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

Wed Nov 25 17:04:18 UTC 2009

Hi Chris. Agree that to get things achieved driving through the West Coast is a must just now. Add to that the fact the majority of activity is there it makes sense (... to my frustration, but that's just a fact of geography and location of the tech giants doing this stuff).

I guess what may be useful i that sense would be around the Foundation hub a set of local representative spokes who are actively involved. So, for example, if there is an IIW then all/most of these folks would attend and make sure representation came from around. Maybe that already happens but from what i can see it's one or two and not the majority. Nat is probably the best example of how that can be done.

That would give us the central hub for getting stuff done (we all want that), some local representatives who are centrally involved (we absolutely need that) - i.e. someone i could talk directly to in the context of my geography but would be linked right into the hub - and context relevant chapters who can look at the issues where they are (actually this learning if input back to the hub could be extremely useful).

I don't think it's necessarily about awaiting decisions - it's more around being part of the system (i have felt this since day one btw - may well be alone in that). I'd argue that it's hard to see visibility from around the world right now - at a technical level i do know of at least one OpenID implementation that is being developed by people from all over.

It's not simple and agree being too tightly coupled is unlikely to be beneficial. Brett's insight from ISOC could be useful in figuring something out. Purely from a branding perspective for the local chapters to have a manage page (or pages) on the Foundation hub site would be a start (the Argentina site for example doesn't seem to exist any more). I could imagine this page also containing links to geographically relevant case studies, folks to contact and so on. Nothing major but a common template. I say that as people have asked me for that in the past.

Appreciate it's complex so just suggestions to take on board (no pun intended).

/steven
http://livz.org

From: Chris Messina 
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 4:35 PM
To: Steven Livingstone-Perez 
Cc: Santosh Rajan ; general at openid.net 
Subject: Re: [OpenID] Fwd: [OpenID board] Status of the OpenID Foundation Europe

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 
  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

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