OKF Explorer Beginner learning path

Annotated Authoritative-Source Register#

This register records the primary sources used by the beginner curriculum, their status and the boundary of what each can support. It was checked on 10 August 2026. A source's inclusion does not make it authoritative for every claim, and a live “latest” page may change after that observation date.

The labels below are intentionally precise:

  • standard or Recommendation means the publisher gives the document that formal status;
  • Working Draft means work in progress, not a completed W3C Recommendation;
  • profile or vocabulary release means a versioned community specification with its own governance;
  • guidance helps apply policy or practice but is not automatically law;
  • platform documentation describes a service and can change with it; and
  • project specification describes the named project, not a universal standards-body consensus.

For applied UK public-service evidence, use the linked registers in okf-uk-living. This page does not reproduce that corpus.

Web And Data Syntax#

S01 Open Knowledge Format 02#

  • Source: pinned Open Knowledge Format (OKF) v0.2 specification
  • Status: Version 0.2 project specification pinned to commit 3fcbb9f828c2f23d109c855ee403c3a4c81f3a96.
  • Use: Defines the intentionally minimal Markdown and YAML-frontmatter core, provenance, trust, lifecycle and attested-computation families.
  • Boundary: It does not define a central ontology, required runtime or the additive Bundle Wiki YAML-LD profile. Unknown fields remain compatible.

S02 CommonMark 0312#

  • Source: CommonMark specification 0.31.2
  • Status: Versioned CommonMark technical specification.
  • Use: Defines the browser-compatible Markdown syntax assumed by the authored reading pages.
  • Boundary: CommonMark does not define OKF frontmatter, semantic predicates, page styling or whether a link target is authoritative.

S03 YAML 122#

  • Source: YAML 1.2.2 specification
  • Status: YAML language specification, revision 1.2.2.
  • Use: Defines YAML syntax and information models used for frontmatter and YAML-based artefacts.
  • Boundary: Valid YAML is not automatically valid JSON, JSON-LD, YAML-LD, OKF or a project profile. Safe parsing and profile validation remain needed.

S04 RFC 8259 JSON#

S05 RFC 3986#

  • Source: RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier Generic Syntax
  • Status: Internet Standard, January 2005.
  • Use: Defines generic Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) syntax, resolution and reference components.
  • Boundary: A syntactically valid URI need not be safe to fetch, available, authoritative or a credential-free HTTP(S) URL.

S06 RFC 3987#

  • Source: RFC 3987: Internationalized Resource Identifiers
  • Status: IETF Proposed Standard, January 2005, with later updates noted by the RFC Editor.
  • Use: Defines Internationalized Resource Identifier (IRI) syntax and URI mapping.
  • Boundary: An IRI can identify a semantic resource without being a web page that the Reader should retrieve.

S07 JSON Schema 202012#

  • Source: JSON Schema Draft 2020-12
  • Status: Published draft specification, 16 June 2022, with versioned meta-schemas.
  • Use: Defines structural validation for JSON instances and the schemas pinned by this project's profiles.
  • Boundary: Passing a schema does not prove source authority, semantic truth, safe network access or full profile conformance beyond the schema.

Linked Data And Knowledge Organisation#

S08 RDF 11 Concepts#

  • Source: RDF 1.1 Concepts and Abstract Syntax
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 25 February 2014.
  • Use: Defines RDF graphs, triples, IRIs, blank nodes and literals.
  • Boundary: It supplies a data model, not this project's public-service vocabulary, evidence policy, validation shape or screen layout.

S09 RDF Schema 11#

  • Source: RDF Schema 1.1
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 25 February 2014.
  • Use: Defines basic class, property, domain, range and subclass semantics.
  • Boundary: Domain and range support inference; they are not substitutes for form or publication validation.

S10 JSON-LD 11#

  • Source: JSON-LD 1.1
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 16 July 2020.
  • Use: Defines a JSON syntax and processing model for Linked Data.
  • Boundary: A context mapping does not make a claim authoritative, and the Reader does not fetch or reason over arbitrary remote contexts.

S11 YAML-LD 10#

  • Source: YAML-LD 1.0
  • Status: W3C Working Draft, 28 July 2026. It is not a W3C Recommendation.
  • Use: Defines draft conventions and constraints for representing Linked Data in YAML based on JSON-LD syntax, semantics and APIs.
  • Boundary: It is work in progress and may change. This repository uses a constrained additive profile, pinned local contexts and generated JSON-LD; it does not make YAML-LD requirements universal OKF core.

S12 SKOS Reference#

  • Source: SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System Reference
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 18 August 2009.
  • Use: Defines concepts, concept schemes, labels and semantic relations for controlled knowledge-organisation systems.
  • Boundary: SKOS broader and narrower relations do not automatically mean RDFS subclass, physical containment or a public-service process step.

