[10466] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
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daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (com-priv-forw@lists.psi.com)
Thu Feb 24 20:10:53 1994
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 94 20:10:41 EST
From: com-priv-forw@lists.psi.com
Apparently-To: <com-priv-redist@mit.edu>
CALL FOR PAPERS AND INFORMATION
"Issues in the Development of Information Infrastructure"
The Science, Technology & Public Policy Program
of the John F. Kennedy School of Government
in collaboration with
Advanced Research Projects Agency
Department of Energy
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
The complex, multidimensional nature of information
infrastructure requires timely federal policies to advance the
infrastructure, informed by expert insight and analysis from
different disciplinary and institutional perspectives. This call
for papers and information is designed to elicit information
about work in progress and other information and insights that
may be helpful to the development of federal policies under the
National Information Infrastructure initiative.
The study is divided into three areas:
1. The Role of the High Performance Computing and Communications
program in the development of the National Information
Infrastructure
2. Mediation of Internetworked Information
3. Public Internetworking and the National Information
Infrastructure.
Submissions are invited on each of these areas as described
below. While technical reports relevant to these issues are
welcome, the material selected for presentation and publication
must speak to policy issues in terms familiar to the policy
development community.
We are especially interested in work that can be reported,
critiqued, and published through this project, which will
include a series of invitational meetings in Washington and
Cambridge. Note that while there is no formal deadline for
submissions, meetings to review submissions and plan workshops
will begin in early 1994. Potential participants and other
interested parties are urged to submit abstracts of ongoing work
as soon as possible. Questions about the study should be
directed to James Keller (below) or the Director of the
Information Infrastructure Project, Brian Kahin
(kahin@harvard.edu; 617-495-8903.)
Please send submissions to:
James Keller
Coordinator, Information Infrastructure Project
STPP/CSIA
John F. Kennedy School of Government
79 John F. Kennedy St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-496-4042; Fax: 617-495-5776
kellerj@ksg1.harvard.edu
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1. The Role of the High Performance Computing and Communications
program in the development of the National Information
Infrastructure
-- the impact of federal investment in advanced networks on
competition and private investment
-- strategies for commercialization of government-initiated
infrastructure technologies, resources, and services
-- criteria and metrics for evaluating federal investments in
information infrastructure
Federal investments in infrastructural technologies, such as
high-speed networks, often address both the underlying
technologies and the distributed deployment of those
technologies. This dual characteristic is seen in the structure
of the NREN program; it is implicit in the implementation of the
Technology Reinvestment Project; and it will be typical of
projects funded under the new Information Infrastructure
Technologies and Applications component of the HPCC program,
such as digital libraries.
Although it is usually contemplated that deployment
infrastructure will become self-sustaining or commercial, there
are high initial information and transaction costs to be
overcome, as well as strong cascading and leveraging effects
that can be realized in the short term. These factors argue for
initial public investment, but continuing public investment may
inhibit private investment and generate friction over program
design and implementation. This study will evaluate the need
for, and the results of, public investment, especially the
impact on private investment and market development. It will
consider means for coordinating and leveraging investments
across sectors, including the appropriate use of incentives.
The goal is to formulate principled strategies for initiating
and transitioning high-end federal investments -- strategies
that fit the special characteristics of information
infrastructure technologies and services.
2. Mediation of Internetworked Information
-- role of internetworks in the diffusion of technology
-- policy implications of international connections
-- management of intellectual property in the internetworked
environment
The growth of public internetworking has elicited widespread
concern about security and protection of intellectual property.
These concerns have inhibited commercial use of the Internet,
especially the development of systems for navigating distributed
high-value information. They jeopardize the development of
systems for managing health care, and they raise anew questions
about the flow of information across national borders.
Networked extension services to support technology transfer and
diffusion are an important component of the Administration's
technology policy; however, workable controls may be necessary
to maintain integrity of purpose and political support,
demonstrate user demand and accountability, and enable
self-sufficient operation.
This activity will investigate the design of systems and
policies for enabling, rationalizing, and constraining the
movement of networked information in different contexts. It
will of necessity monitor private sector developments, but it
will focus on strategy and policy for federal agencies. It will
also consider the federal interest in developing standards and
inter-sector systems.
3. Public Internetworking and the National Information
Infrastructure
-- interconnection agreements and settlements
-- economics of internetworking
-- implications of interagency and NSFNET architecture
-- service priorities, pricing models, and policy-based routing
-- national and international coordination and management
-- service levels and application of universal service principles
While the government's contributions to internetworking for
research and education have leveraged the growth of the Internet
as a whole, interaction with private investment in unrestricted
Internet services has raised difficult policy questions
concerning both public-private sector interaction and
competition among private service providers. The solutions
embodied in the new architecture for interagency and NSFNET
interconnection parallel current regulatory policies for the
voice network on interconnection and collocation. The new
architecture may well continue to catalyze and shape the public
internetworking infrastructure; however, private sector activity
is accelerating and many details of the new architecture remain
to be worked out.
This project will evaluate the market and policy dynamics of
internetworking. It will assess how experience with the present
Internet can inform the development of policies on competition
and universal service in the integrated broadband environment.
Conversely, it will consider how economic methods and analyses
developed to inform regulation of the voice network can inform
the design of federal investments and policies for public
internetworking.
