Network Working Group A. Atlas
Internet-Draft Juniper Networks
Intended status: Best Current Practice C. O'Flaherty
Expires: May 2, 2018 ISOC
H. Chowdhary
National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
S. Bradner
October 29, 2017
Geographically-Focused IETF Activities
draft-atlas-geo-focused-activities-01
Abstract
The IETF has a variety of activities beyond those that are part of
the standards process. IETF activities that aren't part of the
standards process are still quite useful for the IETF mission. Some
of these activities, such as IETF hackathons, tutorials, and
mentoring, occur at in-person meetings. There has been and continues
to be interest in having such activities located in different
geographical areas.
The document defines how the IETF organizes our Geographically-
Focused Activities. It is intended for eventual publication as a BCP
but this is currently an initial strawman proposal based upon the
existing variety of experience with the experimental activities in
this space over the past several years.
Status of This Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on May 2, 2018.
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2017 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
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include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Organization of Geographically-Focused IETF Activities . . . 5
3.1. IETF Local Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2. Repeating Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3. Remote Participation Hubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.4. One-Time Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.5. Appointment, Term of Service, and Transitions for
Coordinators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.6. Support for Coordinators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4. IETF Policies Applied to Geographically-Focused IETF
Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.1. Open and Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2. Localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.3. Use of IETF Name and Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.3.1. Not Official IETF Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5. Use of IETF Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6. Social Media and Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7. Feedback Loop: Metrics and Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
8. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
9. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
10. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
11.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
11.3. URIs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
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1. Introduction
The IETF has a variety of activities beyond those that are part of
the standards process [RFC2026]. IETF activities that aren't part of
the standards process are still quite useful for the IETF mission.
Some of these activities, such as IETF hackathons, tutorials, and
mentoring, occur at in-person meetings. There has been and continues
to be interest in having such activities located in different
geographical areas. There is a wide variety of such activities that
are supported by different motivations and objectives. The following
list is illustrative - not restrictive.
1. IETF Days supported by the Internet Society
2. View-only of a Working Group Session with IETF introduction
3. RFCs We Love technical talks meeting
4. Open physical meetings with technical talks on topics of IETF
interest
5. Remote Participation Hubs
6. Hackathons to build IETF awareness and encourage developers
towards practical implementations of IETF standards
7. Panels, seminars and tutorials at academic events, NOG meetings,
IXP meetings etc.
8. Open social informal meet-ups (over lunch, dinner, etc.)
9. IETF Newcomers presentations at NOG meetings and other technical
gatherings
10. Introductory sessions about the IETF and participation at
workshops.
Some of the motivations and objectives include: 1. increasing the
awareness of the IETF's role in the Internet ecosystem, 2. providing
feedback and exposure to potential new IETF work and providing
mentoring and support to help authors bring that work into the IETF,
3. outreach to encourage new potential IETF participants, 4.
increasing IETF diversity 5. increasing cross-area learning, 6.
strengthening professional and social connections between IETFers, 7.
providing feedback and discussion on early work & mentoring to newer
IETFers, 8. reducing financial barriers to low-volume new
participants and show advantages from face-to-face interactions, 9.
reinforcing the importance of technical generalists and multi-
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disciplinary leaders in fostering the sustainability, robustness,
security, stability and development of the Internet, 10. raising the
visibility of IETF participants to support greater impact and
collaboration, 11. and connecting university researchers into the
IETF community to better connect research to IETF work and broaden
modern networking knowledge in developing regions.
These objectives can be summed up as increasing awareness of the
IETF, doing outreach to encourage new IETF participation, and
increase technical discussions and cross-learning to encourage faster
and better technical output. These are objectives that are in the
best interest of the IETF.
The IETF works well when motivated people self-organize and the IETF
can provide support and minimal oversight. The IETF has an
Education, Mentoring, and Outreach Directorate that provides
oversight of outreach-related activities which are part of that
Directorate's charter. The members of the directorate are selected
by the IETF Chair.
