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General Atomics has received a five-year project award designed to
deliver network information services that address the needs of the growing
telecommunications community, both in the massive numbers of people and in
their varying levels of technical expertise, called the InterNIC. This
will be done through the successful implementation of distributed services
to the midlevel and campus Network Information Centers (NICs) who will
then be able to service the end-users in a more personal and efficient
manner. The NIS Manager (or InterNIC) is a joint effort of General
Atomics, AT&T, and NSI that began full operation April 1, 1993. The
InterNIC encompasses all the Information Services of the Network
Information Services Manager solicitation: Reference Desk, Coordination
Services, and Education Services.
The successful provision of information services to the midlevel
and campus NICs during the next five years of explosive growth
depends on several important factors. These include the ability to
stay in touch with the community and recognize important service
needs and future trends; the ability to remain flexible and adapt
quickly to changes in the network offerings and in the user base; and
the establishment of a strong leadership role in the community. The
InterNIC project encompasses all of these goals, as well as promoting
the use of the network and making the InterNIC an integral part of
the growth of the Internet.
The Internet is an essential aspect of the national information
infrastructure that is changing the methodology of education and
research in the United States and around the world. The Internet is
a collection of hardware and software technologies and of
organizations from government, academia, and industry. However,
even more significantly, it is a collection of people. In this
multifaceted environment, it is important to understand the goals of
these people, the synergies among them, and the existing and new
technology they will use to take advantage of Internet resources.
In keeping with the innovative spirit of the Internet, the
InterNIC is implementing several new approaches to distributing
services in addition to the standard methods in use today. To put
timely information and tools at a user's fingertips, the InterNIC
Information Services include these three components:
Reference Desk--to provide extensive networking information,
referrals to other resources, and associate users with their local NICs.
Coordination--to share information and coordinate activities with U.S.
organizations and internationally.
Education--to train midlevel and campus NICs and end-users and
promote Internet use.
REFERENCE DESK
A vital component of the InterNIC Information Services is the
Reference Desk. For most network users, it will be the first point of
contact to the InterNIC. Users can call the Reference Desk with
questions and problems and receive prompt and accurate answers or
a referral. Whenever possible, but especially as the local
organizations mature, users are referred to their local NIC providers.
Reference Desk personnel draws on the work produced in other
areas of Information Services-training, outreach, and documentation.
Conversely, Reference Desk personnel feed information back to the
other staff-data on what the users are requesting and how often they
are requesting it.
There are many methods of responding to queries, depending
on their nature. A Reference Desk Supervisor and Info
Representatives will respond to queries via telephone, electronic and
postal mail, and facsimile. These queries include everything from
"what is the Internet anyway" and "how do I use it" to more
sophisticated questions about security issues or network protocols.
Some are handled by Info Representatives supplying an immediate
answer. Others will require giving the user selected documentation
from the Info Source. Others still require referring the user to the
appropriate service provider.
As the "NIC of first resort," we refer users to midlevel and
campus NIC providers. We provide midlevel and campus NICs with
extensive training and documentation, empowering them to serve
their own users. We also maintain communication with the midlevel
and campus NIC organizations to stay abreast of their requirements.
A wide range of other referrals can be made including those to
network providers for new connections, to NOCs for technical
problems, or to international groups as appropriate.
As the "NIC of last resort," we listen to the user's concerns and
investigate possible solutions. Because of the distributed way the
Internet is administered, there has never been one organization
charged with the responsibility of solving end-user problems that
stretch over multiple organizations or appear difficult to solve. With
the establishment of the Reference Desk, there is a place for users to
call when the local NICs cannot help them and they have exhausted
all other possibilities known to them.
COORDINATION SERVICES
It is important for the InterNIC to understand the goals of the
people that use the Internet. Successful InterNIC management
means understanding end-user needs as perceived by the users
themselves and also by the networks that serve them. It also means
being able to act on that understanding through the development of
services and systems that provide the networks with ways to meet
the needs of the network users. The InterNIC Coordination Services
address the above ideas.
