- Advisors - list.chattanooga.digital

All-call and IAM evaluation meeting
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 16, 2026

Sept. 16, 2026

I've been a bit remiss in organizing these two meetings today. Chattanooga.Digital All-call is today at 6:30 to update everyone on where we are. It will be pretty informal. The calendar file for the series is attached. We are meeting at noon about identity and access management AND software evaluation — two for the price of one! This is an open meeting (like all of our meetings) but I've only invited folks who were expressly interested. Let me know if you are interested in attending. During our weekly devops call yesterday we talked through our operational "cost centers," everything that will generate costs for the coop. In the process it became clear to me that software evaluation and deployment are (should be) an integrated process. Establishing a checklist for validating deployments should be one output of the evaluation process. The way William has set this up is as a portfolio <https://github.com/Chattanooga-Digital/stack/tree/main/docs/portfolio> of apps along with a set of needs <https://github.com/Chattanooga-Digital/stack/tree/main/docs/needs>, specifically including IAM <https://github.com/Chattanooga-Digital/stack/blob/main/docs/needs/iam.md>. Currently this lives on Github but we will eventually establish our own git system that will integrate with documentation (on Nextcloud, most likely). This is a nice, simple structure that also provides structure for the process, so our agenda for the IAM meeting is: 1. Requirements 2. Nice to have 3. Candidates 4. Evaluation checklist I encourage you to check out Start with Identity <https://startwithidentity.com/>, particularly the guides. Lots of great info for all levels! Three articles that are particularly good basic primers are: * What Is Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) <https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-ciam/>? * What Is IDaaS (Identity-as-a-Service)? <https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-idaas/> * What Is Identity Governance and Administration (IGA)? <https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-iga/> Let us know what you think! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D., Instigator Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/> greg(a)chattanooga.digital <mailto:greg.laudeman@chattanooga.digital> 706-271-5521

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Meeting about IAM options and evaluation process, Wednesday, September 16, noon
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 9, 2026

Sept. 9, 2026

Based on your (limited) input, the best time to meet about how to evaluate software and options for identity and access management (IAM) is Wednesday, September 16, at noon. Let me know if you want to attend but that will not work for you. We will meet online at https://cloud.chattanooga.digital/call/x3qmvkf6. An calendar file with the link included is attached. Here's a prelim agenda: 1. Background and introductions 2. IAM business rationale and functional requirements * Discussion 3. IAM options overview 4. Software evaluation criteria, process, and tool (maybe a Nextcloud table!) * Discussion * Task force or working group? 5. Action items and next steps That's a lot to cover in 30 minutes, so we may go a little long. The goal is just to get the process started. Let me know of any other topics to cover or questions you may have. If anyone wants to work on any of the above prior to the meeting, that would be great! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D., Instigator Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/> greg(a)chattanooga.digital <mailto:greg.laudeman@chattanooga.digital> 706-271-5521

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Cloud.Chattanooga.Digital is our space online!
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 9, 2026

Sept. 9, 2026

As a pilot member of Chattanooga.Digital you have access to our new Nextcloud instance: Cloud.Chattanooga.Digital <https://cloud.chattanooga.digital>! It gives us a way to collaborate, communicate, store and share files, and more online, along with your private space. You should have received an invitation to set a password in the last few days. If not, check your junk mail folder. If it's there, please mark it as "not junk." If not, let us know and we will resend it. There are numerous applications that can be accessed via Nextcloud. Our instance has ones that are oriented to running Chattanooga.Digital that you can use them for your own purposes: * *Files* *and Photos* – your personal spaces to store and share files and photo. Files have version tracking and recycle bin. Photos and videos can be assembled in albums and shared. * *Talk –* meet online or text chat with others in the browser... or use the Talk app on your computer or phone! We will use this for coop meetings. * *Office* – create and collaborate on diagrams, documents, spreadsheets, and slides directly in the browser. There's also a whiteboard! * *Calendar and a**ppointments* – personal and shared calendars and an app for others to schedule time with you. * *Contacts* – a directory for the coop with member profiles; you control what others see. * *Mail* – use Nextcloud to read your email (email account not included). * *Deck* – basic issue/task tracking with Gantt or kanban views. We're using this to coordinate work on the coop. * *Collectives* – shared pages for notes and documentation that outlive a chat thread, basically a wiki. * *Forms, Polls, and Tables* – tools for gathering and managing structured data. All of this is open source software that we own, running on servers that we control. Your apps and data are YOURS! It is just one of the apps Chattanooga.Digital will provide to members. No giant tech companies involved! We are still figuring out how to manage and use Nextcloud, including what apps to provide to everyone. At this stage we are getting our systems set up, looking for folks who want to be community builders and tech facilitators, and planning to establish the coop as a separate corporation early next year. Any help or input you might provide will be greatly appreciated! Specifically, as mentioned in other emails... and I'll send a separate one... we are establishing a software evaluation process and evaluating identity and access management (IAM) software in the process. IAM will give members single sign-on to Nextcloud and multiple other apps and provide a digital identity to log into other services without giving your data to tech companies. As we move past the pilot phase, the plan is to establish shared Nextcloud instances for individual members (personal use) and organizational members (business/work use) and provide private Nextcloud instances for an additional fee. Your accounts will be migrated to the new instances if you want to keep using Nextcloud. Let us know what you think! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D., Instigator Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/> greg(a)chattanooga.digital <mailto:greg.laudeman@chattanooga.digital> 706-271-5521

