USPA to Provide Digital Credentials

[3331 107]

USPA is partnering with Sigma, an online platform for certifications and achievements, to enable members to securely access their USPA credentials easily from their phones or desktop computers.

In the coming weeks, members will receive an email from Sigma describing how to set up a digital account. (Members will be able to decline the Sigma invitation and will also be able to opt out at any time.) Once an account is established, all new or renewed credentials will be uploaded from USPA daily and reflected in members' digital accounts within 24 hours. Expired and suspended credentials will be displayed but flagged to indicate the expiration or suspension.

Also in the works is a digital USPA membership card that can be easily displayed from a smartphone. Over the next six months, USPA will gauge member reaction to determine the feasibility of offering digital credentials as an optional alternative to the plastic membership card.

Posted without permission.

I Jumped with the guys who invented Skydiving.

[CygnusX-1 42]

USPA then need to link with Paralog so that we can upload our digital logbooks. Then maybe, just maybe, the USPA will enter the 21 century before it is 1/5 over.

[SethInMI 145]

CygnusX-1

USPA then need to link with Paralog so that we can upload our digital logbooks. Then maybe, just maybe, the USPA will enter the 21 century before it is 1/5 over.

Interesting idea. You would have to have a way to authenticate jumps (at least if you wanted to use them for licence or ratings qualifications). This would probably mean sending a sign request or review request to another jumper with the appropriate ratings, and they could log into their own account and digitally sign your requested jumps.

Now to get fancy, manifest could also be linked in, and automatically add a jump to your USPA account when you landed. To get the jump signed, you and your instructor / friend touch phones (with the app active) and a sign request is generated and acknowledged.

It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

CygnusX-1

USPA then need to link with Paralog so that we can upload our digital logbooks. Then maybe, just maybe, the USPA will enter the 21 century before it is 1/5 over.

Or maybe publish a data and interchange standard that anyone could adhere to for USPA digital logbooks. It's not particularly difficult to set up some authenticated REST services that anyone could use to edit and update their online logs.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[DiverMike 5]

Quote

the USPA will enter the 21 century before it is 1/5 over.

+1

I buy maybe 4 stamps a year. One of them is to snail mail my application to USPA every year because of the signature required to keep my coach rating.

For the same reason I jump off a perfectly good diving board.

[ChrisHoward 8]

DiverMike

I buy maybe 4 stamps a year. One of them is to snail mail my application to USPA every year because of the signature required to keep my coach rating.

Scan and email to membership@yaddayadda. Now you will only need 3 stamps

[peek 20]

ChrisHoward

Scan and email to membership@yaddayadda. Now you will only need 3 stamps

Yes, and to take that further, if you need a signoff, and the person signing off has a scanner or fax, you can send the form to them and have them sign off and forward to USPA headquarters. I do this for a lot of people. HQ is flexible enough to accept a graphic file (like a JPG) or a PDF.

I actually have a graphic file of my signature that I could just insert into a graphic file of a form to be signed, but I haven't bothered to get that cute yet! Timewise it is a wash.

(The normal caveats apply. Ask for a confirmation from whomever you send something. Don't assume the internet is perfect.)

[fanya 3]

ChrisHoward

***I buy maybe 4 stamps a year. One of them is to snail mail my application to USPA every year because of the signature required to keep my coach rating.

Scan and email to membership@yaddayadda. Now you will only need 3 stamps

Scanners? Who has those things?

I just take a picture of mine after it is complete and email it to USPA, never had an issue.

[hcsvader 1]

The APF already do this.

Have you seen my pants?
it"s a rough life, Livin' the dream
>:)

[MattIRE 0]

FlyingRhenquest

***USPA then need to link with Paralog so that we can upload our digital logbooks. Then maybe, just maybe, the USPA will enter the 21 century before it is 1/5 over.

Or maybe publish a data and interchange standard that anyone could adhere to for USPA digital logbooks. It's not particularly difficult to set up some authenticated REST services that anyone could use to edit and update their online logs.

That would be sweet!

Tandem / Funjump Skydive Locations
Skydiving & BASE logbook app

[mxk 1]

For the one or two people who have never heard of Sigma (are you living under a rock?!?), it's a one-year-old Silicon Valley social media startup who are promising "permanent records" with zero credibility, and whose business plan is to get as many users with their personal information as possible to attract the interest of Google, Facebook, etc. before the funding runs out. USPA decided to make their dream come true by sharing the entire member database with them. And just to top it off, instead of making this pointless and ill-conceived idea opt-in, they thought that giving you two days to opt-out would be quite sufficient.

Oh look... they have a skydiver on their team. Now it all makes sense.

(I seriously can't believe that an organization like USPA can be this naïve.)