From: edhew@xenitec.xenitec.on.ca (Ed Hew)
Subject: UUCP liason introduction to can.domain
Submit-To: candom@xenitec.on.ca
Organization: [resent by] The CANDOM gateway and Propagation Society
Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1993 01:25:09 GMT
Resent-By: registry@xenitec.on.ca
Precedence: bulk

Hi,

Before I go commenting on a number of issues, I should take a moment
for the benefit of those who may not yet know me, and post a general
personal introduction, interspersed with other useful bits of
information.  Hopefully others will also offer introductions.

I, and hopefully others will be posting some backgrounders just as
soon as we get a chance to bring them up to date.  I'm also hoping
that I'll have time to evolve a FAQ, or better yet, assist some
other kind hearted party in doing so.

I'll spare everyone a blatant commercial and stick to what I hope is
relevant.  I was invited join the CA Domain Committee as a replacement
for Rayan Zachariassen who had been on it since it's inception.  This
was coincidental with my replacing Mark Moraes as Canadian UUCP Map
Coordinator, given that it made sense that whoever does the UUCP maps
should represent those listed therin.  I consider both of these to be
essentially volunteer positions.  All this happened just this last
March (92), and it certainly has been intensive on-the-job training.

I understand my duties on the .CA Domain Committee to be multi-faceted.
The best description I could come up with is "UUCP Liason to the .CA
Domain Committee", which means that I serve as person who accepts
applications, answers questions, and generally interfaces with the
others on the committee, on behalf of the Canadian UUCP committee.

In greater detail:  I'll receive an registration inquiry and forward
the relevant documentation, then usually engage in a q&a series
resulting in an application.  The application is then checked and
required corrections and/or missing information are requested.  Once
the application appears to meet the applicant's requirements and
looks like I can substantiate it's approval by the committee, it's
submitted.  If we've got things right, no one will object, resulting
in registration 7 days from committee submission.  If we've missed
something, or messed up in our intended application of the "rules",
then this gets clarified or resolved and the application (sometimes
ammended) is approved.  While nasty things like holidays and "real
work" may interfere, I'm told that we're getting things done a lot
faster these days.  The exception is that we've found that we must
change the "rules" to be equitable and fair to all concerned.

Ah, the "rules".  I'll let others more qualified than I, spell out
exactly what is required of the administrative scheme for the .CA
hierarchy naming conventions.  What is important at the moment is the
committee is right now expending a fair amount of time and effort in
reworking the "rules" to be fair, reasonable and sensible in all known
respects.  These same "rules" must be workable for the exponential
explosion of .CA namespace use in the very near future, corresponding
to the connectivity explosion we're witnessing.  What's interesting
is that the UUCP community appears to be applying for .CA subdomains
at a rate greater than other registration sources.  

Private correspondence I've engaged in with various members of the
Canadian UUCP Community has been invaluable in providing information
that needed to be brought to the committee.  I see a similar requirement
to facilitate flow of information from the committee to the community,
basically to ensure that no one is grasping in the dark without adequate
information.  The technical needs the committee must accomodate and the
needs of the UUCP community need to be brought together, which means
that everyone needs to know what people not previously heard from have
to say.  I'd like to thank Stuart Lynn for suggesting the creation of
can.domain so that we can greatly enhance the dialog we already have.
I'd also like to thank John Demco for his kind offer to support
can.domain with informational and other relevant postings and his
active efforts to bring can.domain comments to the committee.  Lastly,
my thanks to Sean Doran at UUNET Canada for instantly agreeing to
facilitate broad propagation of this newsgroup.

Finally, this isn't my pet newsgroup.  It's here because interested
members of the UUCP Community have asked for it.  Let's see how much
we can help each other on the issues at hand.  I hope to be able to
post the revised .CA application form and instructions soon.  There's
not much sense posting the existing one unless revision takes too
long, as that revision is intended to go a long way towards solving
some of the perceived problems that lead to the creation of this
newsgroup.

                --ed            (Ed Hew)
--
        Canadian UUCP Map Coordinator           <path@cs.toronto.edu>
   ==>  UUCP liason to .CA Domain Registry	<registry@cs.toronto.edu>
        XeniTec Consulting Services             <edhew@xenitec.on.ca>
Newsgroups: can.domain