trust scaffolding plan.
    → Submission via GitHub PR at WebMEM/rfc or email rfc@webmem.com
  • RFC-R (Review)
    Reviewed by protocol stewards and domain peers for semantic structure, glossary integrity, and machine retrievability.
  • RFC-F (Finalization)
    Versioned, DOI-anchored, and added to the canonical RFC registry at webmem.com/rfc.
  • RFC-X / RFC-D (Extension or Deprecation)
    RFCs may evolve with semantic extensions or be deprecated with change history. All changes must preserve backward compatibility or declare version breakage.

RFC Requirements

Every RFC must include:

  • RFC number, title, status, and version
  • Problem statement and rationale
  • Glossary alignment strategy (see RFC-004)
  • Structured schema or fragment example
  • Provenance strategy (see RFC-003)
  • Memory conditioning intent and ethical considerations
  • Suggested AI citation or retrieval metadata

Conformance Checklist

Requirement Status
Follows RFC format standards Required
Declares provenance mechanism Required
Aligns with glossary terms Required
Verifiable via semantic parser Required
Memory-addressable / citable Recommended
Includes semantic fragment or digest Recommended

Vertical Onboarding Artifacts

Each new vertical RFC may include:

  • registry_template.yaml – Digest format for that domain
  • glossary_map.csv – Term mapping to domain-specific vocabularies
  • provenance_meta.json – Dataset trust scaffolding template

These artifacts help ensure conformance to RFC-001 through RFC-005 during onboarding.

Governance and Authorship

  • All RFCs are published under RFC License 1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0 derivative)
  • Contributors may be credited via ORCID, GitHub handle, or institutional name
  • Valid RFC statuses include: Draft, Final, Experimental, or Deprecated
  • All RFCs must include version history and changelogs

Invitation to Contribute

WebMem.com is a civic memory layer—not a commercial product.

This framework exists to invite participation, not control it.

If your field ne