IC Evangelism & Marketing

Conference Opportunities
iCommons 20008 Summit

Values Statement
''Chris Allen and I (Kaliya) met in Berkeley on March 3rd 2008 to talk improving the communication about Identity Commons values and relevancy. It was a great hour+ brainstorming and unpacking the purpose and principles, reflecting on IC1 and the new organizational formation.''

This is our first cut at trying to explain it and needs some more word smithing to improve it. One of the key things we were trying to do is separate out our shared values from our organizational principles.

Identity Commons Values
We believe in the dignity of Human individual in the context of the digital world.

As digital systems and tools evolve on top of the current technology stack that explicitly move the personal information of people we must to balance these factors:

In order to make this true we strive for a balanc e of factors and valuesas digital systems and tools evolve:

* Individual control, convenience & privacy * Sharing of information when participating in community * support for commercial and non-commercial exchange * Interoperability and openness between systems

We work to bring these values into practice by fostering a collaborative a community of individuals, organizations and companies share these values and are working together towards practical technical implementations.

We work to practice what we preach

Share a pragmatic idealism

Have openness and transparency in what we do.

ALTERNATIVE DRAFT OF VALUES STATEMENT

Identity Commons believes in the dignity of the individual who participates in the digital community.

We work to bring these values into practice by fostering a collaborative a community of individuals, organizations and companies who share these values and work together to achieve and sustain practical technical implementations.

As digital systems and tools evolve, making it possible to move the personal information of people around the Web, Identity Commons acts as an advocate for balancing the interests of all stakeholders who create, host and share an individual's data. We have six core values.

KALIYA/CHRIS -- NOT SURE I'M GETTING THE MEANING OF THE DRAFTED VALUES HERE -- LET ME KNOW.

1 The individual has ultimate control over his or her privacy. 2 When an individual moves within a community, the individual chooses which information to share with the community. 3 Commercial and non-commercial exchange of information should be convenient without compromising privacy. 4 Systems supporting digital communication and commerce should emphasize interoperability and openness. 5 Pragmatic solutions are absolutely compatible with an idealistic vision of individual ownership of digital identity. 6 We practice what we preach.

Alternative
We believe in the dignity of human individuals in the context of the digital world, but we balance this with the good of digital communities.

In order to achieve this balance, we strive for privacy, fellowship, and convenience as digital systems and tools evolve, based on these core values:

User control of identity, ensuring privacy.

Community sharing of identity, ensuring fellowship.

Global interoperability between systems, ensuring convenience.

We work to make these values a reality by fostering a collaborative community of individuals, organizations and companies that share these values and that work together toward practical technical implementations.

We support both commercial and non-commercial adaptations of these values, to allow for the creation and support of interoperable and open global identities.

We work

To practice what we preach;

To share a pragmatic idealism; and

To be open and transparent in what we do.

If you share these values and ideals, you should join us and share your commitment with others.

Comments

 * from =fen:
 * I'd like to see "user-centric" in there somewhere
 * you might get some good verbiage from http://digg.com/political_opinion/Best_video_explaining_net_neutrality_ever


 * from community member
 * You might want to clarify the meaning of "[tools]... that explicitly move the personal information of people"
 * I think control also belongs in the second point, since it's about the extent people are willing to divulge information in a social context
 * Does support for commercial exchange mean enabling for-profit business models (as well as working outside commercial contexts like social interaction)
 * Re: interoperability/openness. Is there any implication on IP issues or open source there?