[81] in Information Retrieval
Report of the recent CNI meeting
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (ganderso@Athena.MIT.EDU)
Thu Apr 2 09:22:24 1992
From: ganderso@Athena.MIT.EDU
To: libtalk@MIT.EDU
To: elibdev@MIT.EDU
To: bog-lib@MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 92 09:20:14 EST
This is the initial report of the CNI meeting held last week in
Washington. It was a good meeting for the working group content and
especially for the opportunity to talk with others.
Greg
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From: "Craig A. Summerhill" <craig@CNI.ORG>
Subject: Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force
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To: Eric Celeste <efc@Athena.MIT.EDU>, marilyn geller <mgeller@Athena.MIT.EDU>,
Tom Owens <owens@Athena.MIT.EDU>,
Greg Anderson <GANDERSO@Athena.MIT.EDU>
Attached is our initial meeting report from the recent Coalition
for Networked Information 1992 Spring Task Force meeting -- which
was held March 24-25, 1992 in the Sheraton City Center, Washington,
D.C. Thanks to Joan Lippincott for her hard work in preparing it!
This report is available in the following data formats on the
Coalition's FTP server. Have fun!
Abode postscript ASCII text
MS Word (Mac) Word Perfect (DOS)
FTP host: ftp.cni.org or 192.100.21.1
Login: anonymous
Password: send e-mail address as password
Directory: /CNI/tf.meetings/1992a.spring
Please contact me for further clarification...
Craig A. Summerhill, Systems Coordinator
Coalition for Networked Information
preferred ---> Internet: craig@cni.org
BITNET: SUMMERHI@UMDC
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April 1, 1992
SPRING 1992 MEETING OF THE TASK FORCE
SUMMARY REPORT
We encourage you to use this report to provide information to other
individuals in your organization or institution and to prepare articles
for local newsletters or entries in local reports.
Introduction
The Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force took place on
March 24-25 in Washington, DC. Over 350 individuals from over 200
institutions and organizations attended the Meeting. A total of 159
institutions and organizations now belong to the Coalition Task Force,
and 87% of them were represented at this Meeting. Ten institutions and
organizations attended this meeting as new members of the Task Force.
In addition, seven individuals travelled from outside of North America
to attend the Meeting.
Network Navigating and Navigators
The Meeting theme, "Network Navigating and Navigators," was
introduced by Coalition Director Paul Evan Peters in the opening
plenary session. He noted that interest in this theme has been growing
in proportion to the growth in the user population of and in the
complexity of the information environment represented by the Internet.
He commented that effective responses to the challenge of navigating
the Internet are appearing in growing numbers, and tools that now exist
or are under development promise to improve the usability of the
Network to make life easier for network navigators. He then
introduced four individuals who are "true pathfinders and pioneers
whose work is breaking new ground in this area of vital importance to
realizing the full promise of networks to advance scholarship and
intellectual productivity." Peters also noted that the theme for this
meeting grew out of an invitational meeting held by the Working Group
on Directories and Resource Information Services at Stanford
University in June, 1991.
Vinton Cerf, Vice President, Corporation for National Research
Initiatives, described his vision of the digital library system and the
role of "knowbots" in locating "nuggets" of information on networks.
Knowbots are dynamic programs that move around in networks and
carry out algorithms or searches. While the knowbot is carrying out a
search, it can modify it, for example, by searching another database.
The Corporation for National Research Initiatives has developed a
prototype knowbot for white pages services and is develping the Abide
project which uses knowbots to query multiple databases produced by
the National Library of Medicine.
Brewster Kahle, Project Leader, Thinking Machines Corporation, sees a
fundamental shift in the way that information services are being
delivered in contemporary society. In commenting on the pervasiveness
and power of technology and information services to the individual,
Kahle noted that he announced the Wide Area Information System
(WAIS) project via an Internet e-mail message, and ten months later
has 10,000 users of the product. The goals of WAIS, an electronic
publishing system, are: to make personal information accessible; to
have published information find the user; to be usable anywhere; and,
to allow others to use what an individual has learned, if appropriate.
WAIS, which is based on the Z39.50 protocol, employs English
language query and relevance feedback as its navigational techniques.
