We talk to Paul Madsen, a member of the Technology Expert Group in Liberty Alliance in this episode of DataPortability: In-Motion Podcast. Through the conversation, he dives into SAML and how the Identity Web Services Framework (ID-WSF) and related specifications fit into a comprehensive identity solution stack. In response to the question about implementation difficulty, he points to the work underway by OpenLiberty.org developing a set of deployable ID-WSF libraries. Another project that helps bridge between specifications is Project Concordia.
Leading the episode, we quickly touch on the following bits of news:
Episode 12 of the DataPortability: In-Motion Podcast welcomes Steve back to the fold. In this episode we talk to Drummond Reed (a.k.a. =Drummond), a valued participant across the identity and data portability space. Drummond is most well known as one of the pioneers of the XRI (Extensible Resource Identifier) and XDI (XRI Data Interchange) open standards at OASIS where he co-chairs the XDI and XRI Technical Committees.
During the discussion, Drummond identified two key areas needing solutions within the scope of data portability: common definitions and portable authorization. XDI and link contracts solve these problems.
In the context of data portability, ever since I first heard the term when wearing my XDI TC hat, I said, “That’s like the mission statement for the XDI Technical Committee in two words. Why didn’t we just say it’s data portability.” If there’s one headline feature of XDI, it’s data portability. XDI is a protocol for sharing data, just like HTTP is a protocol for sharing content.
Of note, history was in the making during the discussion. While hunting for an appropriate analogy describing the underlying description model, Steve hit upon using the periodic table of elements. Look for Drummond using it in his next series of talks.
Leading the episode, we quickly touch on the following bits of news:
Usually by this time you’d be loading up on our latest DataPortability: In-Motion Podcast. Instead, you’ll find we didn’t produce an episode this week. The reason is that both Steve and I have been incredibly busy this week. He’s traveling for business, and I’ve spent my allocated DataPortability time in other productive ways.
Taking up a couple hours a day has been my work with the Steering Group’s Governance Task Force headed by Elias Bizannes to sprint to the finish line on our upcoming deliverable. It’s coming together nicely, though we’re still hammering out all of the necessary specifics to ensure it works. Anyone who has pulled together a loose collective of volunteers can attest to the time, effort, and delicacy required to get that done. Needless to say, we’re making a lot of headway, but it’s time consuming.
In addition to that, I’ve been asked to moderate a panel for the upcoming OMMA Behavioral conference in San Francisco on July 21st. The topic centers around the portability of preference data and how that impacts the marketing and advertising ecosystem. So, I’m donning my matchmine cap and wearing a name badge as a DataPortability Project Steering Group member to facilitate the discussion. In addition to moderating, I’m also helping source the panelists (i.e. trying to herd cats). As soon as the cats are in the barn, I’ll spin out more details.
Finally, and closest to home… the matchmine Ministry of Openness is currently supporting the development of OpenID. Yup, we’re actually taking a couple pages out of the DataPortability recipe book to help make your data (in the form of your media preferences) more easily accessible. More to come on that front as we move forward.
So, at the end of the week… I don’t feel we’re letting down the podcast audience. Instead, I feel we’re moving the ball significantly forward.
If, however, you simply need your podcast fix, perhaps you’d be interested in checking out the archive of previous episodes. Enjoy!
In this very special episode of the DataPortability: In-Motion Podcast, Trent’s brother R. Mark Adams joins the data portability discussion. He is a genetic engineer who earned his Ph.D. in cell biology and was a pioneer in the field of bioinformatics. He is currently a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton and runs their bioinformatics group. Of specific interest related to data portability is his work for the open CaBIG (Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid) project, a National Cancer Institute initiative to link cancer researchers and their data.
Up until now, we have focused primarily on the use cases around existing social networking websites. There is, however, a wealth of knowledge and experience to be tapped within other fields. Mark has worked for over 15 years designing and building large-scale informatics systems. Further, his extensive experience within the standards and open source communities place him in a unique position to provide valuable insight into issues being explored by the DataPortability Project.
During the conversation, Mark offered up some cautionary comments regarding the process of defining standards:
There’s a tendency on the part of industry, broadly, to try to skip to a technology stack as a means of adopting standards quickly.
One has to be careful in how one creates standards. This is why I say trying to divorce standards as cleanly as possible from their underlying technology implementations is important to do. The reason being it allows you to determine standards that can be widely adopted and used without the complexity or the risk of lock-in.
Rounding out the discussion was a call to action on both sides. Mark is reaching out to the DataPortability Project to become more involved in the bioinformatics field, and suggests we solicit participation from within their ranks.
We’re also joined by Brady Brim-Deforest, founder of Human Global Media, talking about the DataPortability Legal Entity Taskforce. He provides a good overview and update on the process underway to formalize the the project under a recognized legal banner.
The featured interview segment is with Danny Ayers, Semantic Web Developer at Talis. He touches on moving from document linking, through microformats, to feature-rich RDF modeling to identify portable data. Contrary to popular belief, he dispels the myth that it’s hard to migrate from a standard SQL data representation into addressable semantic objects.
