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Greetings folks

This is the running update from the Executive Director. Have questions or comments? Suggest some added information or edits? Contact the ED colin@kantarainitiative.org

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February sees the start of the conference season, and for many of us in this community, that starts with RSA in San Francisco.

I think we can safely conclude that Kantara did it 'with bells on' this year (smile).  

Not only did we have some great presentations by Kantara members Eve Maler and Ian Glazer, but also Sarah Squire did a great job in leading the 'Birds of a Feather' session for our pre-formative digital identity professionals project (a.k.a ID-Pro).

And don't forget social!  'Breakfast with Kantara' at Jillian's on 4th Street was well attended despite the early hour on the Wednesday, while the 'Friends and Family' cocktail party with the IDESG folks on Thursday graced visitors to Mary Hodder's parents hillside apartment with most exquisite views of San Francisco and the bridge.  Hat tip to Kantara Director organizations CA, Digi.me and Forgerock - thank you for sponsoring - and thanks to Mary's and Virtual's organizational prowess!

We sure needed the respite by then because the day-long Board meeting at Forgerock's SFO offices on Thursday was packed with reports and presentations, action, motions and minutes - all with one aim - to deliver great value to Kantara members through 2017.

From San Francisco the circus moved to Vienna, where long time member and eGov Working Group Chair had organized the TIIME (Trust and Internet Identity Meeting in Europe) unconference.  Rainer, and his wife Andrea, assisted by Sabine, were fantastic hosts and steered us on and off trams and through the beautiful streets of Vienna to a historic tavern where Kantara's European members ruminated over items discussed in Kantara's pre-conference workshop. Along with many familiar names, see the proceedings of the TIIME unconference here .

February was not all conferences and play - make no mistake.

Kantara's new Mission statement was given its seal of approval by the Board at its February meeting.  It goes to the essence of what we do: 

Kantara Initiative is the global consortium improving trustworthy use of identity and personal data through innovation, standardization and good practice

A lot of what you will see from Kantara this year will speak directly to its Mission.  It's easy to talk about it and write about the need for as other consortia in our community adept at.  But it's darn hard to do. 

Subject Matter Experts and Money. That's what it takes. We are blessed with the former and the richness to the conversation they bring. We are constantly challenged by the latter.  To those organizations hanging out on Kantara's mailing list or lurking on its Working and Discussion Groups, I say this to you.  It is not going to happen. Sitting and waiting for somebody else to invest the time and money to build the artefacts so you can just consume them, you are mistaken. Kantara prides itself on its conviction to maintain low barrier to entry so folks can engage with the work. But unless and until you actually engage with the people and invest in the work yourselves, the value will not follow.  So please - get engaged, get out your check-book to direct some funds to the piece of work you want to see Kantara do, and become a part of driving this community forward to build a better, safer and more equitable digital economy.

You'll see a lot of changes in the coming months - a new, simpler membership structure, refreshed ByLaws and Operating Procedures to support a refreshed IPR policy, and announcements about new conformity assessment specifications to deliver our mission to the new emerging standards  supported by refresrestructured memberhWe are receiving a lot of interest in Consent Receipt and UMA as tools in the GDPR compliance arsenal right now. And interest in our conformity assessment program for Identity Assurance that is currently deployed just in the public sector but has so much potential in the private sector. There are not many open platforms to develop industry specifications and frameworks and none as accessible as Kantara's.  That capability is at the center of Kantara's value to the industries and communities it serves.     

Take a deep breath - the 2017 conference season about to descend on us.  Let's embrace all it has to offer and in turn promote the principles that we believe in (smile).

Cheers!

Colin

Around the Houses:

Marketing:

  • We have some racy new badges, device stickers and Kantara flyers ready to go for 2017.  To Members in good standing that are holding an event where Kantara and its assets are being presented, please to take some to distribute.   

Program, Work Group and Discussion Group Updates:

  • The WGs and DGs of Leadership Council now operate a blog, so you can read what's going on in groups you are not regularly attending. See it here
  • ID Pro DG work is progressing well with the Code of Conduct project stream complete. The Membership/Services and Governance project streams still have a ways to go. Most of all, ID Pro needs founder seed funding to begin to fulfill its own Mission and Vision while being incubated at Kantara. If your organization wants to be acclaimed as a founding member of a new Association of Digital Identity Professionals, please email me, colin@kantarainitiative.org .  
  • If you have opted to receive news from Kantara or following us on twitter @KantaraNews you'll know that the Consent Receipt is out for 45 day Public Review here .  We expect the final V1.0 to be published sometime in March.
  • As always if you have a query or question, staff are only too willing to assist.  Email them on staff@kantarainitiative.org        

Events: See them here! https://kantarainitiative.org/calendars/

  • One of the main themes coming from the Membership Survey in December was to increase our networking and social activities. We listened and acted upon that sentiment.  Accordingly you have been notified of 'Breakfast with Kantara'  at RSA in San Francisco, with a members only 'friends and family' evening event co-hosted in conjunction with our close liaison and friend IDESG. A social event is planned for the TIIME conference in Vienna the following week.   Stay tuned for more social events in May folks!

Cheers!

Colin  

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