[OpenID] Fwd: [OpenID board] Status of the OpenID Foundation Europe

Wed Nov 25 16:35:21 UTC 2009

There are both structural as well as cultural issues here that cannot be
merely ignored, or tilted at with the expectation of change.

While I'm sympathetic to the idea of "One OpenID Foundation", in practice,
geo-colocated groups tend to work together more in a more capable, agile
manner, and have the benefit of understand local politics, priorities, and
momentum.

For example, while I won't suggest that the work being done with the US
Federal Government represents the final answer when it comes to any
government's adoption or use of the technology, I do think that the outcomes
represent a more American approach to identity management (i.e. outsource it
to private companies) than one that would, say, be popular in Europe.

Therefore, in order to make progress, especially as this effort is still
young, I would be interested in seeing parallel developments or
implementations of the technology that reflect localized perspectives — in
order to flesh out the various use cases and applications and limitations of
what we have — rather than trying to assume that the OpenID 2.0 spec is
complete (and I don't mean that it needs more features — but that it needs
better documentation, better interaction models, and better use case
descriptions, as well as more research into its use — technology is easy to
create, it's harder to take it away later).

I'm all for centralizing things like IP management, branding, messaging, and
the more public outreachy aspects of the brand and foundation, but I can
tell you that those things will likely fall in the laps of those on the West
Coast, once again, because it's easy for that to happen. I think Nat has
been doing an impressive job pushing OpenID forward in Japan, but if he had
to wait on a central body — again, which a preponderance of representation
from the West Coast — I don't know that he'd be making as much progress — as
it is, he's been trying to push forward various proposals with little help
from anyone — let alone the concentrated group on the West Coast.

If I saw evidence that groups around the world were pushing hard to get
things done, but were unable to do so because they didn't have central
coordination, I'd be more interested in entertaining the idea of a
consolidated, centrally geo-colocated structure. But that would only cause
members of the community to turn inward, when what we need to do is continue
pushing outward — extending the ripples of awareness from the small
community of folks who care about this technology.

More bureaucracy will not help here — more action will. Thus, I'd be more
interested in developing ideas for helping OpenID grow internationally and
advancing the cause of user-centric identity generally, than trying to
construct a framework for participation before we even see any real activity
happening naturally.

Chris

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 7:43 AM, Steven Livingstone-Perez <
weblivz at hotmail.com> wrote:

>  I tend to agree with Santosh on this one - the breaking up of OpenID into
> different organizations with little to no communication hasn't been useful
> (at least not from what i've seen as a simple member - i don't see what
> happens internally). Seems only to have isolated the majority of decisions
> around OpenID in the US from other communities around the world.
>
> Many of these Open* initiatives need to encourage community participation
> from outwith the West Coast and i'd like to see a more collaborative
> strategy in building this "platform" together. I don't know that this
> community participation can be *purely* pushed out to edge foundations with
> limited impact on the Foundation itself.
>
> /steven
> http://livz.org
>
>  *From:* Santosh Rajan <santrajan at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 25, 2009 3:14 PM
> *To:* general at openid.net
> *Subject:* [OpenID] Fwd: [OpenID board] Status of the OpenID Foundation
> Europe
>
> Forwarding to general forum. I think this discussion is og general interest
> also.
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Santosh Rajan <santrajan at gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 8:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [OpenID board] Status of the OpenID Foundation Europe
> To: openid-board at lists.openid.net
> Cc: openid-eu at lists.openid.net, snorri.giorgetti at gmail.com
>
>
> Hi Don,
> I think you have missed the point entirely. Let me quote our european
> colleagues. " was also wondering whether it would be more appropriate to
> have one single consolidated foundation".
>
> Right! Lets think in terms of one single consolidated foundation.
>
> So what have you got to say about that?
>
> Now let me add my personal views to this. Living in an increasingly
> globalized world, something so universal like "identity", should be
> globalized and made "one".
>
> Instead of breaking up OpenID into cultural, geographic and language
> boundaries, we should be working towards unifying OpenID into one universal
> Identity.
>
> I think it is ridiculous to think of OpenID europe, or OpenID Japan or
> OpenID India or whatever you want to call it.
>
> Thanks
> Santosh
>
> On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 7:21 PM, Don Thibeau (OIDF ED) <don at oidf.org>wrote:
>
>> The OpenID Foundation has much work to do in Europe in 2010.
>>
>> I hope the board elections underway will increase our representation,
>> resources and expertise on several fronts WRT OpenID EU.
>> I plan to propose a 2010 OpenID Foundation EU committee to:
>> 1. Review the analysis underway of our trademarks and brands
>> 2. Discuss EU membership outreach and organization
>> 3. Review EU budget plans and priorities.
>>
>> With that new committee's help and that of Henrik, Snorri and others, I
>> plan
>> to propose the 2010 board sponsor a "OpenID Summit Europe" to occur around
>> the Burton Catalyst Europe, April 19-22 in Prague.  I have been invited to
>> speak at that conference http://www.catalyst.burtongroup.com/eu10/
>>
>> Don Thibeau
>> don at OIDF.org
>> Executive Director
>> The OpenID Foundation
>> http://openid.net
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: openid-board-bounces at lists.openid.net
>> [mailto:openid-board-bounces at lists.openid.net] On Behalf Of Henrik
>> Biering
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:07 PM
>> To: Snorri Giorgetti
>> Cc: openid-board at lists.openid.net; openid-eu at lists.openid.net
>> Subject: [OpenID board] Status of the OpenID Foundation Europe
>>
>> Hi Snorri,
>> how are you doing? I have not heard anything from you for quite a long
>> time.
>>
>> Yesterday, I discovered that the openid.dk domain registered by OpenID
>> foundation Europe had expired and had been deactivated.
>> I have now managed to pay the invoice and get the domain reactivated.
>>
>> However, I wonder about the situation of OpenID Europe Foundation in
>> general. You have done an impressive job of aquiring the European and
>> National Trademarks for OpenID as well as several national OpenID
>> domains on behalf of the EU foundation, and it would be sad to see the
>> result of these efforts vanish.
>>
>> If there are no resources available to maintain OpenID Foundation
>> Europe, maybe it is appropriate to consider how this IPR may be
>> consolidated within the global OpenID Foundation (or alternatively at
>> the national levels).
>>
>> Best Regards,
>> Henrik Biering
>> OpenID-DK representative
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> board mailing list
>> board at lists.openid.net
>> http://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-board
>>
>>
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>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> http://lists.openid.net/mailman/listinfo/openid-board
>>
>
>
>
> --
> http://hi.im/santosh
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> http://hi.im/santosh
>
>
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