The activities overseen by the Education, Mentoring, and Outreach
Directorate are not part of the standards process. An internet-draft
author may choose to use feedback learned during such a meeting set
up by the Education, Mentoring, and Outreach Directorate exactly as
an author may choose to use feedback from a private conversation.
The IETF Trust holds trademarks that are used by the IETF for our
activities. This document discusses how outreach activities can be
organized and managed to the extent required not to dilute the IETF's
name and to protect its processes.
2. Terminology
Geographically-Focused IETF Activity: An IETF related Activity that
is centered in a specific geographic area. Examples include, b
but are not limited to, IETF Local Communities, Remote Awareness
Hubs, IETF Awareness Events, and Remote Participation Hubs.
Necessary attributes are being geographically-focused and open for
participation.
IETF Local Community: A persistent geographically-focused local
group of IETF participants and those interested in IETF work. An
IETF Local Community may do a variety of different activities,
including Remote Participation Hubs. The necessary attributes are
persistence and a focus on technical discussions related to the
IETF. The focus is on growing a local group of people
participating in the IETF and strengthening the professional and
social relationships between them to encourage collaboration.
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Remote Awareness Session: An event which might focus on a speaker
who might show a video from one or more IETF Working Group or
Plenary sessions. There may be additional introductory
presentations or other activities. Necessary attributes are focus
on an event and viewing of a live or recorded IETF WG or Plenary
session. The focus is on holding an event to raise awareness of
what happens at an IETF meeting.
IETF Awareness Activity: An activity where "what the IETF is and
does" is presented to raise awareness of the IETF. Content might
include speakers presenting or leading discussions about the IETF,
about IETF technical work or other technical work that might be
related to IETF work. Necessary attributes are focus on an
activity and on discussing the IETF.
Remote Participation Hub: An activity that is connected to a
particular IETF Working Group or Plenary session such that
interactive participation in the session at the IETF is possible.
Necessary attributes are focus on a specific activity and the
potential for interactive participation in the primary session.
All attendees register as regular remote attendees to the
particular session via a standard IETF tool such as MeetEcho.
Outreach Coordinators: The individuals responsible for coordinating
and running a Geographically-Focused IETF Activity. These are
recorded by the IETF Outreach lead and added to the outreach-
coordinators mailing list.
Local Coordinators: For some awareness activities which are a single
activity, those interested in organizing may serve as the Local
Coordinators while an Outreach Coordinator, who helps with such
events, may provide the IETF experience and support. The Local
Coordinator might also be the speaker at an activity.
Repeating Activity: An activity may be sufficiently successful in a
particular geography so that there is interest in having it
repeat. This might be Remote Participation Hubs, Remote Awareness
Sessions, or other activities. When there is a desire and
expectation for a series of repeating activities, then it is
useful to have Outreach Coordinators and manage the series
similarly to an IETF Local Community.
3. Organization of Geographically-Focused IETF Activities
These activities can be focused on a single activity, repeating
activities or creating an IETF Local Community. It's desirable to
have at least 2 Outreach Coordinators for a Geographically-Focused
IETF Activity. The coordinators should be accepted by the Outreach
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lead and added to the outreach-coordinators mailing list. The
Outreach lead and recognized Outreach Coordinators form the Outreach
Coordinators Group. This group will regularly share experience,
plans, and advice. In extraordinary circumstances, the Outreach
Coordinators Group may recommend that a local community or repeating
activity be ended or that an Outreach Coordinator be removed from the
list.
3.1. IETF Local Communities
An IETF Local Community is expected to be a persistent group with
periodic activities. Each IETF Local Community must have at least 1
Outreach Coordinator. It is recommended that a Local Community have
at least two Outreach Coordinators to share the work of defining the
activities and schedule and organizing to make the activities happen.
