User Services Area Report
43rd IETF - Orlando, Florida, US
December 1998
April Marine (
[email protected])
The User Services (USV) Area has three active working groups. Two are
near the end of their goals and did not meet in Orlando. The User
Services Working Group (USWG) met three times in Orlando as it is the
forum for developing new work and spinning off new working groups.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Site Security Handbook (SSH) working group is chaired by Barbara
Fraser.
SSH has just finished the document "Users Security Handbook", which
helps users understand what they themselves can do to promote the
security of their systems. It is addressed both to users working
within large organizations that have a systems support staff, and to
users working at home and acting as their own system administrators.
This document was on the IESG agenda for review at the time of the
Orlando meeting, so SSH did not meet as it had nothing to discuss.
Since the meeting, this document has been approved for publication and
the SSH group will shut down at that time. It created two extremely
useful documents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Responsible Use of the Network (RUN) Working Group is chaired by
Sally Hambridge.
RUN did not meet in Orlando. It has the document "Don't Spew: A Set
of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings (spam)"
before the IESG currently and has been working on comments received.
The chair was unable to attend the meeting in Orlando. A second draft
describing responsible advertising methods is under discussion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The User Services Working Group (USWG) is chaired by April Marine.
USWG met three times in Orlando, with each meeting having a distinct
agenda. The three main topics of discussion were: 1) an update of FYI
4, the FAQ for New Internet Users; 2) an update of FYI 1 to alert
readers to the status of the individual FYIs, especially regarding
whether some should be considered obsolete; 3) a shift to publishing
material online rather than only as FYI RFC documents.
Of most long-term interest is the last item. Two major themes seemed
to emerge. First, there was interest in creating information not only
for new Internet users, but also for new IETF "users." It was felt
that providing information that leads to a better understanding of
what the IETF is working on and why would meet the needs not only of
people coming to the IETF for the first time, but of new net users in
general.
Second, there was a lot of interest in trying to capture future trends
of the Internet, probably by focusing on the work of the various IETF
Areas and extrapolating from that. However, it was agreed that not
only should information be reported, but as much as possible it would
be useful to interpret the information and explain why a user might
care that any particular bit of work was taking place in the IETF.
How might it affect his future experience with the net?
Those two points address the content of material. Also discussed was
format, with the strong feeling being that putting more information
online via the Web (at least initially) would be more timely and
responsive than depending on the RFC mechanism. However, for the
purposes of archiving, an FYI could be published once a year that
captures the state of the online version. Emphasis was also placed on
the need to continue to make information as available as possible to a
large number of people around the world, many of whom may not have
access to the latest applications.
It is recognized that having web pages be the goal or product of a
Working Group or Area is something of a departure for the IETF;
however, USV plans to give it a try in order to be responsive to
network user needs. Anyone interested in this project can contact the
Area Director.
