Citation: Warburton, S. (ed.) 2010.  Digital Identity Matters. London: King’s College London

1. User-centric. The CV builder employs a user-centric approach to personal data management by allowing individuals to control their personal information and digital self-representation. Individuals can decide where to store their data and have administrator rights to manage it. In this way data is not held with third-party web CV repositories or Job Board administered applications. The Europass CV Builder is fully integrated with WordPress, as a plugin application.
2. Interoperable. CVs are compliant with the latest HR-XML Staffing Exchange Protocol specification. By using a standards compliant CV format, individuals are able to establish a fluid exchange of personal information with eRecruitment, eLearning and Human Resources bodies.
3. Recognised. The builder produces CVs that comply with the widest European and internationally recognised standards for representation of personal data, qualifications and competencies. This allows the edition of a complete CV following the official Europass template and latest Europass XML specifications, recognised by audiences not limited by sector or geography.
4. Flexible. The CV Builder can produce flexible and fully modifiable views of CV content. Individuals can customise their CVs and target them according to their personal or professional needs and goals. To create a targeted CV, the user selects relevant content from the Master CV (the vault for personal information) and creates a View. This can be built using out-of the box templates or by creating new templates that can be customised with the addition of extra sections and fields as required. These fields may be outside of the Europass template but present in the HR-XML specification and therefore HR-XML compatibility is maintained. Allowing user-created fields will break standards compliance but this option is being considered to enhance customisability.
5. Multi-lingual. The entire interface is multilingual and content can be filled in by the user in any of the official languages of the European Union.
6. Multimedia. Text fields within the CV can be linked to any media (pictures, certificate, video or audio record); these can be added as evidence of performance alongside the tagging and aggregation of content from distributed locations. Support for WordPress ‘short codes’ allows content integration within blog posts and pages, adding ePortfolio-like capabilities.
7. Portable. Individual CVs are accessible via Internet and can be packaged, exported and moved from physical locations e.g. hosting services compliant with HR-XML specifications.  Users can also select the publishing format of their choice for each targeted CV or View, including: XHTML and HTML (integrated in blog pages), PDF, ODT, HR-XML feed and Europass XML feed.
8. Accessible. CVs are ergonomic, usable and any user, through compliance with accessibility standards such as WAI, can readily access content.
9. Secure. Stored personal data and CVs are secured for personal access via the WordPress authentication protocol. Individuals can set access permissions and the builder is granular enough such that portions personal data can be cordoned off. Publishing rights are available to allow both public versions of a CV for open consultation via the Internet and protected CVs held in a secure location. Each export of a targeted CV or View can be protected by an access code defined by the user.
10. Open. The CV is open and not related to any proprietary technology. Its online forms are built using XForms.

Our plugin lies at the crossroads between self-presentation devices like the résumé, profiles maintained on professional social networks such as LinkedIn, and an ePortfolio style systems.

It will allow users to store their online personal data in a secure location of their choice and facilitate individuals in not only presenting their competencies according to the Europass CV format, but also in interoperable formats such as HR-XML and Hresume. Information in the CV builder, for example present educational and professional achievements, can be used to exchange data with educational providers for validation and accreditation purposes as well as enable reflective learning practices, and to store andpresent  educational and professional achievements.

The Rhizome project will not be developing a solution from scratch. We will be extending an existing open source solution released under GPL in 2007 – the KITE Europass-CV plugin – that was produced within the framework of the KITE project, co-funded by the European Union.

KITE offered an implementation of the Europass-CV as a plugin for three major open source blogs: WordPress, DotClear and ELGG, and allowed users to present their competences and qualifications in full compliance with the specifications under the HR-XML Staffing Exchange Protocol 2.4

The work was started under the KITE project left some deficiencies in terms of usability, in two major areas: the orientation features of the graphical interface and the architectural organisation of the navigation paths through the system.

What the KITE plugin did offer was a major advance in CV building with the ability to create CVs for all official European languages, compliance with HR-XML specifications, the first match between Europass and HR-XML SEP. Separation between content and presentation was achieved using a Master CV that represented a ‘vault’ for all personal information. Data could then be selected and displayed from the vault according to user customisable preferences – these views being exportable in multiple formats such as XHTML, HTML, ODT, PDF, RTF and be held in public and password-secured locations.

Apart from the technical merits of the KITE project, we decided to resurface the plugin as a solution to the problem of implementing a user-centred approach to personal data management that would allow dynamic exchanges of personal information with eRecruitment, eLearning and Human Resources bodies. We identify a number of trends and factors that have suggested this as a valuable approach, including the:

• Increased use of blogs as self-representational devices, and significant uptake in their use across formal and informal educational settings;

• Development of blogging architectures that support plugin and widget functionality that can facilitate data exchange and aggregation of information whilst allowing for flexible presentation;

• Use of the CV as the backbone for identity management systems, personal representation tools e.g. portfolios, ePortfolios, blogfolios, personal aggregators and mashup technologies, and certain social and professional network sites like LinkedIn;

• Uptake of HR-XML as the open standard specification in electronic exchanges related to eRecuitment, eLearning and Human Resources;

• Deployment of European Community Frameworks and tools for the transparency of qualifications and competences, example include ECTS, ECVET and Europass.

