0. Identity from the Start

An introduction to the topic and these newsletters

An introduction to the topic

This initial series of ten newsletters establish a practical context of Identity.  The aim is to present ideas and concepts that align with current reality, and not to promote high-level daydreaming and techno mumbo-jumbo.

Unlike other ‘primers’ that present the status quo of Identity thinking, these newsletters are an advance.  They present a different and more sophisticated way of describing and analyzing Identity.  Hence, do not skim, but if you must, go to the final newsletter: Identity in a Nutshell.

In this initial series of newsletters, I’ll take you on a journey from the fundamentals of Identity to the failures of Identity, and to the options for Identity.  The latter is presented as a series of paradigms, one of which is Identity 2.5.

Following these initial ten newsletters, I present a series of more contentious newsletters in which I:

• justify why Identity 2.5 is the future,

• critique many Identity proposals and developments, and

• add more in-depth conceptual models of Identity.

This newsletter

In this introductory newsletter I describe:

• how I use the term Identity,

• the structure of my initial strategic analysis, and

• contextual issues that influence my approach.

So how do I use the term “Identity”?

One of the great talents of human beings is their ability to generalize.  These abilities enable advanced health care, technology, and space travel.  One of the great weaknesses of human beings is their ability to confuse each other through generalizations.  These weaknesses contribute to wars, extremism, nuclear threats and global warming.

And I will start with a generalization!  But I will define how I use it!

I use the capitalized term “Identity” in a general sense to represent ‘the whole gamut of things identity’: the industry, processes, concepts and designs, protocols, solutions, technologies, and uses.  I use the term Identity in a similar way that people talk about Payments.

I will use the word “identity” often, both as a noun as in ‘a person’s identity’ and as an adjective as in ‘an identity process’.

My initial strategic analysis in ten newsletters

That was short and sweet, but analyzing those very simply concepts will not be so easy. My initial strategic analysis of Identity is delivered in ten newsletters (0-9):

These ten newsletters will take us a long way, at least to a point where we agree or disagree on where Identity is, and where it might go.  The journey is worth the effort, I promise.

Read This First

Well not quite first, but there is some specific context about my approach to Identity that I want to make clear in the beginning.

1.     This is about Identity, not Digital Identity!  This is not technology!  This is not just about the Internet!  This is about Identity in all its forms based upon the premise that we need Identity for people, not Digital Identity for technologists. 

2.     My immediate context is Aotearoa New Zealand, which is a ‘common law’ country without a national identifier.  In that respect Aotearoa New Zealand is similar to Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK, and Ireland, so many of my insights will apply to those jurisdictions too.

3.     I will also draw on examples and knowledge from ‘codified law’ countries with national identifiers, especially the Scandinavian countries and Estonia (an Identity leader).  Having lived in Sweden for many years, I have some knowledge of how Identity works there, and even though such examples are not directly transferable to a common law country context, there is much to be learnt and appreciated from considering them.

So that’s the start, hope to see you again.

Regards

Alan