1. A computer system for facilitating a single interface for file I/O and network communication, the system comprising: a processor; and a storage device storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising: receiving from a local application a first command to create content, wherein the first command includes a name for the content and access control information that indicates how the content may be accessed, wherein the content name is a hierarchically structured variable length identifier that includes contiguous name components ordered from a most general level to a most specific level; creating a first manifest which is a content object that indicates a set of member content objects by a name and a digest, wherein a name for the first manifest is the content name corresponding to the first command, wherein access to the manifest is based on the access control information included in the first command; and transmitting to the local application the first manifest and an indicator of success for creating the first manifest, thereby facilitating an interface for the local application to process network data in a content centric network; wherein the computer system is a component that serves as an interface between the local application and a portal instance associated with a transport stack, and wherein the component, the local application, and the transport stack reside on a same computing device.