Internet DRAFT - draft-eggert-irtf-chair-description
draft-eggert-irtf-chair-description
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) L. Eggert
Internet-Draft NetApp
Intended status: Informational January 05, 2016
Expires: July 8, 2016
The Role of the IRTF Chair
draft-eggert-irtf-chair-description-00
Abstract
This document briefly describes the role of the Chair of the Internet
Research Task Force (IRTF), discusses its duties and outlines the
skill set a candidate for the role should ideally have.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on July 8, 2016.
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This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may not
be created, except to format it for publication as an RFC or to
translate it into languages other than English.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1. Strategic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Administrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3. IAB Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) focuses on longer term
research issues related to the Internet while the sister
organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), focuses on
the shorter term issues of engineering and standards making.
The IRTF consists of a number of topical and long-term Research
Groups (RGs). These groups work on issues related to Internet
protocols, applications, architecture and technology. RGs have the
stable long term membership which is needed to promote the
development of research collaboration and teamwork in exploring
research issues. Individual contributors participate in the IRTF,
rather than representatives of organizations.
[RFC2014] details the procedures by which RGs operate. [RFC4440]
discusses a view from the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) on the
IRTF and its relationship to the IETF. The RFC Editor publishes
documents from the IRTF and its RGs on the IRTF Stream [RFC5743].
The IRTF Chair manages the IRTF in consultation with the Internet
Research Steering Group (IRSG). The IRSG membership includes the
IRTF Chair, the chairs of the various RGs and other individuals
("members at large") from the research community selected by the IRTF
Chair.
2. Duties
This section discusses the various duties of the IRTF chair and
outlines the skill set a candidate for the role should ideally have.
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2.1. Strategic
Arguably the most important part of the duties of the IRTF Chair is
strategic, and concern shaping of the purpose and scope of the IRTF,
by making decisions about which RGs to charter, which RGs to
terminate, and which other activities or efforts the IRTF should
organize or affiliate itself with in order to further its charter and
increase the interaction and collaboration between network research,
engineering, operations and standardization.
For some new RGs, the research and engineering community brings a
proposal to the IRTF Chair for discussion. However, it is common for
the IRTF Chair to identify a new area of research that is considered
of importance to the Internet, actively motivate people in the
research and engineering community to consider the formation of an
RG, and help them navigate the process for doing so.
In order to be able to fulfill this duty, it is important for the
IRTF Chair to be involved in both the academic research community as
well as engineering or operational communities. Without a
demonstrated history of participation in these often somewhat
isolated communities it will be very difficult to identify areas of
academic research that are suitable for being brought into the IRTF.
A good network of contacts in these communities will be very helpful
in identifying and motivating potential RG chairs and participants.
Involvement in the academic research community can be demonstrated
through a publication record, membership in conference program and
organizational committees, participation in publicly funded
collaborative research projects, among others.
In addition to chartering new RGs, it is equally important for the
IRTF to end RGs that have run out of energy, are focused on issues no
longer considered important for the Internet, or are otherwise not
operating well. Careful communication and good people skills are
essential in order to explain the reasons for concluding an RG. The
same skill set is also useful when explaining to proponents of a new
RG why their request is being denied.
The Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) is a joint award of the
Internet Society (ISOC) and an example of a strategic initiative that
since its inception in 2011 now turned into more of an administrative
duty. The IRTF Chair and an ISOC representative pick and chair the
ANRP selection committee, which advertises the ANRP, encourages
community nominations for the prizes, and reviews nominations and
selects prize winners. To serve in this role, the IRTF Chair also
relies on strong ties to the academic research community, to identify
suitable selection committee members and to encourage nominations for
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suitable work that is published in a given year. The selection
committee operates similar to a program committee for an academic
conference (more specifically, it performs a function similar to the
selection of a best paper award). It is therefore useful if the IRTF
Chair has firsthand experience serving on program committees, and
ideally, chairing them.
2.2. Administrative
A good fraction of the duties of the IRTF Chair are administrative.
Some of them may be permanently or temporarily delegated to other
IRSG members, but they ultimately always remain the IRTF Chair's
responsibility.
Some of those related to publishing documents on the IRTF RFC Stream,
such as ensuring sufficient review, so that documents published are
of good quality, scheduling the required Internet Engineering
Steering Group (IESG) review [RFC5742], and following up with the
IESG, IANA and the RFC Editor during and after the publication
process.
Other administrative duties include reviewing and approving requests
from the RGs for time slots during IETF meetings or interim meetings
elsewhere, ensuring that meeting materials are submitted on schedule,
maintaining the IRTF web site, and - in cooperation with the RG
chairs - ensuring that the IETF datatracker correctly reflects the
status of the various IRTF-related documents.
The IRTF Chair appoints, replaces and manages the RG chairs and the
IRSG, and follows the research work of the chartered and proposed RGs
to a degree that is sufficient to let them develop an understanding
on whether they are generally operating well.
The IRTF Chair also defines the operational procedures for the IRTF
(in the boundaries defined by [RFC2014]) and the IRSG. At the
moment, these procedures are captures as a set of wiki pages
[IRTF-WIKI] and it is the duty of the IRTF Chair to refine and update
these descriptions as procedures evolve. When process questions on
the IRSG or in an RG arise (e.g., on IPR, liaison statements,
consensus procedures, copyright, plagiarism, document publication,
etc.), the IRTF Chair is frequently consulted and needs to have
sufficient familiarity in the area to provide a definitive answer, or
at least be able to identify an external party for further
consultation.
The IRSG tries to schedule a working dinner during each IETF meeting,
and the IRTF Chair is responsible for organizing the agenda and a
suitable venue.
