Re: AUP agenda item for ISN-WG 29th IETF Seattle March 29 1994

[Ray Harder <[e-mail]>]

> Folks, your help is solicited to advance the AUP draft discussion at the
> forthcoming session of ISN-WG.
>
> I've reviewed the draft document by Bill Manning and Don Perkins and
> colleagues, plus Ray Harder's comments.  Joyce Reynolds and I will be
> cochairing the session, and we'd like to bring up the draft AUP as an
> agenda item.
>
> I know there has been some discussion about the level of the current
> draft, and I believe there has been some other discussion also.
***omit****
> Joyce and I would like to have someone other than us lead the AUP
> discussion during the session.  Is any one of you planning to attend
> IETF-Seattle and the ISN-WG in particular, and would you volunteer?

I wasn't planning to attend. I didn't see Jennifer's name on the list of
attendees nor anyone else who has really been active in the past. I have some
reservations about how valuable ISN is to the educational community as a whole.
I think that there is a great deal of potential, but I don't see a clear focus
and goals. All of these trips come out of my pocket and unless I can see a
clear value to the educational community that the ISN provides at the IETF
meetings that couldn't be handled another way, I have to question whether or
not I can justify the expense. I would love to help --*IF* we can set some
clear and useful and UNIQUE goals that are not being met elsewhere more
effectively.

>
> In any case, it would be good if one of you (or someone else if you can
> point me or Joyce to them) would summarize the major points made in
> discussion of the current draft..

The main point is that the average school principal doesn't even know how to
spell WAN let alone understand either the details or implications of connecting
to the Internet. There are as many different environments as there are schools
and each one needs to be addresses fairly specifically. If there were a
coalition between CISCO, Novell, Apple, EduQuest, Microsoft, etc. and a good
writer then I think they could produce multiple documents with very specific
details of why and how to connect to the net. There would be one part that
says: If you have a Novell 3.1.1 network in your library with 5 IBM PS/2s
connected, then you would need the following software/hardware connected in the
following manner to get a full TCP/IP connection to the net. Furthermore, here
are five interim stages that would lead to this eventually if you aren't
prepared to expend the funds altogether. Another part would say: If you have an
AppleTalk Network in the computer lab and a Novell Net in the Library, then
here are the various ways to connect it all together. Here is step one, two,
three.... I know that it sounds ridiculous and wordy, but as one who spends
most of his time working with real schools with really oddly configured
networks, I assure you that this is exactly what is needed. There is also the
issue of justifying this and explaining the concepts behind it. This is a
Protocol. Protocols are.... They are like.... They are essential because....
This is how you should determine which protocol is best for you.... This is a
topology. Topologies are.... This is how you determine which topology you
need.....

I wonder if some kind of an expert system might be an interesting way of
working with schools. Type in all of the hardware you have, the number of
students, the square footage, the type of network(s) on campus now, the goals,
etc... Here is a good approach....

Too far fetched? Who knows.... I've seen worse suggestions.....

Another approach would be to persuade the various vendors involved that they
need to put together plug and play solutions that come with training,
maintenance, and support. There is no real "internet in a box" solution for
schools yet.

The AUP is a good answer for a problem that schools don't know enough to have
yet.

> Please get in touch with us at your earliest convenience, as we
> bureaucrats like to say... :-)
>

It's 3am. Is that early enough for you...? We folks without those cushy
government jobs have to work for a living, John.  ;-)>

Keep up the good work.

Thoughts? I'll admit that I'm a little discouraged by this whole business and
how quickly the technology is changing while schools continue to evolve
exceedingly slowly. 90% of them still don't really know what the internet is,
let alone how to connect to it. They lack the fundamental concepts necessary to
understand the discussion as presented here. Sorry, but that's the reality.
Bill has answered well some questions that schools don't yet know to ask.

Ray



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* Raymond G. Harder                  "Can't walk today, I don't feel well."*
* Educational Technology Consultant  "Why don't you sit out in the sun?"   *
* 909-983-4713                       "What? People will think I'm lazy!"   *
* [e-mail]                         -- My 92 year old grandmother    *
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