TROST: Open-System Trustworthiness

i050601 TROST InfoNote
Symbols of Trust

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0.15 2005-07-21 -00:24 -0700


Symbol of Trust
     
I have been searching for a symbol that signifies trust relationships as they apply to trustworthiness in software.  I settled on a simple symbol consisting of a cyclic geometric shape around the image of a handshake.

It became very difficult to hold onto my vision of what TROST and the TROSTing idea supply until I found a single symbol that gave voice to my concerns and interests in championing open-system trustworthiness.

I confess that the symbol also confronts me with all of the ways that I am unreliable and careless in managing my commitments.  There's a chasm for me to cross and this project brings up every gap as I'm tempted to deflect trustworthiness to something technical and away from how slippery I be at making. managing, and keeping promises.

The symbol is a keeper.  The important work remains.

— Dennis E. Hamilton
Seattle, Washington
2005 July 20

The symbol is a fusion of several elements:

It has become clear in exploring ideas of trust that trustworthiness in artifacts is not about the artifact.  Software is not trustworthy.  It's just software.  The hardware is just hardware. The computer system doesn't care and has no volition in the matter of our relying on it.  Where we see trustworthiness in software is in evoking the producer's caring, by design, for our purposes and success.   (It's that attention and care that I speak of as TROSTing.)  Trustworthiness is affirmed in the ways the producer steps in to resolve breakdowns that we may encounter (a reminder I'm grateful to Hal Macomber for). 

We do not negotiate with the computer when there is a breakdown, even though there may be support for resolution of problems incorporated in the software.  Ultimately we resort to the producer of the product, not the artifact, for resolving the breakdown.  We rely on others, whether for rescue or remedy.  Even when we say "Word lost my document," we really mean that Microsoft exposed us to that risk in how the artifact is designed to work.  The next time some software or computer-related service isn't working for you, listen for who you hold responsible.  Is it really the program?  Or is it how you feel carelessly dealt with by some anonymous (though named) party? 

The symbol of trust says, for me, how I as a producer (of words or software or any other fulfillment of a commitment) am called to be careful—full of care—and have the courage to trust myself and those I deal with in my being trustworthy for them.

The source materials and analysis that led to the symbol is provided in further pages of this InfoNote:

See also:
Orcmid's Lair: Symbols of Trust (2005-07-20)

Revision History:
0.15 2005-07-21-00:09 Retrofit some improvements
The blog post has some improved wordings.  Replicate them here.  And link to the blog post.
0.14 2005-07-20-18:00 Get it Done
There are still mistakes, and I see that I was not being clear in the confronting parts.  I also want to acknowledge Hal Macomber for reminding me that it is in the face of breakdowns that trustworthiness is tested and endures or falls.  It is in the breach that the trustworthy are known.   Do a quick geometry fix.
0.13 2005-07-20-14:53 Expand and Clarify
The layout is improved and the larger image is employed.  This text is the basis for a blog page announcing this work.
0.12 2005-07-20-02:33 Identify the available content
Indicate what is here and the symbol that has been designed, tying in the Symbol of Trust 0.12 account.
0.00 2005-06-23-23:16 create  bootstrap placeholder to morph into the necessary material
Incorporate job jar and use it to drive the completion of essential items here, providing an initial skeleton for more content.  This page is a customization of the InfoNote Bootstrap Template 0.10 template.  A version from Develop InfoNote Bootstrap Template (0.10) Material was used.

Construction Zone (Hard Hat Area)

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created 2005-06-23-23:16 -0700 (pdt) by orcmid
$$Author: Orcmid $
$$Date: 05-07-21 13:36 $
$$Revision: 51 $

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