How do the concepts and applications of identity change as citizens move into the digital networked realm? In this project, identity is defined as a collection of transactions, associations, and achievements that are connected to a single person in the physical world, and correlated with a digital identifier in the networked world. This question must be framed by current implementations of digital government for the answer to be relevant to democracy and governance as practiced in the Internet age. Answering this question requires forging a common vision of identity from the organizational and technical knowledge of public sector decision-makers, academic experts, and private sector practitioners. Progress toward a trustworthy definition and implementation of digital identity is a key hurdle which must be gotten over in order for government to move to the next phase of service delivery.
This workshop will include participants from multiple disciplines and sectors in order to answer the identity question posed above. The goal of this civic scenario process is a coherent, technically sound, compelling view of the use of identity in digital government and an associated research agenda. Such a view necessarily encompasses the intrinsically related topics of risk, privacy, and authentication in digital government. This vision will offer decision-makers a framing for technical choices in the development of e-government.