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The IRTF Chair writes a regular column for the IETF Journal
[IETF-JOURNAL] on recent IRTF-related events.
During each IETF meeting, the IRTF Chair is responsible for
organizing and chairing the "IRTF Open Meeting", during which topics
related to the IRTF are being presented and discussed. This includes
a report by the IRTF Chair on the status of the IRTF and its RGs (an
abbreviated version of this report is also usually given during the
IETF Technical Plenary) as well as other presentations from RGs, ANRP
prize winners, individuals wishing to propose new RGS, or others.
These administrative duties are very similar to part of the duties of
an Area Director (AD) in the IETF and require the same set of
organizational and communication skills [IESG-EXP]. They also
require a regular time commitment throughout the year, the ability to
attend most of the IETF meetings in person, as well as some other
related travel.
The IRTF Chair regularly interacts with the ADs and the IESG for
document reviews, IETF meeting agenda planning, and often provides
input on various IETF efforts and topics. The IRTF Chair also
regularly interacts with the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee
(IAOC) and the IETF Secretariat for meeting planning, budgeting and
other organizational purposes. In addition, the IRTF Chair also
interacts with the Tools Team to provide input on how IETF tools can
best support the operation of the IRTF. Finally, the IRTF Chair is
the owner of the IRTF RFC Stream and is hence part of the group that
reviews the RFC Editor's performance and operation; and engages with
the Independent Stream Editor in cases where submissions on that RFC
Stream have relationships to the IRTF. A good understanding of the
purpose and procedures of these different bodies and a good working
relationship with the individuals serving on them is important.
2.3. IAB Membership
The IRTF Chair serves as an "ex officio" member of the IAB [RFC2850],
and is expected to participate in IAB discussions and activities
alongside the NomCom-appointed IAB members.
This duty benefits from expertise that is similar to those of full
IAB members [IAB-EXP], and requires a similar time and travel
commitment, for example, to attend IAB retreats, relevant IAB
workshops as well as other meetings the IAB is participating in or
organizing. Per [IAB-EXP], "it is desirable for IAB members to have
technical leadership experience, operational management backgrounds,
research or academic backgrounds, implementation experience, and
experience in other bodies involved in Internet governance."
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The IRTF Chair frequently provides input to "birds-of-a-feather"
(BoF) sessions, either as an ex officio IAB member (i.e., as a "BoF
shepherd") or because it may be unclear whether a proposed effort
should be started as an IETF WG or an IRTF RG.
3. Security Considerations
This document raises no security considerations.
4. IANA Considerations
This document has no IANA considerations.
5. Acknowledgments
Robert Sparks, Brian Trammell, Stephen Farrell, Niels ten Oever, Dirk
Kutscher, Aaron Falk and Jana Iyengar provided input to this
document.
Lars Eggert has received funding from the European Union's Horizon
2020 research and innovation program 2014-2018 under grant agreement
No. 644866 ("SSICLOPS"). This document reflects only the authors'
views and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that
may be made of the information it contains.
This document is being prepared in a Github repository [REPO] using
Martin Thomson's I-D template [ID-TEMPLATE] and Carsten Bormann's
[KRAMDOWN-RFC2629].
6. Informative References
[IAB-EXP] NomCom 2015, "Desired Expertise: Member of the Internet
Architecture Board", 2015,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/nomcom/2015/
requirements/#iab-member>.
[ID-TEMPLATE]
Thomson, M., "martinthomson/i-d-template", n.d.,
<https://github.com/martinthomson/i-d-template>.
[IESG-EXP]
NomCom 2015, "Generic IESG Member Expertise", 2015,
<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/iesg/trac/wiki/
GenericExpertise>.
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[IETF-JOURNAL]
Internet Society, "The IETF Journal", n.d.,
<http://www.internetsociety.org/publications/
ietf-journal>.
[IRTF-WIKI]
Internet Research Task Force, "IRTF Wiki", n.d.,
<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/irtf/trac/wiki>.
[KRAMDOWN-RFC2629]
Bormann, C., "cabo/kramdown-rfc2629", n.d.,
<https://github.com/cabo/kramdown-rfc2629>.
[REPO] Eggert, L., "larseggert/irtf-chair-description", n.d.,
<https://github.com/larseggert/irtf-chair-description>.
[RFC2014] Weinrib, A. and J. Postel, "IRTF Research Group Guidelines
and Procedures", BCP 8, RFC 2014, DOI 10.17487/RFC2014,
October 1996, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2014>.
[RFC2850] Internet Architecture Board and B. Carpenter, Ed.,
"Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)",
BCP 39, RFC 2850, DOI 10.17487/RFC2850, May 2000,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2850>.
[RFC4440] Floyd, S., Ed., Paxson, V., Ed., Falk, A., Ed., and IAB,
"IAB Thoughts on the Role of the Internet Research Task
Force (IRTF)", RFC 4440, DOI 10.17487/RFC4440, March 2006,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4440>.
[RFC5742] Alvestrand, H. and R. Housley, "IESG Procedures for
Handling of Independent and IRTF Stream Submissions",
BCP 92, RFC 5742, DOI 10.17487/RFC5742, December 2009,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5742>.
[RFC5743] Falk, A., "Definition of an Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF) Document Stream", RFC 5743, DOI 10.17487/RFC5743,
December 2009, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5743>.
Author's Address
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Lars Eggert
NetApp
Sonnenallee 1
Kirchheim bei Muenchen 85551
Germany
Phone: +49 151 120 55791
Email: lars@netapp.com
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