Editor's Note: Minutes received 7/31 CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_ Reported by April Marine/SRI Minutes of the Network Information Services Infrastructure Working Group (NISI) The NISI Group met its primary goal, which was to come up with some concrete contents for the ``nethelp'' document discussed at the last meeting. Announcements There were no comments in the meeting regarding the current Internet Draft ``Privacy and Accuracy Issues in Network Information Center Databases.'' As that version had been sent online as well to no comments, after the meeting we requested that Joyce as Area Director foster the document along the track to FYI RFC status. Status of Other Work We had two documents on our plate, one being the ``nethelp'' project and the other a list of services document. After a brief discussion, the Group agreed that the need for a ``list of services'' document was being met by the Quick and Dirty document being prepared within the USWG Group, so we punted that project over there. Discussion/modification of Nethelp Outline The draft outline for a document specifying a ``nethelp'' utility was passed out. We decided not to break into small groups, and instead the whole Group discussed the project. There was some disagreement about whether or not we should discuss how the nethelp utility should be implemented. However, it was pointed out that until we knew what we wanted, no one could implement it anyway. So, we agreed eventually to worry less about implementation than about specifying the function and content of Nethelp. Those in the business of implementing things seemed to feel it would be pretty easy to do if they just knew what we wanted. We came to the following goal agreements: o We wanted something Very Simple that any site could implement. o Nethelp should give info about the Internet, not operating system help or help regarding other programs, etc. It would let people know that they were on the Internet and tell them where to get more information. 1 o We would start with a basic system, then add bells and whistles after the initial concept was specified. This set of agreements eliminated, for the moment, implementing an Internet-wide distributed help system or a central network server. We had another discussion regarding distributing information down the pyramid from a mid-level network information center to the end-user on some connected network. It was observed that a nethelp utility would circumvent the current chain from NIC to site contact to whomever to end-user. True enough. But sometimes a local contact acts as a bottleneck for information and does not pass things along. The ``nethelp'' idea is designed to be easy to implement locally (so as not to be a strain on an overworked LAN administrator), and to directly inform users that they are on a network and that there is more information available about that network's resources. This will allow the end-user to seek information himself from a NIC or to prod his local contact to pass along information he may not have known his users were interested in. So, after all this, we actually did decide what we wanted a first ``nethelp'' to do. We wanted a user to be able to type ``nethelp'' and see one screen of information. That screen would say something like: --------------------- NETHELP answers questions about ``the network''. You are on X-Net. X-Net is part of the worldwide Internet, thus providing you with access to a myriad of resources. Your local contact for help is: For system help: For network information: Name: Name: Phone Number: Phone Number: E-mail: E-mail: --------------------- The template would be designed to allow local sites to easily fill in information pertinent to that site. For example, the ``X-net'' slot could consist of a local network name, the host name, a host address, a network address, or any subset of that information. We would prefer that users see a fully qualified domain name, or at least the address of their network, so that they can eventually orient themselves in relation to the rest of the Internet. We discussed adding a line that says, ``For more network help, type 2 nethelp X,'' but I'm not sure we want to do that until the next phase. What Next Our Action Items from the meeting were: o Develop the nethelp template/screen on the mailing list. o Write the document. Poll the mailing list regarding whether it should have a section discussing implementation strategies (and to get a volunteer to write it :-). o Review the goals and milestones and revise if necessary. o Start discussing the next phase of nethelp and what that more extensive utility will feature. We agreed that in the interest of time and of getting something DONE, we would start with the simple nethelp recommendations above. But we are generally interested in expanding the information about the Internet that is readily available to a user, so one of the next things we want to do is talk about what information a more extensive help system would contain and how it would be deployed. So, that is a topic for our next Agenda. Our other goal, obviously is to write up the recommendations for the first stage of nethelp and get that draft out for comments. (Feel free to comment on the plan as outlined in these Minutes.) Attendees Luc Boulianne lucb@cs.mcgill.ca Jodi-Ann Chu jodi@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu James Conklin jbc@bitnic.educom.edu John Curran jcurran@bbn.com Peter Deutsch peterd@cc.mcgill.ca Roger Fajman raf@cu.nih.gov Stefan Fassbender stf@easi.net Jill Foster jill.foster@newcastle.ac.uk Maria Gallagher maria@nsipo.nasa.gov Joan Gargano jcgargano@ucdavis.edu Jack Hahn hahn@sura.net Martyne Hallgren martyne@mitchell.cit.cornell.edu Ellen Hoffman ellen_hoffman@um.cc.umich.edu J. Paul Holbrook holbrook@cic.net Takashi Ikemoto tikemoto@xerox.com Lenore Jackson jackson@nsinic.gsfc.nasa.gov Thomas Lenggenhager lenggenhager@switch.ch Hock-Koon Lim lim@po.cwru.edu Gary Malkin gmalkin@xylogics.com 3 April Marine april@nisc.sri.com Charlotte Mooers mooers@nnsc.nsf.net Hank Nussbacher hank@vm.tau.ac.il Bob Page bob.page@eng.sun.com Mark Prior mrp@itd.adelaide.edu.au Sonya Reimer sonya@brl.mil Joyce K. Reynolds jkrey@isi.edu Bradley Rhoades bdrhoades@mmc.mmmg.com Srinivas Sataluri sri@qsun.att.com Richard Schmalgemeier rgs@merit.edu Jennifer Sellers sellers@nsinic.gsfc.nasa.gov Michael Slocombe slocombe@bbn.com Patricia Smith psmith@merit.edu Karen Sollins sollins@lcs.mit.edu Simon Spero ses@cmns.think.com Marten Terpstra terpstra@ripe.net Chris Weider clw@merit.edu Scott Williamson scottw@nic.ddn.mil Yung-Chao Yu yy@qsun.att.com 4