Topic: Digital Identity

David Glazer says that people are the killer app of the web. That is, finding ways to connect people easily and seamlessly is the next great wave in computing. There are barriers to overcome, but the desire to see it happen is great. In this presentation Glazer offers a snapshot of how we got to this point and where things will need to go from here.

We play many roles in our daily lives: colleague, friend, parent, consumer, family member. Yet, says Charlene Li, our multidimensional lives are not currently accessible or integrated in any significant way. In this presentation Li discusses what she sees as the future of social networks, where the media we use will both reflect and inform the lives we lead.

Eric Norlin is an expert on how social networking data from one source is broken down and being reaggregated in other ways. He talks about how tools and websites, such as Twitter and Zemanta, are being used to create new concepts and how this new information is being used.

Bob Blakley of Burton Group discusses relationships and how they are important to identity, privacy, and digital security. He gives an overview of how relationships and identity are related, as well as his belief that the primary purpose of a digital identity is to enable relationships.

Identi.ca is an open microblogging service. Users can post short messages about themselves to Identi.ca, which are then broadcast to friends in their social network using instant messages (IM), RSS feeds, and the Web. The product's developer, Evan Prodromou, joins Phil and Scott to discuss the project, including its open source license.

As our lives increasingly straddle the physical and the virtual worlds, the management of identity becomes increasingly crucial from both a business and a social standpoint. John Clippinger, Kaliya Hamlin, and Reid Hoffman examine how online identity can foster relationships and deepen value creation. They discuss OpenID, including how America Online has chosen to adopt it, and answer questions related to such issues as anonymity and restricting information.

Ken Ledeen and Harry Lewis are co-authors (with Hal Abelson) of the forthcoming book "Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion." All three authors are veteran information technologists. On this edition of Interviews with Innovators, host Jon Udell speaks to Ledeen and Lewis to reflect on the rapid and sweeping changes these technologies bring.

ITConversations executive producer Phil Windley, who teaches computer science at Brigham Young University, has worked with students to develop a general framework for online reputation. In this conversation with Jon Udell he discusses the goals and status of the project, and explores ways in which online and offline reputations are both similar and different.

OpenIDDevCamp was a gathering to develop web-based applications that use OpenID. Attendees included web designers, developers and testers all working together over the weekend to enable OpenID on their sites or just learn more about this technology. Scott joined Phil to discus the event as well as the OpenID concept.

Everyone is leaving an electronic slime trail behind them on the internet, according to Bob Lucky. On this edition of IEEE Spectrum Radio, Bob Lucky shares his thoughts on the records we're all creating on the internet, and Spectrum takes a look at the Homebrew Computer Club's illegitimate child: the Homebrew Cellphone Club.