User Services Area Director: o Joyce Reynolds: jkrey@isi.edu Area Summary reported by Joyce Reyolds/Information Sciences Institute Ten working groups in the User Services Area of the IETF met in Houston, Texas. Integrated Directory Services Working Group (IDS) The IDS Working Group is chartered to facilitate the integration and interoperability of current and future directory services into a unified directory service. This work will unite directory services based on a heterogeneous set of directory services protocols (X.500, WHOIS++, etc.). In addition to specifying technical requirements for the integration, IDS will also contribute to the administrative and maintenance issues of directory service offerings by publishing guidelines on directory data integrity, maintenance, security, and privacy and legal issues for users and administrators of directories. The IDS Working Group reviewed, discussed and/or progressed the following documents: o ``X.500 Implementation Survey'' - held up, pending more vendor responses. o ``X.500 Pilot Project Catalog'' - held up, pending a query to Paradise. Coming ``soon'' (within the next month): o ``WHOIS++ Implementation Catalog'' o ``Model for Information Privacy of Directories'' o ``Legal Issues for Directories in Europe'' o ``Data Management Issues'' o ``Overview of Directory Services'' Also discussed was the inclusion of the CSO nameserver protocol in the IDS effort (consensus was to include it), and the more general issue of how to make all these directory services work together (lots of ideas, but no solid conclusions, yet). Integration of Internet Information Resources Working Group (IIIR) IIIR is chartered to facilitate interoperability between Internet Information Services, and to develop, specify, and align protocols designed to integrate the plethora of Internet information services (WAIS, archie, Prospero, etc.) into a single ``virtually unified information service.'' Clifford Lynch discussed his paper on using the Z39.50. Margaret St. Pierre discussed the Internet-Draft, ``WAIS over Z39.50 1988.'' This document is being considered as an Informational RFC profiling the use of Z39.50 version 1988 by the traditional WAIS protocol. The idea of quality assurance was discussed. Quality assurance in this context addresses such issues as invalid pointers to data objects, interoperability among the current information systems and the ability to contact information maintenance personnel. A mailing list is now established called quality@sunsite.unc.edu. The idea of a data types registry was discussed and Greg Vaudreuil agreed to write a document on using the MIME content type registry in Amsterdam, but that document was never posted to the IIIR list. Applications co-Area Director John Klensin indicated that the document had been denied by the IESG based on the fact that it undermined an existing RFC. Internet School Networking Working Group (ISN) The Internet School Networking Working Group is chartered to facilitate the connection of the United States' K-12 (Kindergarten-12th Grade) schools, public and private, to the Internet, and school networking in general. After a period for introductions of those attending and a statement of their interest in ISN, the group launched into a discussion of whether it should continue to exist. With a tentative decision to continue activities, a revision of the body of the charter began. This was accomplished, and minor refinements and word-smithing will take place on the list. April Marine reported on her action item to investigate the InterNIC's ability and willingness to maintain a directory of people in primary and secondary school education who are involved in networking. The group then defined a set of milestones which will take the group through March, 1995 and was therefore permitted to go to lunch. April's report was considered in crafting the milestones. Network Information Services Infrastructure Working Group (NISI) NISI is exploring the requirements for common, shared Internet-wide network information services. The goal is to develop an understanding for what is required to implement an information services ``infrastructure'' for the Internet. o Documents: The Internet-Draft on international NIC structures and RFC 1302/FYI 12 will be completed/revised by the Seattle meeting. o NIC-Profiles: This information will be revived, working in cooperation with the InterNIC. o NISI Future: There was good discussion about the scope and role of NISI including possible future projects. Various plans were discussed, including the possibility of ending the group and having a new group emerge if needed, with a different name and focus. Further discussion will take place on the list followed by action in Seattle. Network Training Materials Working Group (TRAINMAT) The Network Training Materials Working Group is chartered to enable the research community to make better use of networked services. Towards this end, the working group will work to provide a comprehensive package of ``mix and match'' training materials for the broad academic community which will: 1) enable user support staff to train users to use the networked services and 2) provide users with self-paced learning material. In the first instance, it will not deal with operational training. This working group is the IETF component of a joint RARE/IETF group working on Network Training Materials. The ongoing work towards a training materials catalog was reviewed. The template for materials was reviewed, with recent changes, suggested