Newsgroups: bit.listserv.pacs-l
Date:         Tue, 7 Apr 1992 09:35:37 CDT
From:         Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.BITNET>
Subject:      CNI Task Force Report, Part 2 of 2

From: Craig A. Summerhill <craig@cni.org>
Subject: Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force, Part 2 of 2

NREN Public Policy Framework

In a plenary session panel on the policy implications and directions of
the current and future networking environment, moderator Richard
West, Associate Vice President of the University of California and
Chair of the Coalition Steering Committee, noted that this is the first
meeting of the Task Force after the passage and signing into law of the
High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA 1991) with its NREN
provisions.  The panel presented perspectives on the next steps that the
research and education community should consider formulating and
taking together.  The panelists and the issues they identified were:

%       Michael Roberts, Vice President, EDUCOM, led off with a
description of the international networking scene.  He noted that the
Internet will not be replaced by the NREN, which will be one
component of global networking.  He called for the creation of a U.S.
national information infrastructure and noted that HPCA 1991
represents a national consensus on the policy goal of the gigabit NREN,
the vehicle for stimulating the creation of this infrastructure.

%       John Clement, Director, K-12 Networking, EDUCOM, then gave
his perspectives on the needs of the K-12 community.  The primary
needs of that community are access, appropriate content, and
participation in the policy process.  He described various ways that
people and institutions are getting connected to networks:  through state
education networks, via "affinity" networks, and by means of regional
networks.  However, much more needs to be achieved for this audience
to ensure ubiquitous access and to allow access to the entire range of
resources available on the Internet.

%       Representing the Association of Research Libraries (ARL),
Susan Brynteson, Director of Libraries, University of Delaware,
commented that the professional community needs to identify existing
principles that should be applied to guide the development of network
policies.  Networks will create new tensions in areas in which libraries
have been traditionally involved, e.g. privacy and security of
information and protection of freedom of speech.  She named as goals
the development of standards for the network and electronic access to
public information via the federal depository program.

%       Representing the Public Library Association (PLA), Laura
Isenstein, Coordinator, Information Services, Baltimore County Public
Library, noted the service roles of public libraries and commented on
how the NREN will affect those roles.  She said that the PLA must
educate their members, who need to be actively involved in network
planning issues.  She stated that public libraries would provide an
avenue that would guarantee all citizens access to networked
information resources, and she also called attention to the types of
information products that public libraries could provide to the
networks.  Connectivity, costs, and equitable access are key issues for
this constituency.

%       Representing the Association of College and Research
Libraries, Noreen Alldredge, Dean of Libraries, Montana State
University, put forth as a goal of NREN an information infrastructure
which enhances the intellectual, cultural, and geographic diversities
of our world.  To do this we have to encourage network access and
support at both the state/regional level and the federal/international
level to avoid dividing into "haves and have nots".  She emphasized
the need for training and education and for investing in the information
infrastructure.

%       Representing the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies,
Howard McGinn, State Librarian of North Carolina, presented four
"realities" and their implications for the NREN infrastructure:  (1) the
information needs of everyday corporate and private citizens and local
governments can be extremely complex and sophisticated and therefore
even rural areas need access to the Internet; (2) the concept that systems
of information delivery constructed and supported with tax dollars are
public information assets and must be made accessible to everyone, and
state and public libraries can perform that role; (3) access to previously
little used, massive amounts of state government data is now being
made accessible and many state library agencies already have the
mandate to make it available; and (4) local politics can have the
power to change national policy and politics and therefore state and
public librarians can assist in influencing the future of networking
legislation.

Public Information

In a luncheon address, Wayne P. Kelley, Assistant Public Printer and
Superintendent of Documents, presented the Government Printing
Office's (GPO) vision for access to government information in the
electronic era.    He stated "GPO is now embarked on one of the most
important projects of its 130-year life.  It is trying to transform itself
from a printer to a multi-media disseminator of information products
and services."  He added that while GPO now think of database
capabilities as an offshoot of its printing processes, they will soon have
to see it the other way around.  The policy set into place in the 19th
century for a single, central point for bibliographic information about,
and access to, federal publications, has now come apart with the
advent of electronic publishing.  Since electronic information products
and services were not considered publications under government
publishing statutes, we came to the current discordant state.  While
Kelley does not foresee a "quick fix", he is anticipating a mandate from
the revised Circular A-130 for the dissemination of electronic products
through the depository program.  In developing directions, he stated
that GPO's foundation principle is that the public has paid for the
creation of, and owns, federal information.  Therefore, the public
deserves some mechanism for free access, and if an individual wishes to
own a copy of a federal information product, it should be available at
roughly the cost of supplying it.  In pursuing "the practical policy of the
possible," Kelley is calling on basic tenets that have guaranteed the
public access to the documents of its government.  He expects that GPO
will be offering agencies the full spectrum of electronic publishing
services and offering the public convenient access to government
information in all formats.  He closed his presentation with the
admonition that we cannot squander the national treasure of
information in the face of global competition.  We must cooperate and
collaborate to keep that from happening.

