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Defense Technical Information Center
Fort Belvoir, VA
October 16, 1996
MINUTES
STI Policy and Information Infrastructure Developments
Dr. Michael Nelson, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
OSTP's mission is to coordinate science and technology (S&T) across the agencies. One objective is to promote information dissemination. While Dr. Nelson does not believe that enough has been done, there have been new policies enacted to promote use and dissemination. S&T is handled better within the government than some other types of information.
Dr. Nelson identified the four major issues and policy areas in which he is working and then opened the floor to informal discussion.
Dr. Nelson is working in four major areas:
Vision
This includes the education of the public to new technologies and their benefits, as well as the regulations and policy changes that are needed. One indication of the degree to which the public is educated about these technologies is that the Internet and WWW are appearing in popular comic strips. The word has been spread both nationally and internationally.
Research and Technology
The supercomputer efforts have grown from $500m to $1 billion since 1991. Ten agencies, including ARPA, NSF, NASA, DOE, and Commerce have been involved. The projects began in 1991 as a way to lay the foundation for the information highway, including hardware, software, networking and the training of people. Now the focus is shifting to practical applications of supercomputers in defense, climate monitoring, and the social sciences.
Over arching concerns in the area of Research and Technology include making the technologies more reliable, more robust and more usable. The Grand Challenges for scientific problems that required the use of supercomputers and high speed networks have been accomplished. Now the effort is moving toward National Programs such as Digital Libraries and Telemedicine. Systems integration is increasingly important.
The latest report of the High Performance Computing Centers (HPCC) is available on the WWW at http://www.hpcc.gov. This report outlines what is planned including the investigation of indexing and search engines.
In the applications area, there have been two major success stories. The revised procurement strategies, developed as part of the reinventing government initiative, are being implemented to allow government to obtain hardware more quickly before it is out-of-date. The White House Homepage was the first homepage within the government; now there are over 120,000 homepages in the government.
Dr. Nelson also spoke briefly about Internet 2. This initiative
seeks to repeat the success of the NSFnet. $100 million per year
will be spent on high speed links between research universities,
laboratories, private organizations and the government to handle
high speed traffic such as large data transfers and video. This
tiered approach will keep the old Internet 1 for e-mail traffic
and other common transactions. (Even within the Internet 1, providers
are beginning to establish performance-based contracts between
themselves.) It is anticipated that, as with the NSFnet, the technologies
developed in Internet 2 will spread from the testbed to general
use.
Information Policy
Information policy, which includes issues such as intellectual property rights and copyright, is the most difficult area to address and the area in which more work remains to be done. Dr. Nelson believes that the creators of content need to have the assurance that their property will be protected, but there is a tradition of fair use that must be reinvented for the new environment. Policies must be developed with technologies of the future in mind and how they will work with the proposed policies. These areas also have international implications.
The telecommunications policy signed in February is very important. Even though the court has recently stayed the implementation of an important part of the legislation, Dr. Nelson believes that it will provide more equitable, broader-based access to networking technologies.
Security
Dr. Nelson's final major concern is Security. In July the Critical Infrastructure Protection Commission was established to deal with the security of the systems related to phone lines, gas and electric grids, and air traffic control. This commission will soon have a homepage under DTIC http://www.pccip.gov/.
Discussion
CENDI Members identified the following key issues:
Information Life Cycle Management -- Preservation and Archiving
Information life cycle management is a major concern to the CENDI agencies. We cannot necessarily take the old parameters of paper and apply them to the electronic. Just because the information is on the Net does not necessarily mean it has permanence.
There is a need for general government policy on what should be saved and for how long. There is just "too much stuff", much of which is of no interest to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). However most agencies don't have the funding for life cycle management of information.
Several agencies identified challenges resulting from laboratory
or military base closures. NTIS is accepting collections and then
trying to determine how to handle them while retaining their cost
recovery mandate. NTIS received the document collection of the
National Bureau of Mines, and they are trying to decide how to
handle the collection, because the revenue generation will be
very small, but the expense to maintain and provide access will
be very high. This collection consists of 13,000 microfiche, many
within headers, which date back to the 1890's. A paper bibliography
listing was included, but the format is not easily incorporated
into NTIS's database. DTIC has received files in the form of microfiche
in a box after base closures. However, DTIC doesn't have the space
to house them. DOE noted that some sites have closed so quickly
that there is no one left to manage the transition, and the information
is simply lost.
Contractors need clearer instructions regarding their responsibility for government archiving. This is especially important since contracts may not be remaining with incumbents as long as in the past.
An additional problem arises when the agencies must accept a variety of input formats. This turns the agency into a "conversion house". Similarly, they are expected to provide information in a variety of formats.
The incorporation of good information life cycle management really involves the researchers. It is important to get them to buy into the importance of data and good data management practices. Sometimes there is no thought for information management even in "new starts". Funding for STI is an R&D issue, not an overhead issue.