S13 OWL 2 Primer#

  • Source: OWL 2 Web Ontology Language Primer, second edition
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 11 December 2012; the Primer is an explanatory entry point to the OWL 2 document set.
  • Use: Introduces expressive class and property semantics and inference.
  • Boundary: The Primer is not a validation language, and this project uses only bounded, declared semantics rather than assuming unrestricted reasoning.

S14 SHACL#

  • Source: Shapes Constraint Language
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 20 July 2017.
  • Use: Defines shapes for validating RDF graphs and reporting results.
  • Boundary: A conforming result says a graph meets named shapes; it does not prove real-world completeness, authority or truth.

Provenance Catalogues And Reuse#

S15 PROV-O#

  • Source: PROV-O: The PROV Ontology
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 30 April 2013.
  • Use: Defines RDF terms for provenance entities, activities, agents and influences.
  • Boundary: Traceability supports trust decisions but does not dictate a trust score or upgrade a derived claim to official authority.

S16 DCAT 3#

  • Source: Data Catalog Vocabulary version 3
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 22 August 2024.
  • Use: Defines catalogue, dataset, data-service, distribution and related metadata terms.
  • Boundary: Using selected DCAT terms is not full DCAT conformance. DCAT does not model every public-service episode or domain rule.

S17 DCMI Metadata Terms#

  • Source: DCMI Metadata Terms
  • Status: Current Dublin Core Metadata Initiative specification maintained by the DCMI Usage Board; displayed issued version 20 January 2020.
  • Use: Supplies broadly reused metadata properties, classes and encoding schemes, including rights and licence terms.
  • Boundary: A DCMI property identifies meaning; it does not by itself state a project's cardinality, evidence or validation policy.

S18 Data On The Web Best Practices#

  • Source: Data on the Web Best Practices
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 31 January 2017.
  • Use: Provides best practices for discoverability, access, licensing, provenance, quality, versioning and reuse of web data.
  • Boundary: Best-practice guidance is not automatic conformance to DCAT, OKF or a domain profile, and some practices depend on publishing context.

Public Services Requirements And Evidence#

S19 CPSV-AP 320#

  • Source: Core Public Service Vocabulary Application Profile 3.2.0
  • Status: SEMIC Recommendation published 6 May 2024.
  • Use: Provides a European application profile for describing public services, life and business events, rules, authorities, channels and outputs.
  • Boundary: It is a minimal cross-border profile, not a complete UK service ontology, legal rulebook or claim that every service must use the profile.

S20 CCCEV 220#

  • Source: Core Criterion and Core Evidence Vocabulary 2.2.0
  • Status: SEMIC Candidate Recommendation published 12 May 2026.
  • Use: Models requirements, criteria and evidence exchanged to assess whether something is fulfilled.
  • Boundary: Implementers must specialise the context-neutral model. Its status and broad evidence definition must not be presented as a final legal test for a particular UK service.

S21 Open Referral UK#

  • Source: Open Referral UK and its governance and release-cycle statement
  • Status: Community-governed UK profile of the international Human Services Data Specification; the publisher states version 3.0 is the current UK version, checked 10 August 2026.
  • Use: Describes community-service information for consistent publication, discovery and exchange.
  • Boundary: It is not a universal model of all government transactions, legal requirements, eligibility decisions or service episodes.

GOV.UK Service And Content Guidance#

S22 GOV.UK Service Manual#

  • Source: GOV.UK Service Manual
  • Status: Live Government Digital Service guidance supporting the GOV.UK Service Standard.
  • Use: Guides teams designing and operating public services.
  • Boundary: Guidance must be read with applicable law, policy, organisational governance and devolved or local context. It is not an ontology or a record of every service.

S23 GOV.UK Learning About Users And Their Needs#

  • Source: Learning about users and their needs
  • Status: GOV.UK Service Manual guidance; page states last updated 23 March 2017 and remained live when checked.
  • Use: Grounds user needs in research, user outcomes and language rather than preferred solutions.
  • Boundary: A written user-need statement is still an assumption until supported and refined through appropriate research.

S24 GOV.UK Service Standard Point 2#

  • Source: Solve a whole problem for users
  • Status: Live guidance for point 2 of the GOV.UK Service Standard.
  • Use: Supports journey scope across organisational boundaries while cautioning against services that try to do everything at once.
  • Boundary: It does not merge authorities, jurisdictions or data controllers, and it does not authorise sharing personal data.

S25 GOV.UK Taxonomy Principles#

  • Source: GOV.UK Taxonomy principles
  • Status: GOV.UK publication, published 13 June 2019.
  • Use: Explains the purpose, hierarchy and tagging principles of the GOV.UK topic taxonomy.
  • Boundary: GOV.UK topics describe what content is about. They are not automatically service types, life events, departments or ontology classes.

