Each of us perform countless ceremonies throughout our days. Those series of acts the perform with steps prescribed by ritual or convention. This is true in both the the analog and digital worlds. But when it comes to how we are known to others, the ceremonies that we do in in the digital world differ greatly from those in the analog world… and that leads to real problems.
I was introduced to the notion of ceremonies in the digital identity space by my good friend, Kim Cameron. In a quiet moment at the Europe Identity Conference many years ago, we talked about fundamental changes coming to how one identifies oneself to an online service. With loving remembrance, I pulled on threads from that memory combined with strong influences of my friend and mentor, Bob Blakley’s, foundational talk on recognition.
What follows is both the original text of the talk, including a variety of jokes and bits that ended up on the cutting room floor, as well as a video of me giving the talk at KuppingerCole’s European Identity and Cloud Conference. Additionally here is the version I gave at Identiverse as well! Enjoy and with that I bring you Ceremonies!
Ian Glazer at KuppingerCole’s EIC in 2023