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FOSS Evaluation and IAM/IdP
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 3, 2026

Sept. 3, 2026

Who would be willing help evaluate software for members and/or use for internal purposes? We also need some standard practices, procedures, and tools for this purpose. There are lots of informative resources for using FOSS as components in other projects, which is not exactly right for Chattanooga.Digital since we primarily deploy off-the-shelf FOSS (although one aspect of this is how to evaluate custom or special purpose apps for members, which would be a fee-based service). The "grand-daddy" seems to be https://dwheeler.com/oss_fs_eval.html from 2011. The author includes lots of good resources although a few seem to be outdated. The Concise Guide for Evaluating Open Source Software <https://best.openssf.org/Concise-Guide-for-Evaluating-Open-Source-Software.…> by the Open Source Security Foundation is really good. Another one I like is https://leaddev.com/software-quality/12-things-consider-when-assessing-open… because it seems practical and thorough. Let's combine key elements from these to create a review protocol and scoresheet. At the same time, we need to look at identify and access management (IAM) software. I suggest we use this to hammer out the process, etc. The key missing element with the frameworks is "why." What is the purpose for and requirements of the software? A related element is the user, specifically the "sponsor" that requires the software. For IAM, the sponsor is us, the cooperative, including all members. The basic purpose, as the term implies, is to manage members' access to resources, including and via a digital identity. Our digital identities are a collection of attributes, credentials, data, and devices that represent us. As mentioned in a prior email, the fundamental purpose of Chattanooga.Digital is to give members complete control and full ownership of our digital assets, including our digital identities. More practically, we need: * Authentication via passkeys, passwords, and other factors for single sign-on to as many of our apps/systems as possible. * Authorization for access to apps, data, files, etc., with permissions in various roles. * Automation of user account management as needs for authentication and authorization change. * Governance and monitoring of access, including all of the above, for accounting, compliance, planning, and security purposes. * Via standard methods and protocols: OAuth, OIDC, SAML, etc. Beyond that, we need to position Chattanooga.Digital as a digital identity provider (IdP) for members to access other systems and own data about that access. The main things about this is (a) complementing/replacing centralized digital IDs (b) with a trusted source and (c) supporting decentralized self-sovereign IDs. See https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/access-management/what-is-an-identity-p…, https://www.corbado.com/blog/digital-identity-guide, and https://www.imperva.com/learn/data-security/identity-providers-idps/ for background on this. Please chime in with your thoughts about evaluation approach, methods, process, etc., and how to apply all of that to IAM. Thanks! -- GL

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Greg Laudeman has updated a proposed meeting
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 3, 2026

Sept. 3, 2026

Dear advisors(a)list.chattanooga.digital, a proposed meeting has been updated Respond: https://cloud.chattanooga.digital/apps/calendar/proposal/1243152f20028df485… * Discuss approach to OSS evaluation focusing on IAM services; establish a plan (Description:) * Talk conversation (Location:) * 30 minutes (Duration:) * September 14, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 14, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 15, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 15, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 16, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 16, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 17, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 17, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 18, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 18, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM (America/New_York) (Dates:) -- Nextcloud - a safe home for all your data This is an automatically sent email, please do not reply.

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Greg Laudeman has updated a proposed meeting
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 2, 2026

Sept. 2, 2026

Dear advisors(a)list.chattanooga.digital, a proposed meeting has been updated Respond: https://cloud.chattanooga.digital/apps/calendar/proposal/1243152f20028df485… * Discuss approach to OSS evaluation focusing on IAM services; establish a plan (Description:) * Talk conversation (Location:) * 30 minutes (Duration:) * September 4, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 4, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 8, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 8, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 9, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 9, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 10, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 10, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 11, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 11, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM (America/New_York) (Dates:) -- Nextcloud - a safe home for all your data This is an automatically sent email, please do not reply.

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Greg Laudeman has proposed a meeting
by Greg Laudeman Sept. 2, 2026

Sept. 2, 2026

Dear advisors(a)list.chattanooga.digital, a new meeting has been proposed Respond: https://cloud.chattanooga.digital/apps/calendar/proposal/1243152f20028df485… * Discuss approach to OSS evaluation focusing on IAM services; establish a plan (Description:) * Talk conversation (Location:) * 30 minutes (Duration:) * September 4, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 4, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 8, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 8, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 9, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 9, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 10, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 10, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM September 11, 2026 from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM September 11, 2026 from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM (America/New_York) (Dates:) -- Nextcloud - a safe home for all your data This is an automatically sent email, please do not reply.