3.2. Repeating Activities
If successful, it is likely that some one-time activities, such as a
Remote Participation Hub, may become repeating. Such a stream of
activities in a fixed geography should have at least one Coordinator
who is part of the Outreach Coordinators Group. This will allow the
Coordinator to share experiences and to easily get advice.
The Internet Society and other organizations periodically organize
workshops across the world where one or more session is focused on
the IETF and how to participate. If the organizer of such a series
of repeating sessions in one geography wishes to connect more closely
to the IETF for support and guidance, then an Outreach Coordinator
may be accepted for that repeating activity. It may also be
desirable to have one or more specific Outreach Coordinators to help
with this type of session and the local organizers.
3.3. Remote Participation Hubs
A Coordinator may organize a physical location for individual
participants to gather and participate individually in a remote
session at the IETF. All the individual participants should be
registered as remote attendees to that IETF session using the usual
IETF remote participation tools, such as MeetEcho. Individuals will
be subject to the normal policies that apply to remote participants
at an IETF session. By having individual registration, an individual
can also participate via instant message (e.g. jabber) and chose to
be individually added into the remote microphone queue.
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3.4. One-Time Activities
Some Geographically-Focused IETF Activities may be one-time activity.
There still needs to be oversight and support for such activities.
Ideally, at least one Coordinator will volunteer to provide support
for such one-time activities. A Geographically-Focused IETF Activity
in a particular geography that do not yet have an Outreach
Coordinator identified fall under the One-Time Activity Coordinators,
even if that activity has or is repeating. There may be a period
where it isn't clear that the activity will continue to repeat and
thus whether a persistent Outreach Coordinator is needed.
The One-Time Activity Coordinators should recognize a Local
Coordinator for any activity that the none of the One-Time Activity
Coordinators will be attending and running.
3.5. Appointment, Term of Service, and Transitions for Coordinators
In general, a Coordinator should be familiar with the IETF and
preferably be or have been an active participant. For a new Local
Community or a Repeating Activity, it is likely that there are good
candidates for Coordinators. If not, that may be a sign that the
health of the activity is in question and more support is needed.
It is not appropriate to assume that a Coordinator will serve for an
infinite amount of time. At this time, it is not clear whether a
fixed term would be useful. at a minimum, the Outreach Lead should
verify interest to continue every two or three years. To ensure
smooth transitions between Coordinators, the IETF Secretariat or
Outreach Lead should have the ability to change ownership and
administration of resources used by the Geographically-Focused IETF
Activity or smoothly migrate to new resources.
3.6. Support for Coordinators
The Outreach Coordinators Group is one mechanism to provide support
for Coordinators and allow them to learn from each others'
experiences. Different geographies may find different ideas and
structures work better. This also provides a way to bring up common
administrative issues and concerns so that the Outreach Lead can
facilitate resolving them.
4. IETF Policies Applied to Geographically-Focused IETF Activities
Geographically-Focused Activities are specifically NOT part of the
IETF Standards Process. It is not necessary to either keep and
preserve attendance nor to show the Note Well used at normal IETF
Working Group meetings to remind attendees of their obligations under
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the IETF's IPR policy. But, that said, under IETF rules, any IPR
that makes it into an Internet Draft or RFC must be disclosed by
whoever suggested adding the IPR when the Internet Draft is
published, even if the suggestion was during one of the
Geographically-Focused Activities.
It is recommended to request RSVPs for logistical reasons, to have a
sign-up sheet for the associated mailing list, and optionally to
request other participant information to understand and track how
well an activity is doing compared to its objectives. These records
do not become part of the records of the IETF.
In Geographically-Focused IETF Activities, there are likely to be
participants new to the IETF for whom it would be useful to mention
that the IETF does have an IPR policy and if ideas are included in an
internet-draft, there are IPR disclosure requirements. A common
slide or very short write-up may be helpful to create.
