WebMEM Glossary Guidelines (Specification)

Purpose: Define how glossary terms must be authored so AI/RAG systems can reliably ingest, cite, and align them across the WebMEM ecosystem.

Audience: Editors, data engineers, and anyone emitting WebMEM glossary fragments.

Status: Normative v1.0

Scope

These guidelines apply to pages under /glossary/* that represent terms and to any site emitting GlossaryFragment data via YAML-in-HTML.

Required term atoms

A visible H1 with the human term name.
A stable canonical URL.
One GlossaryFragment (YAML-in-HTML) with:
- data-sdt-class: GlossaryFragment
- entity: glossary:<slug-or-termCode>
- digest: webmem-glossary-v1 (or your current digest)
- glossary_scope: webmem_glossary
- fragment_scope: semantic-digest
- A Fields: array including at minimum:
  - id: name (value = human term name)
  - id: term_code (stable short code, e.g. gtd-trust-footprint)
  - id: identifier (CURIE/URI you control)
  - id: description (concise definition)
  - id: canonical_url
- A ProvenanceMeta: block with Creator, Published, Retrieved, License, and a Guidelines link pointing to this page.

JSON-LD (DefinedTerm) requirements

Each term page should also include a single application/ld+json block with:

@type: "DefinedTerm"
name, termCode, identifier, url, description
inDefinedTermSet → the canonical glossary set URL (e.g., https://webmem.com/glossary/)

Versioning & stability

Keep termCode and identifier stable. If renamed, deprecate the old one and add aliases.
If the definition materially changes, bump a version field and update Published/Retrieved.

Robots, caching, canonical

Include a canonical link matching the term’s canonical_url.
Allow indexing; avoid noarchive unless required.
Cache static assets long; purge HTML quickly on updates.

Validation checklist

One (and only one) GlossaryFragment per term page.
All required fields present; no empty strings.
JSON-LD keys match the fragment (name/termCode/identifier/url/description).
Guidelines link points to this page.

—
data-sdt-class: GuidelinesFragment
entity: meta:webmem-glossary-guidelines
digest: webmem-glossary-guidelines-v1
glossary_scope: webmem_glossary
fragment_scope: semantic-digest
method: https://webmem.com/specification/sdt/yaml-in-html/
source_url: https://webmem.com/specification/glossary-guidelines/

Fields:
– id: spec_name
defined_term: Specification Name
value: WebMEM Glossary Guidelines v1.0

– id: required_atoms
defined_term: Required Term Atoms
description: Minimal fields every GlossaryFragment must expose.
value:
– name
– term_code
– identifier
– description
– canonical_url

– id: jsonld_contract
defined_term: JSON-LD Contract
description: Required keys for DefinedTerm JSON-LD blocks.
value:
– name
– termCode
– identifier
– url
– description
– inDefinedTermSet

– id: recommended_atoms
defined_term: Recommended Atoms
value:
– related_terms
– aliases
– see_also
– examples
– citations

– id: guidelines_url
defined_term: Guidelines URL
value: https://webmem.com/specification/glossary-guidelines/

ProvenanceMeta:
ID: webmem-glossary-guidelines
Title: WebMEM Glossary Guidelines
Description: Normative rules for authoring WebMEM glossary term pages and fragments.
Creator: WebMEM
Home: https://webmem.com/specification/glossary-guidelines/
License: https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright
Published: 2025-08-01
Retrieved: 2025-08-01
Guidelines: https://webmem.com/specification/glossary-guidelines/
Digest: webmem-glossary-guidelines-v1
Entity: meta:webmem-glossary-guidelines
FragmentScope: semantic-digest
GlossaryScope: webmem_glossary

Examples (non-executing)

Copy these into your term pages. Keep them in a Custom HTML block, but do not remove the <pre><code> wrapper if you only want to show examples here.

Example GlossaryFragment

<template
  id="fragment-glossary-trust-footprint"
  data-visibility-fragment
  data-type="text/yaml"
  data-sdt-class="GlossaryFragment"
  data-entity="glossary:gtd-trust-footprint"
  data-digest="webmem-glossary-v1"
  data-fragment-scope="semantic-digest"
  data-glossary-scope="webmem_glossary"
  data-sdp-method="https://webmem.com/specification/sdt/yaml-in-HTML/">

---
data-sdt-class: GlossaryFragment
entity: glossary:gtd-trust-footprint
digest: webmem-glossary-v1
glossary_scope: webmem_glossary
fragment_scope: semantic-digest
method: https://webmem.com/specification/sdt/yaml-in-html/
source_url: https://webmem.com/glossary/trust-footprint/

Fields:
  - id: name
    defined_term: Name
    value: Trust Footprint
  - id: term_code
    defined_term: Term Code
    value: gtd-trust-footprint
  - id: identifier
    defined_term: Identifier
    value: urn:webmem:glossary:gtd-trust-footprint
  - id: canonical_url
    defined_term: Canonical URL
    value: https://webmem.com/glossary/trust-footprint/
  - id: description
    defined_term: Description
    value: >
      In the WebMEM Protocol, Trust Footprint is the accumulated semantic presence
      your content has across AI ecosystems—driven by structure, provenance diversity,
      repetition, and co-occurrence with trusted entities.

ProvenanceMeta:
  ID: webmem-glossary
  Title: WebMEM Glossary
  Creator: WebMEM
  Home: https://webmem.com/glossary/
  License: https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright
  Published: 2025-08-01
  Retrieved: 2025-08-01
  Guidelines: https://webmem.com/specification/glossary-guidelines/
  Digest: webmem-glossary-v1
  Entity: glossary:gtd-trust-footprint
  FragmentScope: semantic-digest
  GlossaryScope: webmem_glossary
</template>

Example DefinedTerm JSON-LD

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "name": "Trust Footprint",
  "termCode": "gtd-trust-footprint",
  "identifier": "urn:webmem:glossary:gtd-trust-footprint",
  "url": "https://webmem.com/glossary/trust-footprint/",
  "description": "In the WebMEM Protocol, Trust Footprint is the accumulated semantic presence your content has across AI ecosystems—driven by structure, provenance diversity, repetition, and co-occurrence with trusted entities.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://webmem.com/glossary/"
}
</script>