At present, 100 databases are being served via WAIS in nine countries,
and three new databases are being registered per week.
Next, Joyce Reynolds, Information Sciences Institute, University of
Southern California, described user services planning being carried out
via the nine User Services Working Groups (USWG) of the Internet
Engineering Task Force (IETF). The USWG provides a regular forum for
those interested in all user services to identify and initiate projects
designed to improve the quality of information available to end-users
of the Internet. They have seven types of objectives: user information;
network information services infrastructure; network operational
management; education; documentation and distribution; interaction
with other IETF areas; interaction with other international user
services entities; and, user information. Reynolds highlighted some of
the products of User Services, including fourteen "For Your Information"
(FYI) publications available on the Network.
The final panelist, George Strawn, Program Officer, National Science
Foundation, discussed the current state of the NSF network information
centers and the recently issued NSF "Network Information Services
Manager(s) for NSFNET and NREN" project solicitation. He stated
that the purposes of the solicitation were the regulation of non-
military Internet networks; the provision of directory and database
services; and, development of an expanded array of information
services. He noted that "considerable latitude exists for creative
responses" and stressed the NSF's interest in an open and fair selection
process.
Project Briefings
Following the plenary panel, attendees had the opportunity to talk in
small group sessions with the four panelists and, in addition, to attend
project briefings by others involved in implementing directory and
resource information services: Chris Weider, Advanced Network and
Services, Inc. discussing the X.500 protocol; Mark McCahill, University
of Minnesota describing Gopher; Peter Deutsch, McGill University,
describing Archie; Martin Dillon, OCLC, Inc., and Sally McCallum,
Library of Congress, discussing bibiliographic description and control
for the Internet; Michael Schwartz, Univesity of Colorado, Boulder,
describing Netfind; and Howard Curtis, Cornell University, discussing
the Mann Library "Gateway."
Synergy Sessions
These informal sessions provide an opportunity for Coalition members
to convene a small group discussion on topics of their choice. Synergy
sessions held at this meeting were: John Waiblinger, University of
Southern California, and Judith Turner, Chronicle Information
Services, discussing USC Info and the Online Chronicle of Higher
Education; John Garrett, Corporation for National Research Initiatives
and Joseph Alen, Copyright Clearance Center, discussing their recently
issued report Toward a Copyright Management System for Digital
Libraries; Brian Kahin, Harvard University, reviewing the joint
Harvard/Coalition project on Scholarly Communications; Laura
Isenstein, Baltimore County Public Library, and Charles McClure,
Syracuse University, discussing partnerships for navigating the NREN,
including public libraries, state libraries, school libraries, and colleges
and universities; George Brett, University of North Carolina General
Administration, and Steven Cisler, Apple Computer, Inc., describing
two examples illustrating the gift economy and the market economy on
the network; Stephen Hall, Harvard University, and M. Stuart Lynn,
Cornell University, discussing the CUPID project; and John Haak,
University of Hawaii at Manoa, discussing regional accreditation
standards in a networked environment.
Networked Information Professionals
In a dinner address, Pat Molholt, Associate Director of Libraries,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and, starting July 1, Assistant Vice
President and Associate Dean for Scholarly Resources, Columbia
University Medical School, decried that while we invest in system and
network research and development, we are lagging behind in human
resources research and development. She exhorted the audience to
make investments in the human capital of our organizations. In
analyzing parallels between issues routinely faced with systems and
appplying them to the human counterpart issues, she noted that "it is
easier to master a new task than a new technology; adopting a new
technology is easier than altering an organization's structure; and,
accepting a new organizational structure is easier than making changes
in the cultural fabric of an organization, or a profession." She
continued, "at present, we have changed the tasks, we have put in new
technologies, we have altered the organizational structures, and we're
now facing the most exciting challenge of all - changing the cultural
fabric, the norms, the expectations, the definition of our profession." As
a start, Moholt suggested that we begin to make the kinds of
investments in our human resources, e.g. our staffs, as we do in our
technologies. She noted "we need both the technology and the people.
We've become very adept with the former and now need to turn to the
latter with equal excitement and zeal."
