Subject: USWG Minutes - Los Angeles IETF

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 20 Apr 1998 09:52:55 -0700

User Services Working Group Minutes
  	             IETF - Los Angeles, California
	             Monday, March 30th, 1300-1500

USV Area Director Transition

Joyce K. Reynolds and April Marine ran the USWG session together at
this IETF.  This meeting was Joyce's last as USV area director, as she
is stepping down.  The newly appointed area director is April.  Both
stated that there is a need for the User Services Area to look into
where it wants to go for the next two years, and what to wind down or
what new items to develop.  USWG is the place to suggest new and
future projects.  A new web page for the USV area is now available at:
http://nic.nasa.gov/usv/index.html (which is linked from the
www.ietf.org site).  The USWG email list will continue to be
maintained at ISI.  To subscribe: [email-masked].

USV Area Working Group Status

During the last IETF in Washington D.C., there was a suggestion by the
Nomcom to close down the USV area because of a perceived recent
inactivity compared to other IETF areas.  Joyce and April reported
that there had been discussions with Fred Baker (IETF chair), Mike St.
Johns ('98 Nomcom Chair) and others in the User Services Area Council
(USAC) about the future of the USV area in IETF.  The decision had
been taken to *not* close USV because members of USAC felt that it was
very important to maintain a user perspective within the IETF.  Joyce
and April mentioned that the User Services Area over time has
initiated important IETF developments in the past, and this should
continue to occur in the future.

A discussion began on how the USV area could reposition to be more
effective.  Two ideas were to focus less on developing static
documentation, and more on living documents on the web.  The second
ideas was to focus on training materials.

Martyne Hallgren suggested that the future presence of user services
also needs to focus on security, multimedia communication, and the
next generation Internet.  There is a knowledge gap that needs to be
filled with regards to these topics.  The USV area should keep its
liaison role within the IETF and with outside entities.  George Munroe
stated that it is important to especially focus and liase with the
Applications area.

Other ideas were to provide pointers and recommendations on third
party documentation and books, acting as a clearing house for quality
user information, put more energy and effort in providing materials
for developing countries, and to be more proactive in working closely
with other IETF areas, particularly with regards to followups on
protocol development.

TERENA News/Updates and TERENA ISUS

George Munroe presented an update of TERENA (Trans European Research
and Education Network Association) activities.  The TERENA Amsterdam
meeting was the first time the Working Groups met on their own.  In
the past, TERENA met in conjunction with JENCs (Joint European
Networking Conferences).  The meetings preceded the RIPE meeting.
All working groups and task forces held sessions.  The Spamming BOF
was heavily attended and successful.  A follow-up discussion list has
was set up (to join send 'subscribe anti-spam' to [email-masked]),
and a proposal for a European initiative on spamming is being prepared
for the June RIPE meeting.

Minutes of meetings are available from corresponding working group and
task force web pages at: http://www.terena.nl/working-groups/ and
http://www.terena.nl/task-forces/

George reported on the current projects, which include: Internet Guide
to Network Resource Tools (GNRT) publication and update, user support
toolkit evaluation, three caching proposals (network monitoring, cache
routing, and complete server application on disc), distributed web
indexing, multilingual email client evaluation, video conferencing
tools on CD, and video and audio streaming.  Further information can be
found at: http://www.terena.nl/projects/approved/.

George then reported on TERENA's ISUS (Information Services and User
Support) working group activities.  Their endeavors currently include
"Tooldoc" (tools documentation), "ETINU" (effective online support),
and "CHIC" (distributed indexing) task forces, each with a
corresponding project.  There is also a new proposal for a clearing
house for internet projects (CHIP).  Further information can be found
at:
http://www.terena.nl/working-groups/wg-isus/hypermail/1998-03/0003.html.

The TERENA Networking Conference will be held on 5-8 October 1998, in
Dresden, Germany.  Deadline for paper submission has passed, but USWG
folks may be interested in attending this conference.  Details can be
obtained from: http://www.terena.nl/conf/tnc98/.

TERENA/IETF ETINU

Christine Cahoon reported on the progress of the ETINU (Environment To
Inspire Network Users) project, funded by TERENA, and a joint project
of TERENA ISUS and the IETF USWG.  The vision and goal is to propose a
"framework" for an online support system.