4.1. Open and Professional
Since a purpose of the Geographically-Focused IETF Activities is
outreach and since the IETF is open, it is expected that
Geographically-Focused IETF Activities are open to all participants.
Participants are expected to behave according to professional
standards. [RFC7154] is a BCP defining guidelines for conduct in the
IETF; [RFC7776] defines Anti-Harassment procedures and creates an
Ombudsteam to handle issues. These documents can serve as references
for Geographically-Focused IETF Activities.
4.2. Localization
Since Geographically-Focused IETF Activities specifically happen in
widely varying localities, there can be language and other location-
specific considerations. While the IETF works only in English, there
may be some types of events where using the local language is
preferable. Mailing lists for a geographically-focused IETF Activity
MAY primarily use a local language; it is expected that the Outreach
Coordinator will help in handling questions in English sent to the
mailing list. There may be other localization accommodations that
are appropriate to consider.
4.3. Use of IETF Name and Logo
Geographically-Focused IETF Activities may use the IETF logo and IETF
name, with suitable oversight. Outreach Coordinators will be
informed about the IETF Trust policies and basic acceptance and can
ask questions on the associated mailing list. In general, not using
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a misleading name and not modifying the IETF logo or name is
sufficient, but specific approval by the IETF Trust is required.
4.3.1. Not Official IETF Activities
Even though the IETF supports and encourages the organization of
activities aimed to increase participation, when they're not official
IETF activities, careful care of IETF name and logo usage should be
taken. In order to obtain permission to use or display any IETF logo
or name, you must first complete and send, to iad@ietf.org, the form:
http://trustee.ietf.org/docs/IETF_General_TM_License.pdf [1] Please
include a description of your activity, contact information,
referrals inside the IETF community and any other information that
can be used for approval. As a general guideline, as long as you're
not using a misleading name for your activity (avoid using names that
can be confused with official IETF activities) and you haven't
modified any IETF Trust logo or name, you will receive a positive
response.
IETF logo files can be found in the IETF site (https://ietf.org/logo/
[2])
5. Use of IETF Resources
The IETF can provide resources such as mailing lists, wikis, and
calendars. When a new resource is needed, the Outreach Lead is
responsible for forwarding on an appropriate request to the
Secretariat.
The following is a proposed structure for IETF mailing-lists to be
used by the Geographically-Focused IETF Activities.
1. outreach-coordinators mailing list: This list has at least the
Outreach Coordinators accepted by Directorate and interested
Directorate members, but has an open archive.
2. ietf-hub-[geography]: For Repeating Events and IETF Local
Communities, there is an associated mailing list. Another
possible name is ietf-local-[geography]; currently there are
ietf-hub-boston and ietf-hub-bangalore.
3. vmeet: for discussion of Geographically-Focused IETF Activities
as well as virtual meetings, since that is where the conversation
has been happening.
4. ietf-community-[large-geography]: To coordinate across the Local
Communities and for other Geographically-Focused IETF Activities.
A current example is ietf-community-india.
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5. outreach-discuss: For discussion of outreach activities around
the IETF Community.
It is useful to have a wiki that allows a persistent URI for sharing
events, storing information about past events, and brainstorming/
organizing new ones. With the proposed structure where all of the
Geographically-Focused IETF Activities are related to Outreach, a
wiki for outreach, that can then be self-organized, is needed. The
top level of this wiki is currently at
https://trac.ietf.org/trac/edu/wiki/Outreach; appropriate links and
visibility will be needed and need to be periodically re-evaluated.
A well-publicized on-line calendar that at least Coordinators can add
events to is needed. This will provide a single place to check when
and where various activities are happening. Given that many IETFers
travel for business, it also makes it easy for IETFers to discover if
there is a local activity happening that is of interest. Events
should also be announced to the ietf discussion list.