by Pete Percival, incorporated. The working group agreed with the newest version. Sample entries developed by a team working with Margaret Isaacs was reviewed, and the working group agreed that the focus should be on training rather than documentation or resource guides, the latter which could be included in a bibliography rather than in the main part of the document. Sample subject headings were reviewed, with the agreement that these might change if documentation and guides were removed from the body of the catalog. Additional volunteers were recruited to complete putting materials from the University of Newcastle catalog into template form, with the goal of adding new materials once this task is completed---about half the original Newcastle entries are already in template form. Updates will be sent to the e-mail list. Discussion also focused on materials which might need to be developed in the training area, particularly the usefulness of videos. The final segment of the session included discussion of efforts by other groups, and a roundtable on what attendees are doing in the training area. Networked Information Retrieval Working Group (NIR) NIR is chartered to increase the useful base of information about networked information retrieval tools, their developers, interested organizations, and other activities that relate to the production, dissemination, and support of NIR tools. NIR is a cooperative effort of the IETF, RARE, and CNI. Jim Fullton gave the current status of CNIDR. Jill Foster gave an overview of RARE activities in this area. The working group split into small groups to discuss each section of the NIR status report as a final review. Section 5, mailing lists and gopher are among the major areas changed. It will be sent to the list for final comments. April Marine discussed the ``checklist'' history. She has put together a simple NIR tool checklist. Uniform Resource Identifiers Working Group (URI) URI is chartered to define a set of standards for the encoding of system independent resource location and identification information for the use of Internet information services. The URI Working Group held three sessions in Houston. The first two were dedicated to closing work on the Uniform Resource Locators, which seems to have occurred. The final session worked on Uniform Resource Names. Document drafts have been commissioned to reflect those discussions. User Documents Revisions Working Group (USERDOC2) The USERDOC2 Working Group is preparing a revised bibliography of on-line and hard copy documents, reference materials, and training tools addressing general networking information and how to use the Internet. The target audience includes those individuals who provide services to end users and end users themselves. The USERDOC2 Working Group had a small but enthusiastic set of attendees due to a conflicting applications group meeting that many of the usual suspects attended. The group set a new record by having everyone in the room volunteer to assist in writing and reviewing documents in progress! A ``Not Quite an Internet Draft'' bibliography was distributed and discussed which will update RFC 1175. The new document will focus on books, journals and other bibliographies rather than all possible documentation. A section will be developed to cover RFCs and FYIs. The final document is scheduled to be completed before the next IETF. A second document covering Internet connectivity is almost ready for review, and will be distributed to the mailing list. This is a joint project with the ISN Working Group. User Services Working Group (USWG) USWG provides a regular forum for people interested in all user services to identify and initiate projects designed to improve the quality of information available to end-users of the Internet. Gary Malkin briefly discussed the ``DAWG'' (Distribution and Announcement Working Group) idea that has been sitting on USWG's back burner for a while. A BOF will be held at the next IETF to see if there is further interest in this topic. Ann Cooper led a talk and discussion on the US Domain. Jill Foster and Joyce Reynolds reported on the RARE ISUS meetings and the EARN Network Services Conference held in Warsaw, Poland, in which they participated. Jill announced the INET94/JENC5 Call For Papers---User Information Track to the USWG. Jill was asked to run this track, and asked Joyce if she would be co-track leader. There was continued discussion from the Amsterdam IETF on Bill Manning's thoughts about how to ``empower'' users to utilize and document tools. WHOIS and Network Information Lookup Service Working Group (WNILS) The purpose of WNILS is to expand and define the standard for WHOIS services, to resolve issues associated with the variations in access, and to promote a consistent and predictable service across the network. Peter Deutsch led a discussion on the status of the WHOIS Architecture. Chris Weider and Simon Spero led a discussion on the status of the distributed WHOIS++ model and centroids. Chris described changes to the draft WHOIS++ document. Simon Spero described the mechanism for searching a centroid tree from the bottom, up. Jim Fullton described the status of WHOIS ++ Clients. Jim mentioned the use of WHOIS++ in support of networked information retrieval and the type of client development that is occurring as part of other application development. The session concluded with a discussion on the recommendations and modifications to the WHOIS Protocol and a discussion of WHOIS++ Implementations by Joan Gargano.