Here is an overview of the six ways the Rhizome project is planning to enhance the KITE plugin:

1. Update the application profile for compliance with the latest HR-XML SEP specifications and the new Europass XML specifications;
2. Redesign the look and feel of the user interface and adopt WordPress content organisation and navigation styles;
3. Extend the options for customisation so that users can create views by re-ordering and adding new sections, categories and content. This will allow variation in the model for (re)presenting personal information and allow for ad-hoc profiles that can be used for ego-branding and interactions with professional social networks;
4. Incorporate simple mashup capabilities to allow the aggregation of personal information and distributed web-based content under the competency descriptors;
5. Add support for WordPress ‘shortcodes’ so that CV content can be extracted to pages and blogposts and be used as material for cross-referencing competences and as evidence of performance;
6. Allow widgetisation of the CV for ego-branding purposes.

Steven and I will be blogging here and in the Rhizome blog about the new plugin design principles and key features, as well as the interoperability scenario, the use cases and its detailed functionalities. If comments please leave them in the Rhizome blog at:

The second workshop deviated from the ‘standard’ Participatory Pattern Workshop format. Rather than focusing on developing and iterating the patterns identified during the first workshop we decided to tackle scenarios, in other words unsolved real-world problems around how we manage or use digital identities. From these scenarios we then worked with our patterns from the first workshop, applying them to create solutions, and in the process identified new case-stories and patterns as they arose.

Before the workshop we asked the participants to submit scenarios and we recorded nine separate entries on the Planet xWiki platform. These ranged from the use of micro-blogging tools like Twitter to using data portability technologies to solve the problem of digital identity aggregation.

The workshop itself broke down into to distinct phases:

Part 1: Mapping the forces within the scenarios. Here we asked each group to identify and map out the forces in tension within a particular scenario. These were the tensions that a pattern would need to resolve to produce a potentially successful solution.

Part 2: Designing solutions using patterns. Using the force map each group then looked through the pattern collection to see if any of the patterns developed so far could be applied. One of the major themes that had emerged from the earlier analysis of the scenarios was how to control who views our data. This was related to two dimensions of managing distributed digital identity data (i) aggregation versus compartmentalization and (ii) public versus private.

A solution was developed that addressed both of these tensions using the architectural metaphor of the house and the notion of progressive disclosure. This represented a simple but powerful idea whereby access to our digital identity is managed through the creation of differing spaces for intimacy. Megan Smith gives a deeper insight into the ways that this approach might work in a posting written for her blog.

What developed was a link to two patterns. The first from the Digital Identity pattern collection called ‘Facet Me’ and second, to one of Alexander’s patterns. As Jim pointed out this idea had resonance with number 127 ‘Intimacy Gradient’:

Conflict: Unless the spaces in a building are arranged in a sequence that corresponds to their degrees of privateness, the visits made by strangers, friends, guests, clients, family, will always be a little awkward.
Resolution: Lay out the spaces of a building so that they create a sequence which begins with the entrance and the most public parts of the building, then leads into the slightly more private areas, and finally to the most private domains.

Overall the format of this workshop worked well and produced two new candidate patterns with supporting case-stories:
Pattern 7: Purposeful delay
Pattern 8: Leaving trails

So what next? We want to build on the success of this workshop and hold a final session to complete the series, which we are planning for September 2009. Invites will be sent out shortly and we look forward to seeing you there.

With close to 35 people attending there was a lot of pressure on everyone, not least our facilitators Yishay, Jim, Mark and myself, to work hard. We started off with a quick paper and pen warm-up activity called the ‘faces of identity’. We asked everyone to draw three facets of their identity on three pre-drawn heads and then turn to their group and describe (i) what these identities represented and (ii) which they promoted and which they kept hidden in online settings. This was a powerful exercise and created some intense discussion that ran over the allotted 10 minutes for the exercise. Comments on this activity (including the rest of the day) can be found over on Margarita’s blog.

There were 19 case-stories in total and we split participants into seven discreet groups each led by a starting case-story. Stories were shared, discussed, questioned and argued over. With some gentle, and not so gentle, pushing and prodding from our facilitators a series of seed patterns were eventually documented. Identifying patterns can be a tricky process and articulating a common problem is more challenging than describing the solution. To scaffold this process and help the participants to move successfully from case-stories to patterns we employed two active approaches:
1) Three Hats Pattern- to share and interrogate stories in a small group setting
2) Table Top Concept Mapping – to draw out the key issues and tensions within case-stories

The full outputs from the day, including the six patterns that were established, are summarised here on the Planet design patterns repository page: http://purl.org/planet/Groups.DigitalIdentities/outputs.

