FIDIS MAIN THEMES ADDRESSED IN THE INTERVIEWS

Main themes addressed in the interviews

John Baptista, LSE 

As described in the methodology section above, the themes for the interviews were in the first instance derived from the previous deliverable, D4.1 “A structured account of interoperability approaches”. In that document we reviewed the key literature in this field and the most relevant projects. From the literature review we developed a conceptualisation of interoperability at three levels: technical, formal and informal. We now expand on these three levels and use the experts to gather requirements at the technical, formal and informal levels of interoperability.

We focused our analysis in three sectors: ecommerce, egovernment and ehealth. These sectors were considered critical for identity management by the FIDIS network and agreed by the partners of WP4 as the most relevant for further analysis.

The questionnaire starts with identification of the key identity issues in the expert’s field. We query the importance of interoperability in that context. We ask for the interviewee to explain his/her own understanding of the meaning of interoperability. We follow this up with a question about how the experts see an ideal scenario of a full interoperable world. The next questions address directly the requirements for establishing interoperability at the three levels (technical, formal and informal). We ask about the benefits and barriers for the main stakeholders involved (users, government and merchants) and gather expert’s opinion on what actions are required from these stakeholders for improved interoperability. Lastly, we ask their views on the role of governments, users and merchants in this process.

There are 9 key themes addressed in the questionnaires. Each key theme was then translated into one or more questions. The following is a list of the themes and questions used during the interviews.

1. Main identity issues 

• What are the main identity management issues in the chosen field of analysis (e-government, e-health, e-commerce)? 

1. Importance of interoperability 

• How critical is the issue of interoperability of IMS for this field? 

1. Definition and what is enabled 

• How would you define interoperability of IMS? What is an interoperable IMS in terms of the chosen field?  What would interoperability enable?

1. Ideal scenario of full interoperability 

• Can you describe in more detail a system (even if hypothetical) that meets your interoperability requirements? 

• How far are we currently from that scenario? 

1. Requirements for users, governments and merchants 

• What are the requirements for interoperability for the USERS? 

• What are the requirements for interoperability for the GOVERNMENTS? 

• What are the requirements for interoperability for the MERCHANTS? 

1. Benefits for users, government and merchants 

• What are the benefits of interoperability for each of these stakeholders? 

1. Barriers for interoperability 

• What is hindering the establishment of interoperability at the technical, legal and cultural levels? 

1. Actions and relative importance at the technical, legal and cultural levels 

• What can be done at the TECHNOLOGICAL level to establish interoperability? 

• What can be done at the LEGAL/POLICY level to establish interoperability? 

• What can be done at the CULTURAL/INSTITUTIONAL level to establish interoperability? 

• Can you rate in terms of importance the three factors: technological, legal/policy and cultural/institutional? Discuss their prioritisation. 

1. Role of government, merchants and users to foster interoperability 

• What should be the role of governments in addressing interoperability of IMS? 

• What should be the role of merchants and industry groups?  

• Can anything be done at the level of users/consumers/citizens to foster interoperability of such systems? 

We now provide a summary and analysis of the interviews in the three sectors of the analysis. The next chapter (chapter 5) is focused on ecommerce. Chapter 6 focuses on egovernment and chapter 7 on ehealth.