NREN Public Policy Framework
In a plenary session panel on the policy implications and directions of
the current and future networking environment, moderator Richard
West, Associate Vice President of the University of California and
Chair of the Coalition Steering Committee, noted that this is the first
meeting of the Task Force after the passage and signing into law of the
High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA 1991) with its NREN
provisions. The panel presented perspectives on the next steps that the
research and education community should consider formulating and
taking together. The panelists and the issues they identified were:
% Michael Roberts, Vice President, EDUCOM, led off with a
description of the international networking scene. He noted that the
Internet will not be replaced by the NREN, which will be one
component of global networking. He called for the creation of a U.S.
national information infrastructure and noted that HPCA 1991
represents a national consensus on the policy goal of the gigabit NREN,
the vehicle for stimulating the creation of this infrastructure.
% John Clement, Director, K-12 Networking, EDUCOM, then gave
his perspectives on the needs of the K-12 community. The primary
needs of that community are access, appropriate content, and
participation in the policy process. He described various ways that
people and institutions are getting connected to networks: through state
education networks, via "affinity" networks, and by means of regional
networks. However, much more needs to be achieved for this audience
to ensure ubiquitous access and to allow access to the entire range of
resources available on the Internet.
% Representing the Association of Research Libraries (ARL),
Susan Brynteson, Director of Libraries, University of Delaware,
commented that the professional community needs to identify existing
principles that should be applied to guide the development of network
policies. Networks will create new tensions in areas in which libraries
have been traditionally involved, e.g. privacy and security of
information and protection of freedom of speech. She named as goals
the development of standards for the network and electronic access to
public information via the federal depository program.
% Representing the Public Library Association (PLA), Laura
Isenstein, Coordinator, Information Services, Baltimore County Public
Library, noted the service roles of public libraries and commented on
how the NREN will affect those roles. She said that the PLA must
educate their members, who need to be actively involved in network
planning issues. She stated that public libraries would provide an
avenue that would guarantee all citizens access to networked
information resources, and she also called attention to the types of
information products that public libraries could provide to the
networks. Connectivity, costs, and equitable access are key issues for
this constituency.
% Representing the Association of College and Research
Libraries, Noreen Alldredge, Dean of Libraries, Montana State
University, put forth as a goal of NREN an information infrastructure
which enhances the intellectual, cultural, and geographic diversities
of our world. To do this we have to encourage network access and
support at both the state/regional level and the federal/international
level to avoid dividing into "haves and have nots". She emphasized
the need for training and education and for investing in the information
infrastructure.
% Representing the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies,
Howard McGinn, State Librarian of North Carolina, presented four
"realities" and their implications for the NREN infrastructure: (1) the
information needs of everyday corporate and private citizens and local
governments can be extremely complex and sophisticated and therefore
even rural areas need access to the Internet; (2) the concept that systems
of information delivery constructed and supported with tax dollars are
public information assets and must be made accessible to everyone, and
state and public libraries can perform that role; (3) access to previously
little used, massive amounts of state government data is now being
made accessible and many state library agencies already have the
mandate to make it available; and (4) local politics can have the
power to change national policy and politics and therefore state and
public librarians can assist in influencing the future of networking
legislation.
Public Information
In a luncheon address, Wayne P. Kelley, Assistant Public Printer and
Superintendent of Documents, presented the Government Printing
Office's (GPO) vision for access to government information in the
electronic era. He stated "GPO is now embarked on one of the most
important projects of its 130-year life. It is trying to transform itself
from a printer to a multi-media disseminator of information products
and services." He added that while GPO now think of database
capabilities as an offshoot of its printing processes, they will soon have
to see it the other way around. The policy set into place in the 19th
century for a single, central point for bibliographic information about,
and access to, federal publications, has now come apart with the
advent of electronic publishing. Since electronic information products
and services were not considered publications under government
publishing statutes, we came to the current discordant state. While
Kelley does not foresee a "quick fix", he is anticipating a mandate from
the revised Circular A-130 for the dissemination of electronic products
through the depository program. In developing directions, he stated
that GPO's foundation principle is that the public has paid for the
creation of, and owns, federal information. Therefore, the public
deserves some mechanism for free access, and if an individual wishes to
own a copy of a federal information product, it should be available at
roughly the cost of supplying it. In pursuing "the practical policy of the
possible," Kelley is calling on basic tenets that have guaranteed the
public access to the documents of its government. He expects that GPO
will be offering agencies the full spectrum of electronic publishing
services and offering the public convenient access to government
information in all formats. He closed his presentation with the
admonition that we cannot squander the national treasure of
information in the face of global competition. We must cooperate and
collaborate to keep that from happening.
