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Eggert 3 Internet-Draft NetApp 4 Intended status: Informational January 05, 2016 5 Expires: July 8, 2016 7 The Role of the IRTF Chair 8 draft-eggert-irtf-chair-description-00 10 Abstract 12 This document briefly describes the role of the Chair of the Internet 13 Research Task Force (IRTF), discusses its duties and outlines the 14 skill set a candidate for the role should ideally have. 16 Status of This Memo 18 This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the 19 provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. 21 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering 22 Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute 23 working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- 24 Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. 26 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months 27 and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any 28 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference 29 material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." 31 This Internet-Draft will expire on July 8, 2016. 33 Copyright Notice 35 Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the 36 document authors. All rights reserved. 38 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal 39 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents 40 (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of 41 publication of this document. Please review these documents 42 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect 43 to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must 44 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of 45 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as 46 described in the Simplified BSD License. 48 This document may not be modified, and derivative works of it may not 49 be created, except to format it for publication as an RFC or to 50 translate it into languages other than English. 52 Table of Contents 54 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 55 2. Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 56 2.1. Strategic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 57 2.2. Administrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 58 2.3. IAB Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 59 3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 60 4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 61 5. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 62 6. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 63 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 65 1. Introduction 67 The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) focuses on longer term 68 research issues related to the Internet while the sister 69 organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), focuses on 70 the shorter term issues of engineering and standards making. 72 The IRTF consists of a number of topical and long-term Research 73 Groups (RGs). These groups work on issues related to Internet 74 protocols, applications, architecture and technology. RGs have the 75 stable long term membership which is needed to promote the 76 development of research collaboration and teamwork in exploring 77 research issues. Individual contributors participate in the IRTF, 78 rather than representatives of organizations. 80 [RFC2014] details the procedures by which RGs operate. [RFC4440] 81 discusses a view from the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) on the 82 IRTF and its relationship to the IETF. The RFC Editor publishes 83 documents from the IRTF and its RGs on the IRTF Stream [RFC5743]. 85 The IRTF Chair manages the IRTF in consultation with the Internet 86 Research Steering Group (IRSG). The IRSG membership includes the 87 IRTF Chair, the chairs of the various RGs and other individuals 88 ("members at large") from the research community selected by the IRTF 89 Chair. 91 2. Duties 93 This section discusses the various duties of the IRTF chair and 94 outlines the skill set a candidate for the role should ideally have. 96 2.1. Strategic 98 Arguably the most important part of the duties of the IRTF Chair is 99 strategic, and concern shaping of the purpose and scope of the IRTF, 100 by making decisions about which RGs to charter, which RGs to 101 terminate, and which other activities or efforts the IRTF should 102 organize or affiliate itself with in order to further its charter and 103 increase the interaction and collaboration between network research, 104 engineering, operations and standardization. 