6. Social Media and Communications
Most of the current IETF communications activities are coordinated
and accomplished by ISOC staff. For Social media, industry media and
other communication needs the Coordinator should contact
comms@ietf.org for appropriate messaging. Through ISOC's support,
the activity will be better promoted and aligned with IETF
expectations. There is an ongoing revision of IASA activities that
can affect how future IETF communications are managed.
Once the basic requirements and a template for the communication are
understood by Coordinators, it is expected that only unusual
communications will need discussion. Sharing of the information is
still desirable so that events can be better promoted. Coordinators
will need to work on promoting the activities and reaching out to the
relevant communities.
7. Feedback Loop: Metrics and Surveys
The breadth of objectives and activities covered by Geographically-
focused IETF activities makes it very hard to have a single set of
metrics or appropriate surveys. Having geographically-focused IETF
activities is an experiment. It is useful to know how the various
activities are doing and what changes or tuning might be desirable.
There is useful information to collect from Coordinators and from
attendees.
Here is a list of possible questions for Coordinators.
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1. What types of events are you holding? How frequently? What is
the attendance?
2. What types of communication & outreach are you using? What seems
effective?
3. What WGs and Areas are of interest?
4. How could the IETF make holding events easier?
5. What kinds of events are you interested in holding in the future?
6. Would mentors or remote speakers be helpful?
7. What objectives do you have for your events?
8. What is the mixture of folks attending in terms of IETF
experience, affiliation, technical interests, and active
participation?
9. What advice would you give other Coordinators?
Here is a list of possible questions for attendees. Some may be
primarily useful in IETF awareness and others primarily in IETF Local
Communities.:
1. What is your knowledge of and experience with the IETF before
attending?
2. Did this event meet your expectations? Was it interesting or
productive? Would you attend another similar event?
3. What types of events would be interesting? Technical
discussions, social/informal discussion, remote hubs,
hackathons, joint draft or RFC review and discussion, other?
4. How did you hear about the event?
5. Are you aware of the following ways to learn about future events
and IETF-related activities?
6. What technical areas would you be interested in working on in
the IETF?
7. Do you feel prepared to engage on IETF Working Group mailing
lists and review drafts? What type of support would help?
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8. Does your affiliation/day-job understand the benefits of
participating in the IETF?
9. How might the IETF make participating easier?
10. What WG sessions have you attended?
11. What could be done better?
12. What IETF topics would inspire you to participate?
8. IANA Considerations
This document has no impact on IANA registries.
9. Security Considerations
The policies in this document provide support and oversight of
geographically-focused IETF activities so that the IETF name and logo
are not misrepresented. References for expected community conduct
are given. These activities are not part of the standards process,
which reduces the policies that need to apply.
10. Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Alvaro Retana, Karen O'Donoghue, John
Levine, Dave Crocker, and John Klensin for useful discussions.
11. References
11.1. Normative References
[RFC7154] Moonesamy, S., Ed., "IETF Guidelines for Conduct", BCP 54,
RFC 7154, DOI 10.17487/RFC7154, March 2014,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7154>.
[RFC7776] Resnick, P. and A. Farrel, "IETF Anti-Harassment
Procedures", BCP 25, RFC 7776, DOI 10.17487/RFC7776, March
2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7776>.
[RFC8179] Bradner, S. and J. Contreras, "Intellectual Property
Rights in IETF Technology", BCP 79, RFC 8179,
DOI 10.17487/RFC8179, May 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8179>.
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11.2. Informative References
[RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision
3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, DOI 10.17487/RFC2026, October 1996,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2026>.
11.3. URIs
[1] http://trustee.ietf.org/docs/IETF_General_TM_License.pdf
[2] https://ietf.org/logo/
Authors' Addresses
Alia Atlas
Juniper Networks
Email: akatlas@juniper.net
Christian O'Flaherty
ISOC
Email: oflaherty@isoc.org
Harish Chowdhary
National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
Email: harish@nixi.in
Scott Bradner
Email: sob@sobco.com
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