Working Groups
Meetings of the Working Groups focused on issues and activities
identified in the Report on Program Priorities, distributed to Meeting
attendees and available from the Coalition office. Among the projects
noted for attention at the closing "town meeting" session were reports on
the status of the following initiatives:
% The Rights for Electronic Access to and Delivery of Information
(READI) Program - The services of Robert Ubell Associates
have been retained to design and conduct three expert panels
and to undertake a variety of other efforts leading to a report
about and recommendations concerning the feasibility of
promulgating a common set of terms and conditions for managing
relationships and property in the market for networked
information.
% The TopNode for Networked Information Resources, Services,
and Tools - Indiana University has been selected to play the
lead role in this project with Merit Network, Inc., playing an
important supporting role. Two meetings have been held to
begin drafting the details of the project plan. The TopNode
project will establish a directory of directories, catalogs, and
other lists of networked information resources, services, and
tools.
% The Development of a Packet of Information for Use in
Formulating and Addressing Institutional and Organizational
Issues Arising from the Emergence of a National Networked
Information Infrastructure and Environment - An editor will be
chosen to compile and write sections for this collection of
materials.
% The Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project - A group of
institutions and organizations has been formed under the
auspices of the Working Group on Architectures and Standards
to promote and obtain the full promise of the Z39.50 computer-
to-computer information retrieval protocol for the construction
of information servers. They recently held their second
meeting. All specifications developed by this project will be
public documents.
% The Development of Cost/Benefit Analyses of Alternative
Models for the GPO WINDO Legislative Proposal - Initial
responses to this Call have just been received and are being
reviewed.
Coalition Internet Server
Attendees received an update on the availability of FTP files on the
Coalition server, representing items such as papers from the Fall 1991
Task Force Meeting and the text of documents contained in the
Information Policies: A Compilation of Position Statements, Principles,
Statutes, and Other Pertinent Statements publication. Access to the
server is available through usual anonymous FTP prodedures, including
numerous "README" files, directed toward the Coalition's server, which
is named "ftp.cni.org". In addition, sign-up sheets were distributed
soliciting interest in network discussion lists on the areas represented by
the Working Groups and on other topics.
Future Task Force Meetings
It was announced that the Fall 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task
Force will be held on November 19-20 at the Lansdowne Conference
Center near the Dulles Airport in the Washington, DC area and that
the theme for this Meeting will be "Innovative Networked
Communication and Publication." It was also announced that the
Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force will be held outside of
the Washington area, likely in the San Francisco Bay area, on March
23-24, 1993.
Further Information
Additional information about the Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition
Task Force, and the various talks presented and documents distributed
at this meeting, can be obtained from Joan Lippincott, Coalition
Assistant Director, by sending electronic mail to joan@cni.org (Internet)
or joancni@umdc.bitnet or by phoning the Coalition office (202) 232-
2466. Information will also be made available through the Coalition's
Internet server as it is received, edited, and converted.
Director's Postscript
The Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force was in every
respect an exhilarating and gratifying event. Meeting attendees
contributed considerable insight and energy to the proceedings as they:
interacted with a very stimulating group of inventors of network
navigational tools, systems, and services; deliberated upon the need for
human resource research and development, the evolution of the NREN
public policy framework and process, and the realities, issues, and
priorities that define access to and delivery of public, particularly
Federal, information; and, immersed themselves in countless
discussions and debates about how to realize the promise of networking
for advancing scholarship and intellectual productivity. The
Coalition exists to assist its member institutions and organizations in
their efforts to participate in and to influence a historic transformation
of how information is created, accessed, and used, a transformation that
is taking place in times of extreme economic hardship and demographic
change. The Coalition encourages individuals in the broader
networking community, as well as in its member institutions and
organizations, to bring needs and issues to its attention and to contribute
to its program of work. Indeed, the Coalition depends on it!
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