Futures...

[April Marine <[e-mail]>]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for hanging in there with ISN.  Did I introduce myself in my
last msg?  I can't remember, so I'll do it again, but keep it short.
I am the new Area Director for User Services, the Area of IETF under
which ISN falls.  This means I get to work with the chairs to make
sure things progress.  As a matter of fact, I myself have been active
in this group since it was formed.

I apologize for the delays in responding to the messages posted to the
list.  Purely due to my travel schedule, I have only recently been
able to contact both the chairs and I wanted to coordinate with them
before sticking my two cents in on the list.

We have had the fortune of having two excellent chairs for this group
in Sepi and Jodi.  Both have contributed uncounted hours and lent the
group the benefit of their extensive experience working with
educational programs.

Sadly for us (but not for her!), Sepi has accepted a new position
which will not enable her to continue as co-chair.  She has done great
work (thanks Sepi!!!) and we will miss her!

Jodi is able to continue as chair, at least for the near future.  We
have talked about directions for the group and I told her I would
share with you some of my thinking and concerns.  I am now going to
put on my AD hat and play the stern devil's advocate.

To be direct, my main concern with this group is that while there has
always been great and honest interest in school networking, there has
not been equivalent interest in working on the projects of the group.
We always have excellent, interesting, vibrant meetings, but no
sustained effort in between.  My fear is that this recent resurgence
is just another wave of general interest rather than a signal of 
commitment to work.

(And here let me just say that I am not yelling at people for "not
working hard enough!"  It is certainly the case, especially in User
Services (I think) that it is difficult for people to make time to
volunteer to work on these docs and projects.  Other Areas often have
contributors whose jobs more directly support IETF work, it seems to
me.  But I am biased.  I also digress.)

Anyway, I expressed these thoughts to Jodi and challenged her to see
what the group could do by the August meeting.  It is our current
intention to hold a meeting at the August IETF in Chicago, but I am
not committed to keeping the group alive after that time.  I want to
see how things develop.  I suggest we pick one concrete item and make
significant progress on it.

Another thing that must be done is that the charter must be
revised. At the very least, the milestones MUST be updated.  However,
I also feel that the scope of the group should probably be re-thought.
I'm thinking particularly that the "advocacy role" that the group has
had is probably too wide a scope, for example.

There are several ways the future could develop for this group.  Among
the most likely:
	- re-charter this group
	- close this group and start a new one with a similar charter
	- close this group and take specific work items into the User
	  Services Working Group
	- decide we don't have enough collective cycles for this work
	  at this time or that the IETF is not the best place for it
          and close the group

I think we were leaning toward the last one until the recent flurry of
messages, so we have decided to hold off on choosing a particular
option until after August.

Jodi and I are very interested in your thoughts and contributions and
hope things keep going.  As discusssion progresses, I will probably
continue in the role of "stern AD," but I do not mean by taking this
role to actually be adversarial to the group.  I am just interested in
the work.

thanks!
April

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April Marine			
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