Pattern 1: Others first
Pattern 2: Digital Identity panic
Pattern 3: Whats my name
Pattern 4: Space for lurking
Pattern 5: Facet me
Pattern 6: Permissioned aggregation of identity information

The power of the patterns approach is one of stripping out the specifics to produce transferable solutions that address common problems. But sometimes it can feel that by losing some aspects of the context and moving to a more generic instantiation of the core issues that we lose something of its’ [the case-story] vitality – perhaps this is particularly noticeable when we analyse our [digital] identities and are guilty  of stripping away certain subject positions – such as class, race and gender. Yet I would still argue that producing a solution that can be applied in multiple places is a powerful and revealing process. This issue came up in a case-story that started with motherhood and the uploading of family pictures to a photo-sharing site. This case eventually formed part of a pattern called ‘Others First‘ about parental responsibility towards the digital identity of dependents – particularly children. In this pattern the subject position of motherhood seemed to come under erasure. My thoughts are that this does not necessarily detract from the value of the pattern – it does not erase motherhood, rather in the use of the pattern in solving particular scenarios motherhood will become [re]surfaced as one of a number of [possible] subject positions. The case-stories also remain linked as part of the underlying evidence that supports the patterns. I think in this case there is more than one pattern, particularly surrounding the complications of motherhood and gender in relation to building professional representations of the self. This is not a new issue, where work and motherhood compete, but one that raises new problems when we make choices about how we portray ourselves online. One of the issues with running the workshop over a single day is dealing with the constraints on time that limit the amount of work that can be done to pull out of these related patterns. Many of the groups realised they were dealing with case-stories that held multiple patterns that could have been addressed through developing complimentary patterns.

• How far has technology altered prevailing notions of identity?
• What new technologies are emerging and what might be their impacts?
• To what extent is it possible to inscribe legal requirements into technologies of identity, and with what results?

This looks like a good place to present the work on digital identity patterns that was started at the Eduserv digital identity event, focusing on the pattern elicitation methodology and elaborating one or two of the patterns for comment and feedback.

The important dates are:
Submission of papers (4000-6000 words): 9 April 2009
Notification to authors: 1 May 2009
Identity in the Information Society Workshop: 5 June 2009
And there is the possibility of publication in the IDIS journal:
Submission of revised papers to IDIS Journal: 6th July 2009
Publication in IDIS Journal from January 2010

It was decided to host an event where projects do not simply talk at their audience – but rather an active day that is fundamentally about the participants and their experiences. We have chosen a workshop format that is driven by the Planet methodology for pattern language development, an approach that has resonance with the narrative inquiry methodology being adopted by the Rhizome project. The Planet approach is straightforward, taking participants through a number of predefined steps from shared cases to seed patterns. The morning session focuses on storytelling in small groups, and uncovering common themes within shared narratives. In the afternoon these common themes – composed of a problem, solution and associated forces – are used to build the patterns – what Christopher Alexander (1977) defined as:

“a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice”

The key to the success of the workshop is making sure that relevant stories (or cases) are collected in the Planet Xwiki database in advance of the day. To help guide authors, a template is used to organize each narrative – you can view a blogged case here that uses the STARR template:

http://www.margaperez.com/2008/12/im-also-a-starr-tell-me-whom-you-walk-with-and-ill-tell-you-who-you-are/

Further details of the workshop, including cases and patterns developed from other workshops, are available here on the Planet Xwiki site at http://icanhaz.com/planet-digital-identities.

This first event is by invitation only but we will be holding more follow-up workshops. The next is likely to be in late March/early April. So if you are interested in participating then please do contact us.

References
Alexander, C. with S. Ishikawa, M. Silverstein, M. Jacobson, I. Fiksdahl-King, S. Angel (1977) A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press, New York, 1977
See also: http://www.patternlanguage.com/leveltwo/ca.htm

• decentralised
• unpredictable
• connected
• branching in many directions
• having multiple entry points
• with no single true view, only partial perspectives
• and constituted as a multiplicity of dimensions where we lose the illusion of the objective all seeing eye/I

Deleuze leads us to cartography and the map, a space which has no privileged entry point and is always open to change.

• First, A visual frequency representation of certain words in the introduction of A thousands Plateaus, by R. Stuart Geiger

• Then, the fragment of Bussotti quoted in Introduction: Rhizome of A Thousands Plateaus Deleuze & Guattari: 5 Piano Pieces for David Tudor (1959), Sylvano Bussotti