Jon Warbrick wrote:
> Could you let me know too? :-)
>
> Seriously, there is a communication issue here. Shib and
> other federated identity technologies allow people to
> implement services without necessarily having to consult
> identity providers (as happened here). Since our users will
> be using our identity providers to access these services they
> naturally hold us responsible if it doesn't work and refer
> their queries (at least about authentication, and probably
> about everything
> else) to our Help Desks. If we don't know the service is
> coming we can't warn our Help Desks, and we can't test and if
> necessary configure appropriate attribute releases to make
> things work.
(Also seriously) I think this is the way things are moving; and IT
helpdesks and other support services that are too 'parochial' ("we don't
support that, because we don't provide it", etc) can choose to change,
or not. This applies not just to FAM, but all sorts of other middleware
or "Web 2.0" technologies.
The "most important IT application" amongst LSE students is, allegedly,
Facebook. That's a more extreme example; and it doesn't as yet
interoperate with any of the services we (LSE support services) do
support (and AFAIK our helpdesks don't offer any help with it).
But the more we (the global HE community) standardise on things like
ePSA attribute values, that allow a SP to reliably recognise "a
student", the more services will just be able to make use of that,
without necessarily asking us (or even telling us) first. We (a
university) are just offering a published service of
authentication/limited attribute release; and we don't really need to
mind who uses it.
This raises many questions for how universities (and other
identity-providing organisations) should pitch their IT support
services; to which I don't have answers.
Somebody like Brian Kelly may have thought more about wider impacts of
"Web 2.0" (and may not be on the JISC-SHIB list... But I'm sure he can
check the list archive if he wants to read the background to this
discussion ;->)
John
Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/secretariat/legal/disclaimer.htm
|