CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_

Reported by April Marine/NASA NAIC

Minutes of the Network Information Services Infrastructure Working Group
(NISI)


Thanks to Marsha Perrot for the notes from which these minutes are
derived.


The ``NIC Guidelines'' Document

The ``NIC Guidelines'' document still needs to be issued as an
Internet-Draft so that wider comments can be gathered in preparation for
issuing the document as an update to RFC 1302.  The document has been
updated from the version distributed in Seattle, but that new version
has not yet been made available on the net for feedback.  The document
will be formatted and issued as an Internet-Draft.  It is the formatting
step that has held this up.


``Outreach'' Project

Also pending is an informal ``outreach'' project designed to get some
feedback on the needs of NIC personnel.  This has been re-connected to
updating the NIC profiles templates, as described next.  Basically, as
part of the update or related to letting people know about it,
volunteers would call two or three sites and ask them three or four
questions.  The questions would be along the lines of ``are you familiar
with IETF/NISI?'', ``have you considered participating in the IETF?'',
``if not, why not?'', ``does your NIC have any needs that a group such
as IETF/USV/NISI could help address?''  The aim is to find out real
information rather than just guessing what ``customer requirements'' are
for a group like NISI.


The NIC Profiles Templates

Susan Calcari of the InterNIC reported on progress made in transferring
the NIC profiles templates, which contain contact information for
various net information centers, from Merit to the DS InterNIC, on
progress they have made in updating the information, and on next steps
needed for that project.  More than half of the 59 current templates
have been updated by the InterNIC, leaving only about 23 to be updated.
The templates are available via Gopher, FTP, and the Web.

There is also the question of trolling for new additions to the
information once the current stuff has been verified.  Discussion took
place on how to do that, and general agreement was that a good starting
place would be the usual mailing lists (e.g., net-happenings) to let
people know about the collection and how they could contribute.  Susan
noted especially a dearth of NICs related to universities/colleges and
said she could do some outreach there.

The InterNIC has agreed to host this information for the time being on
their server in a central manner.  After the service is a little more
robust, we can explore the need to distribute the upkeep load, possibly
via something like their RWHOIS server.


InterNIC Starter Kit

Susan also discussed the InterNIC starter kit being developed by the IS
InterNIC and which will be made available for use and customization by
other NICs.  The starter kit is designed to be a hard copy document to
be sent to those people who are just considering joining the Internet,
but who probably do not yet really understand what the net is.  It will
have 1-2 pages each on several topics, including an Internet definition,
Internet resources, getting connected FAQ, network tools, and such.


Other Topics

Other topics discussed were the USV Web page (a reprise discussion from
USWG), and the idea that a well-known place for net
diagrams/maps/presentation materials would be useful.