Updates on ETINU activities since the Washington D.C. IETF included
the addition of three new volunteers to the evaluation panel.  They
are non-English speaking folks from Sweden, Croatia, and the
Netherlands.  

ETINU extended its survey deadline for more participation.  The online
questionnaire closed at the end of February with 335 "good" replies.
Christine provided a synopsis of the results and a list desirable
features of an online support system which had been reported in the
survey.  A summary of the survey results is available at:
http://www.terena.nl/task-forces/tf-etinu/survey/q.html

She described the components of an online support system which have
been proposed: 

	*submission of queries
	*recording of queries and responses
	*progressing queries
	*frequently asked questions generator
	*indexing scheme
	*activity monitoring
	*linking to other resources
	*auxiliary support software

A fuller description is available in the list archives:
http://www.terena.nl/task-forces/tf-etinu/hypermail/1998-03/0003.html

Christine closed her report on providing ETINU's recommendations,
objectives, and work schedule for the next three months.  These
include: completing the full survey report, match existing software to
proposed system components, and prepare final recommendations report.

Internet Scout Project News/Updates

Amy Tracy Wells provided USWGers with a report on the Internet Scout
Project.  This project has been in existence since 1994.  The site:
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu will get you to everything you would like to
know about this endeavor.

The subject specific services (Science & Engineering, Social Science,
Business & Economics) have proved to be very successful.  With the
Signpost service, a distributed database of quality resources is being
built using LDAP3 (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol).  Only
sources selected and catalogued by the Scout team are included.  Amy
coordinates this project, while Chris Lukas works on the research end
of the project.

InterNIC Directory Services News/Updates

Joe Aiuto reported that the funding for InterNIC's directory services
at http://ds.internic.net/ ceased on 1 April 1998.  He stated that
announcements had been sent to a number of email lists, but that all
USV folks should help ensure that links to the site were removed.
A web page with pointers to alternative or relocated sources would be
maintained at the site until September 30.  Any site is welcome to act
as host to any of the data services previously available from the
site.  Queries should be sent directly to Joe at [email-masked].

USWG Projects

April reported that there was a Webpriv BOF at the Washington IETF
last December during which several important issues were discussed,
but without clear consensus from the BOF participants on what should
be done.  She has now taken these into the USV area and will summarize
the main points to the USWG email list and the new Webpriv email list.

It is felt that following the closing of the HTTP Working Group in the
Applications (APPs) area, there are still some outstanding loose ends
regarding privacy concerns, which could be addressed by documentation
prepared in the USV area to give clear recommendations.  If there is
sufficient feedback to warrant a new working group, then a charter will
be prepared.  If not, April may take into consideration working on
this documentation as a project within USWG. 
The new webpriv list is: [email-masked].  To subscribe, send a
message to: [email-masked], containing 'subscribe'.

The update to the long standing FYI 4 (For Your Information RFC) was
mentioned briefly.  Those doing most of the work (Jodi Ito and Sepi
Boroumand) were unable to attend this IETF.  April expressed her
support to resolve what is still required to update and finalize this
document as soon as possible.

---

From: "Pat Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 16:31:16 -0400

All -

Joyce's report of the USV activities in Los Angeles reminded me to take care
of some business that's overdue.

Specifically, I would like to publicly thank Joyce for all her hard work
during her tenure (I hesitate to say "reign", although I believe she has
perfected the "Queen Elizabeth wave") at the helm of USV. My first IETF was
in Tallahassee a number of years back. Over the years, as I became more
involved, I well remember and am grateful for Joyce's encourage, support,
and willingness to work with me. Many thanks, Joyce -- it won't be
forgotten!

April and I first joined forces as co-chairs of the NISI working group. It
seems a long time ago now but there were some exciting times as the Internet
went through intense growing pains in the area of User Services. I
particularly remember a NISI meeting in at the Cambridge Hyatt that was
pretty chaotic (and normal by IETF standards). Working with April has always
been entertaining . . . oh, yeah, and intellectually fullfilling as well.
But, seriously, there isn't a better choice to take over the role of USV
Director and I, for one, am glad April has taken on the job.

I have been lurking on the lists and thinking about what directions USV
might take. I regret to say I don't have any earthshaking ideas to
contribute at this time. However, with the Aug IETF taking place in Chicago
I do plan on attending and look forward to catching up with folks.

Once again, sincere thanks to Joyce and Good Luck to April!

 - pat