[Web4lib] Shibboleth's implementation environment

[K.G. Schneider]

For one final report I'm writing for My (current) Place Of Work, I'm
looking at Shibboleth. (For those who do not know what it is, "the
Shibboleth System is a standards based, open source software package for
web single sign-on across or within organizational boundaries.") 

I've spoken with some people involved in implementations and also
reviewed the literature, which is largely technically-oriented (that's
fine, as it has been useful for understanding SSO, SAML, etc.). What I'm
trying to wrap my brain around is about the complexities of implementing
and maintaining Shib in a campus environment, and also the complexities
of working with Service Providers -- what's easy and hard to do, and
what's the return on investment. I'd also like to get some personal
insights on Shib's development history and roadmaps. 

In other words, I'm not looking for an explanation of Shibboleth; I'm
trying to grasp why institutions adopt it, why they don't adopt it, what
the perceptions are of Shib, some of the perceived challenges to
adoption, etc. 

(I'm moderately interested in other approaches to web identity
management, such as Sxip, though only to the extent that these
approaches are in use in any campus/library communities.) 

I would like responses... well, yesterday, but any time this week is
really helpful. You can also ping me on AOL IM at freerangelib, or we
can arrange a call.

Karen G. Schneider
kgs at freerangelibrarian.com