CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_ Reported by Tracy LaQuey Parker/UTexas USERGLOSS Minutes Status Update Chairpersons Karen Roubicek / roubicek@nnsc.nsf.net Tracy LaQuey Parker / tracy@utexas.edu Mailing List usergloss@ftp.com subscription - usergloss-request@ftp.com Date of Last Meeting St. Louis IETF / 11 March 1991 Date of Next Meeting Atlanta IETF / August 1991 Pending/New Objectives Compile list of terms, acronyms and definitions from existing sources. Will then edit this list. Progress to Date Have compiled a list of existing glossaries to use as a base. Agenda o Review Charter o Define Criteria for Glossary Terms o Review Existing Glossaries o Discuss Glossary format o Discuss online version o Establish processes for drafting, editing, and group review o Review proposed milestones and adjust o List action items for summer IETF and next 4 months This was the first official full meeting of the USERGLOSS Working Group. The meeting began with a review of the Charter. To summarize, the objective of this group is to create a glossary of networking terms and acronyms for the Internet community. There was some discussion about creating another glossary when several already exist, and one has been published as RFC 1208 (Glossary of Networking Terms). However, the 1 general feeling was that there is no complete glossary that truly represents the Internet community. The criteria for selection of glossary terms was discussed. Because we don't have anything to work with yet, we decided to postpone this step until the next meeting. There was some discussion on how to decide which organizations would be included as entries. The general consensus was to admit all organizations that directly support the Internet. Some criteria that was suggested included, federal agencies; companies who have contracts in support of government or networking (such as ISI, SRI); state, regional, and midlevel networks; backbone networks; non-profit organizations; Internet specific organizations (IAB, IESG). We will not include names of universities or companies. Other issues were brought up. Should we limit the glossary to the Internet community? It was decided that the glossary should reflect our perspective FROM the Internet community. The scope of the glossary will include IETF terms and terms used in required RFC's. The audience for this FYI will be the broad range of Internet users. We reviewed a list of existing glossaries. After looking at this list Ole Jacobsen observed that ``There are too many words here.'' The list included: o Networking.terms found on nsipo.arc.nasa.gov in pub directory. o The glossary in RFC 1206, ``Answers to Commonly asked `New Internet User' Questions''. o RFC 1208, ``A Glossary of Networking Terms''. o Glossary in the NNSC Internet Tour. o Glossary from ``Analyzing Sun Networks'' by Carl Malamud. o Glossaries from other textbooks, such as Comer's TCP/IP and Rose' books. o Hacker's Dictionary. o NCAR's Glossary. We then talked about the format of the glossary. It will be ascii text. For now, Tracy will keep the glossary in a standard format that can be converted to what we decide on later. A suggested format was: 2 term/acronym/expansion | Definition (1,2,3...) | source of definition | index Indexes will be defined later. These were suggested: o Protocol o Acronym o Operating networks o Organizations o Government o International o Level (new user, etc.). The online draft version will be kept on a host at the University of Texas. Tracy will announce where it is to the Usergloss mailing list. It was mentioned that we should think about generating several forms of the glossary - a short form and an expanded form. Next on the agenda was the editing process. It was decided that the approach will be to create a ``big bucket'' of existing online glossaries (and include attributions when appropriate). An editing committee, consisting of Gary Malkin, Tracy LaQuey Parker, Karen Roubicek, and Carl Malamud, will edit this ``bucket'' and suggest additions and deletions. Two people that volunteered at the Boulder IETF who were not present at this meeting are Marilyn Martin and Allen Apt. The following editing steps were suggested (these are also our proposed milestones): Step 1 Compile from existing sources. Remove duplicates and definitions that don't apply. Complete by August 1991 Step 2 Submit for group review. Resolve any conflicts. Add new terms. Refine indexes. To be done at August IETF. Step 3 Assign indexes/classify terms. August - September 1991 Step 4 Group Review October - November 1991 Step 5 Submit as Internet Draft December 1991 And finally, we made a list of action items: 3 o Gary Malkin will update and provide for archiving of the mailing list. o Tracy LaQuey Parker will find a host machine for the glossary and announce it to the mailing list. o Karen Roubicek will follow up on the two people on the editorial board who were not present at this meeting. o Someone needs to research the ``Hacker's Dictionary.'' o Karen will contact Don Morris about the NCAR glossary. o Gary Malkin will send the online glossary from RFC 1206 to Tracy. o Accomplish Step 1 defined above (editorial board will divide up these tasks). Attendees Robert Enger enger@seka.scc.com Douglas Gale dgale@note.nsf.gov Sergio Heker heker@jvnc.net Ole Jacobsen ole@csli.stanford.edu Shelly Knueven shelly@wugate.wustl.edu Tracy LaQuey Parker tracy@utexas.edu Steven Lendt network@zeus.unomaha.edu Carl Malamud carl@malamud.com Gary Malkin gmalkin@ftp.com Joyce Reynolds jkrey@isi.edu Karen Roubicek roubicek@bbn.com Patricia Smith psmith@merit.edu Joanie Thompson joanie@nsipo.nasa.gov John Wobus jmwobus@suvm.acs.syr.edu 4