106 For some new RGs, the research and engineering community brings a 107 proposal to the IRTF Chair for discussion. However, it is common for 108 the IRTF Chair to identify a new area of research that is considered 109 of importance to the Internet, actively motivate people in the 110 research and engineering community to consider the formation of an 111 RG, and help them navigate the process for doing so. 113 In order to be able to fulfill this duty, it is important for the 114 IRTF Chair to be involved in both the academic research community as 115 well as engineering or operational communities. Without a 116 demonstrated history of participation in these often somewhat 117 isolated communities it will be very difficult to identify areas of 118 academic research that are suitable for being brought into the IRTF. 119 A good network of contacts in these communities will be very helpful 120 in identifying and motivating potential RG chairs and participants. 122 Involvement in the academic research community can be demonstrated 123 through a publication record, membership in conference program and 124 organizational committees, participation in publicly funded 125 collaborative research projects, among others. 127 In addition to chartering new RGs, it is equally important for the 128 IRTF to end RGs that have run out of energy, are focused on issues no 129 longer considered important for the Internet, or are otherwise not 130 operating well. Careful communication and good people skills are 131 essential in order to explain the reasons for concluding an RG. The 132 same skill set is also useful when explaining to proponents of a new 133 RG why their request is being denied. 135 The Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) is a joint award of the 136 Internet Society (ISOC) and an example of a strategic initiative that 137 since its inception in 2011 now turned into more of an administrative 138 duty. The IRTF Chair and an ISOC representative pick and chair the 139 ANRP selection committee, which advertises the ANRP, encourages 140 community nominations for the prizes, and reviews nominations and 141 selects prize winners. To serve in this role, the IRTF Chair also 142 relies on strong ties to the academic research community, to identify 143 suitable selection committee members and to encourage nominations for 144 suitable work that is published in a given year. The selection 145 committee operates similar to a program committee for an academic 146 conference (more specifically, it performs a function similar to the 147 selection of a best paper award). It is therefore useful if the IRTF 148 Chair has firsthand experience serving on program committees, and 149 ideally, chairing them. 151 2.2. Administrative 153 A good fraction of the duties of the IRTF Chair are administrative. 154 Some of them may be permanently or temporarily delegated to other 155 IRSG members, but they ultimately always remain the IRTF Chair's 156 responsibility. 158 Some of those related to publishing documents on the IRTF RFC Stream, 159 such as ensuring sufficient review, so that documents published are 160 of good quality, scheduling the required Internet Engineering 161 Steering Group (IESG) review [RFC5742], and following up with the 162 IESG, IANA and the RFC Editor during and after the publication 163 process. 165 Other administrative duties include reviewing and approving requests 166 from the RGs for time slots during IETF meetings or interim meetings 167 elsewhere, ensuring that meeting materials are submitted on schedule, 168 maintaining the IRTF web site, and - in cooperation with the RG 169 chairs - ensuring that the IETF datatracker correctly reflects the 170 status of the various IRTF-related documents. 172 The IRTF Chair appoints, replaces and manages the RG chairs and the 173 IRSG, and follows the research work of the chartered and proposed RGs 174 to a degree that is sufficient to let them develop an understanding 175 on whether they are generally operating well. 177 The IRTF Chair also defines the operational procedures for the IRTF 178 (in the boundaries defined by [RFC2014]) and the IRSG. At the 179 moment, these procedures are captures as a set of wiki pages 180 [IRTF-WIKI] and it is the duty of the IRTF Chair to refine and update 181 these descriptions as procedures evolve. When process questions on 182 the IRSG or in an RG arise (e.g., on IPR, liaison statements, 183 consensus procedures, copyright, plagiarism, document publication, 184 etc.), the IRTF Chair is frequently consulted and needs to have 185 sufficient familiarity in the area to provide a definitive answer, or 186 at least be able to identify an external party for further 187 consultation. 189 The IRSG tries to schedule a working dinner during each IETF meeting, 190 and the IRTF Chair is responsible for organizing the agenda and a 191 suitable venue. 193 The IRTF Chair writes a regular column for the IETF Journal 194 [IETF-JOURNAL] on recent IRTF-related events. 196 During each IETF meeting, the IRTF Chair is responsible for 197 organizing and chairing the "IRTF Open Meeting", during which topics 198 related to the IRTF are being presented and discussed. This includes 199 a report by the IRTF Chair on the status of the IRTF and its RGs (an 200 abbreviated version of this report is also usually given during the 201 IETF Technical Plenary) as well as other presentations from RGs, ANRP 202 prize winners, individuals wishing to propose new RGS, or others. 