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Chattanooga.Digital's first app: Nextcloud!
by Greg Laudeman Aug. 28, 2026

Aug. 28, 2026

We are ready to start providing Nextcloud accounts to pilot members! Nextcloud <https://nextcloud.com/> is a great general purpose "cloud" app that makes it easy to access files from multiple devices and share them with others. It also has numerous other apps available, such as Talk online conversing/meeting app. All of it is free, open-source software. We will discuss all of this at our next monthly call via Talk. Your account will give you access to our "corporate" Nextcloud instance with 1 GB of storage. We'll inform you about usage and related costs — we need to do that for business purposes — but leave it up to you whether you want to help cover the costs. The purposes of these pilot accounts is to work out management practices and procedures, identify and address issues, and create an online space for members. The pilot phase will be to figure out how/whether to integrate Nextcloud with our accounting and CRM apps. It will also help us determine our basic business model, whether its usage based, flat rate, or some combination/variation. The general plan is to establish "home" and "work" Nextcloud instances for individuals & families and businesses & groups, respectively. When we do that, you'll have the option to move to a paid plan, migrate to a different Nextcloud, or just have the pilot account terminated. Chattanooga.Digital will offer fully separate Nextcloud instances, including instances on private servers, for those who need additional capacity or security, along with other apps separate from Nextcloud. Any feedback, suggestions, or thoughts about this would be welcomed! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D., Instigator Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/> greg(a)chattanooga.digital <mailto:greg.laudeman@chattanooga.digital> 706-271-5521

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Our first app: Nextcloud!
by Greg Laudeman Aug. 27, 2026

Aug. 27, 2026

We are ready to start providing Nextcloud accounts to members. Of course, we're still a ways from formal launch and just have pilot members. We still have a lot to figure out. This is a major step in that direction. For pilot purposes we will provide accounts on our "corporate" Nextcloud. We'll inform you about usage and related costs — we need to do that for business purposes — but leave it up to you whether you want to help cover the costs. We need to figure out how/whether to integrate it with our accounting and CRM apps. And, we need to figure out our basic business model, whether its usage based, flat rate, or some combination/variation. The general plan is to establish "home" and "work" instances for individuals & families and businesses & groups, respectively. When we do that, you'll have the option to move to a paid plan, migrate to a different Nextcloud, or just have the pilot account terminated. Any feedback, suggestions, or thoughts about this would be welcomed! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D., Instigator Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/> greg(a)chattanooga.digital <mailto:greg.laudeman@chattanooga.digital> 706-271-5521

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Choosing software
by Greg Laudeman Aug. 19, 2026

Aug. 19, 2026

Adam asked a really important, even foundational question: How does Chattanooga.Digital decide what software to deploy, particularly as part of our portfolio. Generally, that's up to members, and we need a process for that. Here are just a few more specific thoughts: 1. In concept we can deploy any apps for a member as long as it doesn't negatively impact other members. * Members must bear the cost of deploying apps. So, basically, if you want an app that's not in our portfolio, you have bear the direct costs to deploy, which may include a code review, particularly to assess dependencies, containerization, etc. Exactly how and how much we charge for this is TBD. * All new apps should be treated as projects, especially any that are being considered for the coop's portfolio. Each project must have a sponsor who is responsible for defining requirements, getting other members with similar needs to join the project, and, ultimately, covering the costs. This exactly what Open Source Program Offices do. 2. We should probably have a "portfolio working group" to identify, prioritize, and research apps. * Within or parallel to that, we may need app-specific task force; an accounting task force, for example. * All of that depends on having members who are willing to either (a) volunteer to serve and/or (b) pay others to do this work. 3. I think it will be critical to have a pretty solid portfolio at launch because access to apps is what's going to drive interest. Yes, some folks may join because the believe in what we're doing. Most people will join because they want to do something or use some particular app. * Personal/family apps will likely drive most of our membership, apps like Actual Budget, Firefly III (accounting), Grocy (or Mealie), Home Assistant, Immich, PaperlessNGX, etc. * Business apps... accounting, CRM, digital marketing, HR/payroll, process automation, etc., etc. * Community app: audio streaming, event management/registration, mapping/geodata, social media, video sharing, etc. It will be important to get stakeholder input on these things. Of course, we have to assume our stakeholders are totally clueless and unable to provide meaningful input. That is one a primary reasons for doing Hack Sessions, to hear from [prospective] members about their issues and give them an opportunity to test-drive some options. Our business plan and bylaws/charter should clearly address these issues... I'm working on that. Any thoughts, suggestion, or feedback would be greatly appreciated! -- Greg Laudeman, Ed.D., Instigator Chattanooga.Digital <https://chattanooga.digital/> greg(a)chattanooga.digital <mailto:greg.laudeman@chattanooga.digital> 706-271-5521

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