Presentation or Interaction?
Posted by admin on September 19th, 2007
Today is the 3rd Meeting of JIIE for 2007, and the Committee was particularly focusing on the Information Environment (IE) Strategy, and the Users and Innovation Programme. A common theme was whether or not the word ‘presentation’ that is currently used in the IE architecture is appropriate in the changing world, or whether we should be talking more about ‘user interaction’.
Presentation of course suggests something managed by the institution and pushed out to the students - rather than user-lead model suggested by interaction.
This highlights the changing role of the institution as a broker between students and services, rather than as an infrastructure provider to students. It also refocuses on the scenarios where institutions do act as Service Providers - both to their own students and to students, institutions and indeed businesses elsewhere.
Ian Dolphin asked a series of questions, one of which was around the role of access management in this changing environment. Some of my thoughts on this:
- Federated Access does not negate user-centric identity and access management, as I often see suggested. Institutions should broker access for their students where appropriate..and it such as an institution brokering access to licensed resources on behalf of the student. This can be completely compatible with a user-lead approach.
- Users cannot effectively manage their own identities as yet, or verify their own identities - institutions are effective brokers in this scenario. The role of the broker and trusted verifier is very important to all user-centric identity management systems such as OpenID and identity metasystems.
- Attributes provide an effective way of providing information to enable user interaction, particularly when moving away from the concept that their is a presentation ‘layer’. JISC will shortly be issuing an ITT looking at the role attributes can play in providing a personalised experience.
Thankfully, this all fits nicely with the forward look for access and identity management within JISC - which is always a relief!