Changing Scientific Communication Practices
The group discussed the possible changes in scientific communication over the next 3-5 years. Some scientists say that commercial publishers will disappear. How do you identify and manage the content of scientific "chat rooms"? These issues are often addressed, even within the National Academies of Science, in a stove-pipe approach, rather than across the broader spectrum of S&T communication. What can the government do to provide a model/framework for this new communication?
Mr. Nelson indicated that the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), UNESCO, and the Organization for Economic and Cultural Development (OECD) have done some work in this area. He believes that industry will have to develop the new model. Government will need to be patient and be prepared to deal with the outcome.
CIO Council
Several participants indicated that the people selected and issues
being discussed by their CIO Council representatives indicate
a focus on hardware and procurement rather than on information
content. (Mr. Molholm indicated that a staff member for the Defense
CIO is interested in pushing the content issue.)
The CIO Council is having its third meeting next week. They are
discussing infrastructure issues such as Internet access, seeking
to keep the momentum going and to force some change in regulations.
They will be planning their strategy for the coming year. The
CIO Council is supposed to look at the broader issues.
Dr. Nelson sees a connection between CENDI and the CIO Council. He recommended that CENDI write a series of short position papers for the CIO Council, framing the issues. He indicated that the HPCC could also benefit from the position papers, since they are thinking about the future of Digital Libraries.
FOIA
The problem of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the Intranet environment where homepages and content change in real time has not been well addressed. FOIA is an issue for the agencies, particularly as it relates to exchange agreements. There have been cases where international organizations have refused to sign an agreement to provide information, because they cannot be sure that the data will be protected from further dissemination under FOIA. Now every agency is approaching the problem differently. Dr. Nelson indicated that the Electronic FOIA bill which was just signed puts new burdens on the agencies but is also a more efficient way to provide the information.
Copyright and Intellectual Property
The problem of copyright was also noted. Copyrighted information contained within government publications is a particular problem for NTIS. They will not distribute the copyrighted portion of the government document unless they have assurance that a waiver has been granted by the copyright holder.
HR3531 (Intellectual Property Protection and Database Antipiracy) was discussed. Dr. Nelson believes that there are two extremes -- the extremes of data protectionism and total information freedom. He does not believe that the spirit of the HR bill and the WIPO proposal is to reduce the flow of information for research purposes or to oppose fair use.
The letter from the National Academy of Science regarding HR3531 raises the level of the debate and the Administration's need to deal with it. Technologies are making the compromises more difficult. What is needed is a clearly defined fair use statement. He is attending a meeting this afternoon at American Univ. to discuss HR3531.
DTIC provides databases and access methods to a wide variety of information in support of the DoD mission. Half the database is unlimited-unclassified. The technology transfer information is also included and is controlled. DTIC is the only agency with an IR&D database. They are also responsible for writing DoD STI policies.
DTIC services a wide range of customers both classified and unclassified. The users must preregister, including their information rights. They have two Internet providers in order to keep the access more reliable. There is also a T1 line to the Pentagon. A commerce server is being used even for the "public" databases and services to avoid possible security breaches into their system. Full text documents are also available on a secure portion of DTIC's online system, STINET. GoldenGate provides an interface for the inexperienced or infrequent user.
DTIC is also involved in the development of collaboration tools. A demonstration collaboratorium was developed in the area of Emergency Response. It crosses the information of various agencies. WWW and OmniPort are used as the search engine. Habaenero provides a communications framework to allow synchronous collaboration across the Internet. They are looking to test this pilot collaboratorium worldwide in a stress situation.
Process improvements are aimed at improved and more timely and complete collections and databases. The TR (Technical Report) database is now updated on a weekly basis. They are improving the usefulness and timeliness of the Work Unit Information System (WUIS) and redesigning the data elements to match the TR database where appropriate. In the production environment, the electronic document management system (EDMS) is now in full production for unclassified material. Input requires an average of 15 days and document delivery is completed in an average of 1.5 days. The EDMS will be set up for classified material by the end of 1996.
Other initiatives include the Air Force Materials Command project which requires encrypted transmission using Lotus Notes, FS-X which is now available under tight control with the Japanese, the DARPA/CNRI/DTIC Digital Library initiative, and efforts to increase the scope of the collection.
DTIC is also in charge of the IAC (Information Analysis Centers)
which are centered around specific disciplines. The Information
Warfare IAC was created using $800,000 from DTIC and additional
money from the other DoD agencies. It provides DOD with a central
point of access to information on emerging technologies in system
vulnerabilities, research and development, models and analysis
to support the development and implementation of effective defense
against Information Warfare attacks. Instead of creating a new
IAC, the resources of 3 existing IACs in related disciplines are
used to create a virtual IAC.
Future efforts include a Technical Area Tasking Tracker System which automates electronic signatures and will speed the tasking process. They are also installing a Capacity Management system that will automatically beep the operator at home if a capacity threshold is reached.