Working Groups

Meetings of the Working Groups focused on issues and activities
identified in the Report on Program Priorities, distributed to Meeting
attendees and available from the Coalition office.  Among the projects
noted for attention at the closing "town meeting" session were reports on
the status of the following initiatives:

%       The Rights for Electronic Access to and Delivery of Information
(READI) Program - The services of Robert Ubell Associates
have been retained to design and conduct three expert panels
and to undertake a variety of other efforts leading to a report
about and recommendations concerning the feasibility of
promulgating a common set of terms and conditions for managing
relationships and property in the market for networked
information.

%       The TopNode for Networked Information Resources, Services,
and Tools - Indiana University has been selected to play the
lead role in this project with Merit Network, Inc., playing an
important supporting role.  Two meetings have been held to
begin drafting the details of the project plan.  The TopNode
project will establish a directory of directories, catalogs, and
other lists of networked information resources, services, and
tools.

%       The Development of a Packet of Information for Use in
Formulating and Addressing Institutional and Organizational
Issues Arising from the Emergence of a National Networked
Information Infrastructure and Environment  - An editor will be
chosen to compile and write sections for this collection of
materials.

%       The Z39.50 Interoperability Testbed Project - A group of
institutions and organizations has been formed under the
auspices of the Working Group on Architectures and Standards
to promote and obtain the full promise of the Z39.50 computer-
to-computer information retrieval protocol for the construction
of information servers. They recently held their second
meeting.  All specifications developed by this project will be
public documents.

%       The Development of Cost/Benefit Analyses of Alternative
Models for the GPO WINDO Legislative Proposal - Initial
responses to this Call have just been received and are being
reviewed.

Coalition Internet Server

Attendees received an update on the availability of FTP files on the
Coalition server, representing items such as papers from the Fall  1991
Task Force Meeting and the text of documents contained in the
Information Policies:  A Compilation of Position Statements, Principles,
Statutes, and Other Pertinent Statements  publication.  Access to the
server is available through usual anonymous FTP prodedures, including
numerous "README" files, directed toward the Coalition's server, which
is named "ftp.cni.org".  In addition, sign-up sheets were distributed
soliciting interest in network discussion lists on the areas represented by
the Working Groups and on other topics.


Future Task Force Meetings

It was announced that the Fall 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task
Force will be held on November 19-20 at the Lansdowne Conference
Center near the Dulles Airport in the Washington, DC area and that
the theme for this Meeting will be "Innovative Networked
Communication and Publication."  It was also announced that the
Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force will be held outside of
the Washington area, likely in the San Francisco Bay area, on March
23-24, 1993.


Further Information

Additional information about the Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition
Task Force, and the various talks presented and documents distributed
at this meeting, can be obtained from Joan Lippincott, Coalition
Assistant Director, by sending electronic mail to joan@cni.org (Internet)
or joancni@umdc.bitnet or by phoning the Coalition office (202) 232-
2466.  Information will also be made available through the Coalition's
Internet server as it is received, edited, and converted.

Director's Postscript

The Spring 1992 Meeting of the Coalition Task Force was in every
respect an exhilarating and gratifying event.  Meeting attendees
contributed considerable insight and energy to the proceedings as they:
interacted with a very stimulating group of inventors of network
navigational tools, systems, and services;  deliberated upon the need for
human resource research and development, the evolution of the NREN
public policy framework and process, and the realities, issues, and
priorities that define access to and delivery of public, particularly
Federal, information;  and, immersed themselves in countless
discussions and debates about how to realize the promise of networking
for advancing scholarship and intellectual productivity.  The
Coalition exists to assist its member institutions and organizations in
their efforts to participate in and to influence a historic transformation
of how information is created, accessed, and used, a transformation that
is taking place in times of extreme economic hardship and demographic
change.  The Coalition encourages individuals in the broader
networking community, as well as in its member institutions and
organizations, to bring needs and issues to its attention and to contribute
to its program of work.  Indeed, the Coalition depends on it!

Part 2 of 2
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