OpenID and eLearning

institute for educational cybernetics

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OpenID and eLearning

Scott Wilsoninstitute for educational

cyberneticsuniversity of bolton




Institute for educational what?

• "The science of communication and control in animal and machine” (Norbert Wiener)

• "The science of effective organisation” (Stafford Beer)

• "A way of looking at things and a language for expressing what one sees” (Margaret Mead)”

• The science and art of understanding” (Humberto Maturana)




Cybernetics and identity

• Linked to concept of autopoiesis; all systems that are autopoietic and maintain homeostasis have identity

• Regulation in a system is concerned with the maintenance of its identity

• From a cybernetic viewpoint, an“identity management system” is actually a system for maintaining the identity of the organisation, not those of the people it ostensibly manages




Understanding education as a system




Where is identity used in the elearning system?

• Individualization• Self-organisation• Activity• Coordination• Resource management• Monitoring• Strategy• Adaptation






Resource management is the focus of traditionalinstitutional IDM“Leaked” into Coordination & primary Activity via the LMS/VLE. A consequence of an early technology variety imbalance






Past: anonymised dataFuture: identified data (ULN)






User-centric identity, especially OpenID




VLE v PLE

VLEResource management

PLESelf-organisationInvidividualisation

VLE <-> PLECoordination




Distributed, user-owned technologies are not merely going to be grudgingly accepted by

institutions, they are an inevitable requirement for organisational viability in the 21st Century




Far from threatening institutional viability and control, distributed, user-owned technology offers an escape route from escalating costs, liabilities, and bureaucracy that come from a supply-driven model

Rather than spinning us out of control, they offer a way to get back under control




A supply-led approach to provision of education and provision of

technology is no longer viable in an age of lifelong learning, user

choice, and increasing numbers




Why is OpenID interesting?




it isn’t really an authentication system

That’s a good thing




it doesn’t really verify identity or identify the

userThat’s a good thing too




it doesn’t require or assume policy alignment

or trust

Nice and flexible…




it isn’t a provisioning system

(Apart from SREG and AE, but they aren’t mandatory)




All it does is offer a means of asserting a relationship between an agent and a

URL

how cool is that?




This makes it a potential boundary mechanism for the coordination of

individual, self-organised, and managed activity




OpenID is a pivot

• It can provide an axis of coordination between the formal system and informal systems

• OpenID actually doesn’t really authenticate or identify anyone, but it can connect things that use identity




A (bad?) example: Jyte RSS feed

<item> <pubDate>Sat, 03 Nov 2007 11:36:53 -0700</pubDate> <title>I have at least one unfinished novel that I work on intermittently.</title>

<author>http://elihu.myopenid.com/</author> <description><a href="http://jyte.com/profile/elihu.myopenid.com"

title="http://elihu.myopenid.com/">Elihu</a> made this claim.</description> <link>http://jyte.com/cl/i-have-at-least-one-unfinished-novel-that-i-work-on-intermittently</link> <guid>http://jyte.com/cl/i-have-at-least-one-unfinished-novel-that-i-work-on-intermittently</guid> <category>novel</category> <category>writing</category> <category>hobby</category> <category>unfinished projects</category> </item> <item> <pubDate>Sat, 03 Nov 2007 10:48:31 -0700</pubDate> <title>I always thought nic was a hip-py, but now I think he's a hip-hop.</title>

<author>http://packers1.myopenid.com/</author> <description><a href="http://jyte.com/profile/packers1.myopenid.com"

title="http://packers1.myopenid.com/">Packers</a> made this claim.</description> <link>http://jyte.com/cl/i-always-thought-www.tapsellferrier.co.uknicferrier-was-a-hip-py-but-now-i-think-hes-a-hip-

hop</link> <guid>http://jyte.com/cl/i-always-thought-www.tapsellferrier.co.uknicferrier-was-a-hip-py-but-now-i-think-hes-a-hip-

hop</guid> </item> oAuth?Privacy!




Some potential usesIndirect evidencing & correlation, for

assessment or for personal portfolio development

Early-commitment coordination, for early engagement without institutional commitment

Coordination of home/work/university boundary activities

Tracking activity for coordination at group/course level

Tracking activity for analytics and planning at course/programme/institution level




Thanks for listening - over to you

http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott

(that’s also my OpenID, btw ;-)

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OpenID and eLearning