Coordinating and encouraging information sharing among
midlevel and campus networks, the InterNIC, end-users, and other
organizations is a vital part of the InterNIC Manager's
responsibilities. To facilitate this sharing, the InterNIC Manager will
convene an Internet Liaison Council that benefit midlevel and
campus NICs and end-users by ensuring that Internet users' needs
are being recognized and met. To this end, midlevel and campus
NICs and other networking organizations are asked to nominate two
representatives from their communities, one service provider and
one end-user. NSF and the InterNIC Manager jointly select the
fifteen to twenty member council.
The council members are charged with sharing the information
they learn during council meetings with their sponsoring
organizations, as well as providing input regarding those
organizations' needs. The council is in an excellent position to assist
in the elevation of the InterNIC, as well as the performance of the
midlevel and campus networks after they have received training and
curriculum materials from the InterNIC. Council meetings are held
twice a year (or more often if it is warranted), and a mailing list set
up for interim communication. The council evaluates future plans of
the InterNIC, ensuring that the plans are in sync with user
requirements. The council annually evaluates InterNIC performance
with an emphasis on improving services to midlevel and campus
NICs.
Another duty of the Liaison Council members is to attend the
annual NIS Fest that InterNIC hosts. This conference focuses on NIC
activities and feature presentations by InterNIC staff, Internet
Liaison Council members, and other networking professionals. The
InterNIC also hosts, in coordination with midlevel and campus NICs,
quarterly conferences that are similar to the NIS Fest but on a
smaller scale. Recognizing the current financial environment, these
conferences are to be held in the west, midwest, south, and northeast
to give smaller organizations a chance to be involved.
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
The Internet began as a research project built by engineers and
computer scientists to study networking and interoperability. It
continues to be effectively used by researchers and scientists.
However, we are now at a crossroads in the history of the Internet,
where the largest growth in the number of users is from groups not
traditionally trained in networking and computer technology. These
groups do not use the Internet to its full capabilities because they
find it difficult to use. When they look for instruction or
documentation to increase their effectiveness, they often find it is
deficient or nonexistent. The InterNIC is an essential source of
training and documentation, primarily to midlevel and campus NICs
so they are in a better position to make users more productive by
teaching them what the Internet is, what resources are available, and
how to use them.
There are a large number of people who need training on the
wide range of topics related to the Internet. Seminars and
workshops are held in all regions of the country, and training
materials are made available in multiple formats. In this way,
midlevel and campus NICs, as well as end-users benefit by having
choices as to how best to receive their training.
At present, most midlevel and campus NICs do not have a
source of instruction or documentation services for their own
personnel. The InterNIC assists these NICs by supplying them with
training to do their own job more efficiently and with the resources
to train their users.
The InterNIC provides courses both through contracting with
subject matter experts for course development and instruction, as
well as in-house development of specialized materials for NIC
education.
Classes are offered by the InterNIC in various regions of the
country, and in some cases these classes can be hosted by midlevel
or campus NICs. In addition, instructors from selected classes are
provided to NICs who want to sponsor these classes locally.
Instructional methods include instructor-led classes providing
hands-on training; hypertext- and hypermedia-based instruction;
self-paced hardcopy tutorials; and Computer-Based Instruction.
Instructional materials are developed by first doing an assessment of
the training needs of the Internet, and then designing and
developing educational materials based on research done on a
variety of educational methods available.
In addition, the InterNIC reaches out to new groups who can
potentially benefit from network access and educational services,
and show them ways to become more productive network users. In
this way, the InterNIC is an important part of the expansion in the
user base of the Internet.
To monitor the quality, availability, and effectiveness of the
services provided, performance measures are built into the InterNIC
activities. Those measures include recording and tracking all queries,
analyzing the summative data to determine user needs, surveying
users to access the quality and quantity of services, and using
Internal Quality (IQ) scores to ensure that all activities are
performed efficiently.
InterNIC, in short, responds to the midlevel and campus NICs
problem of trying to provide current services and training, since
there is no single place to look for new information. Equally difficult,
is finding information to overcome confusion about the Internet,
Energy Sciences Network, ARPAnet, NASA Science Internet, MILNET
and how they all tie together (or don't, as the case may be).
Establishing the NIC of NICs-what we have termed the InterNIC-
improves the efficiency of midlevel and campus NICs by providing a
centralized location and distribution point for networking
information.
InterNIC Information Services