Andy Powell wrote:
> IF the object is to find a way of piggy-backing on the back of a
> technology (OpenID) around which there is now a very significant level
> of mainstream (i.e. outside the education sector) interest [...]
It's not clear to me that "the mainstream" sees OpenID as mainstream, e.g.:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10111404-36.html?tag=mncol
> [whitelisted OpenID federation]
> may not play 100% directly to the current OpenID ethos of open,
> decentralised, user-centric identity provision in the short term...
...is in fact the antithesis of those original OpenID goals...
> but
> so what? It's not an unreasonable expectation that, in the longer term,
> we will see developments around the trust infrastructure associated with
> OpenID and that will either mitigate against the need for a federation
> (of the kind we might put in place now) or will modify the way in which
> it works. Indeed, by playing in that space we will be more easily able
> to contribute to such developments rather than watching from the
> outside.
There's a fair chance of that, but this is the magical mystery tour
quality of OpenID: if you don't like it today, you can expect it to be
the name for something radically different tomorrow.
> By moving in the direction of OpenID, even if it is only perceived as a
> partial move, then we potentially get significant benefits as a
> community (in terms of mainstream adoption) and we offer our users much
> greater likelihood of a seamless experience as they move between
> different phases of "lifelong learning" and across educational and
> non-educational online spaces.
I also would hope to get some mileage out of OpenID global identifiers
for these purposes as it settles down over time (and if it doesn't
self-destruct as the open-everything true believers tussle with the
whitelisting pragmatists -- it remains to be seen how that will play out)
but trying to build a "hybrid OpenID / Shib federation" any time soon
would look to me like building on sand. I.e., if I'm going to piggy-
back, I'd like it to be on something stable. In the current environment,
limited experimentation in this area seems a better option than bold
strategic change.
Fiona.
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