Subject: USWG minutes (fwd)

From: April Marine <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 15:16:52 -0800 (PST)

oops, wrong address! Hey--I'm only the chair ;-)

A.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 15:15:05 -0800 (PST)
From: April Marine <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Cc: [email-masked], April Marine <[email-masked]>
Subject: USWG minutes

                             Minutes of the
		   User Services Working Group (USWG)
                         IETF - Washington, DC
			    November 1999

Recorded by April Marine.

The USWG meet on Monday, Nov 8, 1999.  The final agenda (after
bashing) included:

 	o  USV Area Update - April Marine
        o  TERENA news - Yuri Demchenko
        o  Various mea culpas re undone work (led by April)
	o  Update of FYI 7 - discussion - Ray Plzak
        o  What's up with the "TAO of IETF" 
        o  Any Other Business
  	   - "IETF Code of Conduct" draft -  Susan Harris
           - "Prioritizing emergency relief data during a disaster" -
             Granger Kelley
           - "Can USWG create a privacy policy for the IETF?"

Area Update: 

We had many first-time IETF attendees at this WG, so we started with a
bit of an overview of what the User Services area is and isn't.

One RFC was published from the User Services Area (USV) since the last
IETF: RFC 2664, FYI 4 "New User FAQ".  This is a product of the USWG
working group.

The RUN working group has been working on its "Make Enemies Fast"
draft: <draft-ietf-run-adverts-02.txt>.  This deals with responsible
advertising on the net.

The WEIRD working group is not currently working on drafts; it is
developing web pages.

TERENA news:

Yuri Demchenko of TERENA gave an overview of user services related
activities going on in TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education
Networking Association).  He highlighted the progress on the "Guide to
Network Resource Tools," now available in a "2000 Edition" from
AWL/Pearson Education.  He also provided follow-up information on
projects he has talked about in the past (e.g. CHIC and CHIP) and
noted two upcoming conferences.  Please see his slides for details.

Mea Culpas:

There were two or three action items from the last meeting that did
not get done.  One of which was April's action to update the
FYI1-update draft to incorporate and move it along.  Did not get done
(mea culpa), but she promises to do it soon.

Second, the volunteer editor/coordinator for the update to FYI 7,
which is the group's main current action item, Ray Plzak, broke his
wrist and has hardly been able to type!  So action on that item was
stalled, although again April is partly to blame as she was sharing
that action and was totally able-bodied the whole time.

FYI 7 Update:

FYI 7 is RFC 1207, the FAQ for more experienced users and the
companion to the recently update FYI 4.  During the update of FYI 4,
many items were punted to FYI 7.  Ray described the method he is using
to put together an initial draft/outline.  He will send that version
to the list and at that point people can start helping by filling in
content.  He is dividing topics into "things users see" and "behind
the scenes stuff" (only more formally worded).  He is also using a
keyword system so it will be easy to do a glossary.  We'll have a
draft with content certainly by the next meeting.

Tao Update:

FYI 17, RFC 1718, "The Tao of the IETF" is also one of our actions to
update.  We are not late with this, but we are running late.  IETF
Secretariat sees this as an action for them since they use the Tao as
a new-IETFer guide.  Especially, they wish to keep the tone of the
current document.  Gary Malkin agreed to do a draft for Steve Coya to
review.  The level of detail desired for the new draft is not quite
clear, but having something for the Secretariat to pound on would be
helpful (we thought).  Gary said he could probably do this by January
or so.

Code of Conduct doc:

Susan Harris alerted the group that she is working on a doc for the
POISSON group that somewhat overlaps the Tao.  It is currently
<draft-odell-code-of-conduct-01.txt>, which POISSON decided needed a
re-write before going forward.  Susan thought the "be prepared"
section especially related to the Tao (it discusses work to do before
attending the IETF).  She let us know that information about this
draft would appear on the poisson list.  She will send information
about the list to this WG list so that those interested may monitor
that draft as well.  The question arose as to whether the Tao and the
Code of conduct docs need to be separate; the feeling was that they
address different audiences.

There was also a passing reference to the need to better capture
Internet Folklore.  Whenever someone comes up with a "new idea" that
has been discussed and eventually dismissed periodically in the past,
they are told to "read the archives."  This turns out to be rather
difficult to actually do, however.  Possibly some of these recurring
themes could be captured as a more convenient reference.  Interesting
idea, but the group did not really discuss it.

Disaster Networking:

Granger Kelley asked how someone would ask the IETF for help in
getting a new service added to the net.  He wants a means of allowing
data related to emergency services to get priority over the net during
a disaster.  He and Hal Folts had worked up a short paper introducing
what this idea and related it to components of the National
Communications System.  April asked him to email her the description
he had done and she would share it with the IESG and see if anyone
claimed the work (it was not a USV type thing as it involved priority
routing and such).  In general, that is how new work gets started in
the IETF: it is presented to an AD, who can share it with the other
ADs and if it is appropriate and timely, quite possibly a working
group will be created, the work could fit into an existing group, and
some work might already apply.

Final Question:

In response to the questions "anything else?" the question was asked:
"Is the USWG the right place to come up with an IETF position on XXX?"
(I actually forget the topic as the answer was "no.")  It was felt
that not only was USWG not the place, neither was USV nor even
necessarily IETF.  Someone mentioned the ISTF, the Internet Societal
Task Force, which is a TF under the Internet Society designed to come
up with input regarding policy questions.  April said she'd try to
find out a bit more about the ISTF (although we had a member
attending) and send it to the list.  Also, it was suggested that the
question be asked at the plenary as, if anywhere, that was the place
to bring it up rather than any individual WG.  It was mentioned in
addition that the plenary discussion of the wiretapping issue would be
a good indication of how the IETF handles policy-type issues.

The End