Objective
Good Health Pass compliant implementations must use the same conceptual models, core terminology, interaction triggers (e.g., QR codes, deep links), consent models, and certification marks.
Terms of Reference
The Good Health Pass Collaborative was established, in part, to avoid a scenario in which people are faced with a mess of confusing, conflicting, overlapping requirements for how they can prove their COVID-19 status. Such fragmentation would not only introduce tremendous friction to the travel experience, but would also impede adoption, erode confidence, and hinder equitable economic and societal rebuilding.
The need to create a consistent user experience – based on a model of universal acceptance – is the most fundamental interoperability challenge we must meet. In short, a Good Health Pass-compliant digital health pass must be easy to obtain, use, and update, without any special user knowledge.
A consistent UX includes four key dimensions:
- A consistent mental model that reflects a natural, intuitive process for using either paper or digital credentials. As with the introduction of mobile boarding passes over the last decade, the use of verifiable credentials should be immediately adaptable to everyday processes and workflows, such as booking a flight, boarding a plane, crossing a border, etc.
- Consistent terminology (semantic interoperability) such that required data elements are collected accurately and user interface artifacts are presented consistently with meanings that are understood universally across all systems – the same way a red stop sign is universally recognized, regardless of language.
- Consistent user ceremonies – just as driving a car requires unlocking it, fastening the seat belt, starting it, putting it in gear, and using the accelerator and brakes, we need to agree on generally consistent “ceremonies” for travellers, whether they are using a general-purpose digital wallet or a special-purpose application. This includes setup, security and privacy warnings, consent and user rights management, backup and recovery, and compatibility with paper credentials.
- Consistent governance that is responsive to global, national, and regional regulations or operational parameters (e.g, for when a test has expired, etc.) and is adaptable to change.