S26 GOV.UK Content API#

  • Source: GOV.UK Content API reference
  • Status: Live technical documentation for the GOV.UK publishing platform.
  • Use: Describes how machines retrieve GOV.UK content items and linked metadata.
  • Boundary: API fields are operational projections and can change. An API response is not the whole GOV.UK taxonomy, a legal source or a proof that a service route applies to an individual.

S27 GOV.UK Browse#

  • Source: GOV.UK services and information browse pages
  • Status: Live public navigation, checked 10 August 2026.
  • Use: Shows a user-facing route into GOV.UK service and information areas.
  • Boundary: Browse labels and hierarchy are presentation choices, not an exhaustive life-course ontology or proof of subject identity.

S37 GOV.UK Content And Publishing Guidance#

  • Source: GOV.UK content and publishing guidance
  • Status: Live Government Digital Service guidance, checked 10 August 2026.
  • Use: Supplies the A to Z style guide and plain-English guidance used by this curriculum's documentation style.
  • Boundary: It governs GOV.UK publishing practice. This independent technical curriculum follows applicable language and accessibility conventions but is not itself GOV.UK content.

UK Data Statistics Ethics And Accessibility#

S28 Government Data Quality Framework#

  • Source: The Government Data Quality Framework
  • Status: UK government guidance published 3 December 2020.
  • Use: Provides principles, a lifecycle and dimensions for managing data quality as fitness for purpose.
  • Boundary: It does not certify an individual dataset or replace domain-specific controls, user research or source evidence.

S29 Code Of Practice For Statistics#

  • Source: Code of Practice for Statistics
  • Status: Standards for producers of official statistics maintained by the UK Statistics Authority; edition 3.0 was in effect when checked.
  • Use: Frames public value, quality and trustworthiness for official statistics.
  • Boundary: It does not make every government number an official statistic or govern non-statistical service decisions by analogy.

S30 Data And AI Ethics Framework#

  • Source: Data and AI Ethics Framework
  • Status: UK government guidance updated 18 December 2025.
  • Use: Guides responsible public-sector development, procurement and use of data and artificial intelligence across transparency, accountability, fairness, privacy, sustainability, societal impact and safety.
  • Boundary: It complements rather than replaces law, regulation, professional ethics, technical security guidance or human accountability.

S31 WCAG 22#

  • Source: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2
  • Status: W3C Recommendation, 12 December 2024.
  • Use: Defines technology-neutral, testable success criteria for accessible web content.
  • Boundary: Conformance requires testing against a declared level and scope. It does not guarantee that every disabled person's need is met, and automated checks alone are insufficient.

Rights And Publication Assurance#

S32 Open Government Licence 30#

  • Source: Open Government Licence version 3.0
  • Status: Reuse licence published by The National Archives.
  • Use: Grants broad permission to copy, publish, distribute, transmit, adapt and exploit covered information subject to its conditions.
  • Boundary: It does not cover excluded or third-party material and does not establish authority, accuracy, freshness or an obligation to publish.

S33 GitHub Pages#

  • Source: What is GitHub Pages?
  • Status: Live GitHub platform documentation.
  • Use: Describes static-site hosting from a GitHub repository.
  • Boundary: A successful deployment or HTTP response does not prove page identity, content correctness, accessibility or a complete user journey.

S34 GitHub Releases#

  • Source: About releases
  • Status: Live GitHub platform documentation.
  • Use: Describes tagged releases, notes and downloadable release assets.
  • Boundary: A release label is not evidence that assets passed this project's checks, match a candidate root or were promoted byte-identically.

S35 GitHub Artifact Attestations#

  • Source: Artifact attestations
  • Status: Live GitHub Actions security documentation.
  • Use: Describes signed provenance claims and verification for build artefacts.
  • Boundary: GitHub states that an attestation is not a guarantee that an artefact is secure. Verification policy, signer identity, subject digest and build instructions still require assessment.

S36 SLSA 12#

  • Source: Supply-chain Levels for Software Artifacts specification 1.2
  • Status: Approved specification version 1.2.
  • Use: Defines tracks, levels and attestation formats for describing and improving software supply-chain security.
  • Boundary: A SLSA level covers declared supply-chain properties; it does not establish application correctness, source truth, usability or release approval by itself.

How To Use The Register#

When citing a source in a curriculum claim:

  1. link to the direct source rather than a search result or secondary summary;
  2. name the exact version or date where the distinction matters;
  3. state whether it is a Recommendation, draft, profile, guidance, licence or platform documentation;
  4. say which claim the source can support and which it cannot;
  5. retain the observation date for live material; and
  6. recheck current operational or legal guidance before applying it to a real person.

The foundational definitions apply those rules term by term. Chapter 8 explains why conformance and validation must name their exact profile and evidence.