WebMaster Standards
Carlynn Thompson
Ms. Thompson is the chair of the Federal WebMaster Standards Group. She provided an update on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on the WWW as presented by Glenn Schlarman at an earlier CENDI meeting. When Mr. Schlarman attended the WebMaster's meeting, he found that a set of best practices regarding the WWW had already been developed. He is suggesting minor modifications to these guidelines. Rather than separate OMB WWW guidelines, OMB plans to issue a memo reminding the agencies that there are policies, laws, and regulations that need to be considered when developing an maintaining Federal WWW sites.
Ms. Thompson gave her view on what will be contained in Mr. Schlarman's final draft to OMB. However, it isn't clear whether these elements will remain in the final document when it is issued by OMB.
Paperwork Reduction Act - including alternative sources for WWW content and consultation with the public before information is removed from a WWW site is a point of major concern.
Privacy Act - databases holding e-mail for customers may be considered databases of record which raises a privacy issue. Also the question arises whether IP addresses can be subject to privacy. What about session/"cookies" information? "Cookies" invisibly capture information when a user accesses a site so that the site's owner (usually an advertiser) can resend something to the user automatically, without the user's approval. The current thought is to put up a "cookies" notification or to turn "cookies" off on Federal WWW sites.
Federal Records Act - Should a record copy of agency information posted to a Website exist in another form and location that is readily identifiable and appropriate for access and preservation? Mr. Schlarman suggested a snapshot of WWW sights at certain intervals. However Ms. Thompson said that it is doubtful that there would be enough tapes to store the snapshots.
Freedom of Information Act - Postings to agency Websites are official agency disclosures. Therefore, a draft agency document considered pre-decisional must be protected from open access in order to protect the integrity of the agency's deliberative process. An outstanding question is whether provision of information via a Website is a basis for refusal to honor other FOIA requests for that information in other formats.
Best Practices - the OMB memo will refer to the Federal WebMaster Consortium Guidelines.
Ms. Thompson believes that the members of the WebMaster's Group have made a case for legitimate times when personal and private/commercial sector WWW sites should be linked to Federal WWW sites.
Marketing Information System
Barbara Lesser
The term Marketing Information System was determined to be too narrow a focus, it is more of a Decision Support System. It is being developed in three phases - Customer Profiler, Order Tracking and Prospect Tracking.
The Customer Profiler is a LAN-based, "Eddie Bauer" type system developed with in-house resources using the Mapper 4GL language. Customer Profiler pulls information from other systems including desktop databases and presents it to the customer service person on the screen. The profiler is about 50% complete. Most profiling is at the organization rather than the individual level.
The Order Tracking system is based on a 3-character market code that indicates where the order came from. Codes are on all promotional pieces, brochures, and conference registrations. The functional requirements are currently under development. This system will also be developed in-house.
The Prospect Tracking System will allow DTIC to assess and focus
on user needs. The requirements will be written by the end of
1996. There is a problem relating this system to the other components
of the Decision Support System, since the Prospect Tracking System
does not have a user code which is the key to the other system
components.
CD-ROM Demonstration - Hardcopy to Multimedia
Julie Gibson
The Defense Science and Technology Strategy & Plans on CD-ROM was produced for the Director, Defense Research & Engineering (DDR&E). Five documents in hardcopy are available on the Internet, but DDR&E also wanted it on CD-ROM. DTIC was approached about this project in June. The version to be released at the end of the month was demonstrated. It will run on both a PC and a Mac. This project proved to be a worthwhile test of what can be done in this area. 3000 copies will be distributed.
The documents were converted to Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document
Format) files. This achieved the user's requirement to preserve
the look and feel of the document. The CD-ROM includes the PDF
file, a single word-based index, the original native file, the
HTML file, and the search engine software.
Adobe Acrobat Search for CD-ROM was used. This is the Acrobat reader for the PDF (Portable Document Format) files with a plug-in for searching. Browsing by document was added. The first screen shows a title page with buttons and links which are really connections to other PDF files rather than real hypertext links. The development tools for display are not extensive.
Due to the time involved, extensive linking within the document was not done. Links exist from the table of content to actual places in the document, and some specific links were built within the document or to another document where appropriate. Book marks were added from the table of contents. Graphics are displayed in full color, and zooming is allows. Help files and paper documentation (primarily to explain the tool bar) are included.
The inclusion of the HTML files allows the user to access the documents using his own browser with the files on the CD-ROM rather than through the Internet. Some organizations are behind firewalls so CD-ROM makes sense. The developers had to maintain the Internet directory structure to accomplish this.
Collaboratorium Demonstration
Margaret Brautigan
A group at the Pentagon needed a way to collaborate in real-time on a document without physically meeting. DTIC reviewed the available COTS software. None was found, so DTIC developed a script using PERL. After the success of the specific collaboratorium for the Pentagon, a more generic script was developed, which is now in beta test. The documentation for the software is being written and a group of outside WebMasters are testing it. NCSA will make the software available on its Skydive Server. In exchange, NCSA will provide technical support to users of the software.
A virtual moderator for the group is necessary. It is the moderator's responsibility to post the documents and to roll up the versions when necessary. Individual participants can add other participants to the group, but deletions and changes must be done by the WebMaster. Events can be put on the calendar for ease in meeting coordination.