NOTE: This charter is accurate as of the 29th IETF Meeting in Seattle. It may now be out-of-date. (Consider this a "snapshot" of the working group from that meeting.) Up-to-date charters for all active working groups can be found elsewhere in this Web server.

Networked Information Retrieval (NIR) Charter

Chair(s)

Mailing List Information

Description of Working Group

As the network has grown, along with it there has been an increase in the number of software tools and applications to navigate the network and make use of the many, varied resources which are part of the network. Within the past year and a half we have seen a wide spread adoption of tools such as the Archie servers, the Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS), the Internet Gopher, and the World Wide Web (WWW). In addition to the acceptance of these tools, there are also diverse efforts to enhance and customize these tools to meet the needs of particular network communities.

There are many organizations and associations that have recently begun to focus on the proliferating resources and tools for networked information retrieval (NIR). The Networked Information Retrieval Working Group will be a cooperative effort of three major players in the field of NIR: IETF, RARE, and the Coalition for Networked Information specifically tasked to collect and disseminate information about the tools and to discuss and encourage cooperative development of current and future tools.

The NIR Working Group intends to increase the useful base of information about NIR tools, their developers, interested organizations, and other activities that relate to the production, dissemination, and support of NIR tools, to produce documentation that will enable user services organizations to provide better support for NIR tools, to develop materials that will assist the support and training of end users and to evolve in the future as necessary to meet and anticipate changes in the field (i.e., NIR tools, protocols, network topology, etc.).

Goals and Milestones

Done
Review and comment on proposed charter. Discuss applications template and organizational template.
Sep 1992
Post an Internet-Draft containing the Applications and Organizational Templates.
Oct 1992
Post an Internet-Draft of the ``Consumer Report'' with introductory material and completed templates.
Dec 1992
Submit ``Consumer Report'' to the IESG for publication as an Informational RFC.
NOTE: The Internet-Draft(s) listed below may have been deleted since they are only good for six months.

Internet-Drafts

RFCs