204 These administrative duties are very similar to part of the duties of 205 an Area Director (AD) in the IETF and require the same set of 206 organizational and communication skills [IESG-EXP]. They also 207 require a regular time commitment throughout the year, the ability to 208 attend most of the IETF meetings in person, as well as some other 209 related travel. 211 The IRTF Chair regularly interacts with the ADs and the IESG for 212 document reviews, IETF meeting agenda planning, and often provides 213 input on various IETF efforts and topics. The IRTF Chair also 214 regularly interacts with the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee 215 (IAOC) and the IETF Secretariat for meeting planning, budgeting and 216 other organizational purposes. In addition, the IRTF Chair also 217 interacts with the Tools Team to provide input on how IETF tools can 218 best support the operation of the IRTF. Finally, the IRTF Chair is 219 the owner of the IRTF RFC Stream and is hence part of the group that 220 reviews the RFC Editor's performance and operation; and engages with 221 the Independent Stream Editor in cases where submissions on that RFC 222 Stream have relationships to the IRTF. A good understanding of the 223 purpose and procedures of these different bodies and a good working 224 relationship with the individuals serving on them is important. 226 2.3. IAB Membership 228 The IRTF Chair serves as an "ex officio" member of the IAB [RFC2850], 229 and is expected to participate in IAB discussions and activities 230 alongside the NomCom-appointed IAB members. 232 This duty benefits from expertise that is similar to those of full 233 IAB members [IAB-EXP], and requires a similar time and travel 234 commitment, for example, to attend IAB retreats, relevant IAB 235 workshops as well as other meetings the IAB is participating in or 236 organizing. Per [IAB-EXP], "it is desirable for IAB members to have 237 technical leadership experience, operational management backgrounds, 238 research or academic backgrounds, implementation experience, and 239 experience in other bodies involved in Internet governance." 240 The IRTF Chair frequently provides input to "birds-of-a-feather" 241 (BoF) sessions, either as an ex officio IAB member (i.e., as a "BoF 242 shepherd") or because it may be unclear whether a proposed effort 243 should be started as an IETF WG or an IRTF RG. 245 3. Security Considerations 247 This document raises no security considerations. 249 4. IANA Considerations 251 This document has no IANA considerations. 253 5. Acknowledgments 255 Robert Sparks, Brian Trammell, Stephen Farrell, Niels ten Oever, Dirk 256 Kutscher, Aaron Falk and Jana Iyengar provided input to this 257 document. 259 Lars Eggert has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 260 2020 research and innovation program 2014-2018 under grant agreement 261 No. 644866 ("SSICLOPS"). This document reflects only the authors' 262 views and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that 263 may be made of the information it contains. 265 This document is being prepared in a Github repository [REPO] using 266 Martin Thomson's I-D template [ID-TEMPLATE] and Carsten Bormann's 267 [KRAMDOWN-RFC2629]. 269 6. Informative References 271 [IAB-EXP] NomCom 2015, "Desired Expertise: Member of the Internet 272 Architecture Board", 2015, 273 . 276 [ID-TEMPLATE] 277 Thomson, M., "martinthomson/i-d-template", n.d., 278 . 280 [IESG-EXP] 281 NomCom 2015, "Generic IESG Member Expertise", 2015, 282 . 285 [IETF-JOURNAL] 286 Internet Society, "The IETF Journal", n.d., 287 . 290 [IRTF-WIKI] 291 Internet Research Task Force, "IRTF Wiki", n.d., 292 . 294 [KRAMDOWN-RFC2629] 295 Bormann, C., "cabo/kramdown-rfc2629", n.d., 296 . 298 [REPO] Eggert, L., "larseggert/irtf-chair-description", n.d., 299 . 301 [RFC2014] Weinrib, A. and J. Postel, "IRTF Research Group Guidelines 302 and Procedures", BCP 8, RFC 2014, DOI 10.17487/RFC2014, 303 October 1996, . 305 [RFC2850] Internet Architecture Board and B. Carpenter, Ed., 306 "Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)", 307 BCP 39, RFC 2850, DOI 10.17487/RFC2850, May 2000, 308 . 310 [RFC4440] Floyd, S., Ed., Paxson, V., Ed., Falk, A., Ed., and IAB, 311 "IAB Thoughts on the Role of the Internet Research Task 312 Force (IRTF)", RFC 4440, DOI 10.17487/RFC4440, March 2006, 313 . 315 [RFC5742] Alvestrand, H. and R. Housley, "IESG Procedures for 316 Handling of Independent and IRTF Stream Submissions", 317 BCP 92, RFC 5742, DOI 10.17487/RFC5742, December 2009, 318 . 320 [RFC5743] Falk, A., "Definition of an Internet Research Task Force 321 (IRTF) Document Stream", RFC 5743, DOI 10.17487/RFC5743, 322 December 2009, . 324 Author's Address 325 Lars Eggert 326 NetApp 327 Sonnenallee 1 328 Kirchheim bei Muenchen 85551 329 Germany 331 Phone: +49 151 120 55791 332 Email: lars@netapp.com