Surely we already have the answer to the password dilemma ...in the
shape of Athens or some such nationally accepted authorisation
system ? Isn't the real problem getting the various data suppliers
to recognise our need to avoid a proliferation of passwords and
accept the use of a standard registration scheme ?
What's the best way to achieve this ? We have various national
organisations....JISC....CHEST etc working on our behalf but is this
enough to "persuade" suppliers ? Perhaps we ought to remember the
principle that "money talks" and - given that data owners
naturally want to make money from their resources - make it
abundantly clear that we , as a customer community of considerable
proportions , won't consider anything that does not easily
conform to Athens.
If Athens compliance were a conditional part of the purchase package
from the data supplier, wouldn't all our lives be easier ?. Am
I being completely unrealistic in believing that we can have some
influence on suppliers in this arena ?
Other "local" solutions to the problem of password proliferation
may be perfectly adequate for some sites, but will not
be so for others . Athens is a solution applicable across the
sector...we just have to get the suppliers to accept it as we
have.....!!!!
Barbara
Barbara Vickery
Networked Information Librarian
Nottingham University
Tel:0115-951-4614 Fax:0115-951-4558
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