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IETF RFC 7827
Last modified on Thursday, March 31st, 2016
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Internet Architecture Board (IAB) L. Eggert
Request for Comments: 7827 NetApp
Category: Informational March 2016
ISSN: 2070-1721
The Role of the IRTF Chair
 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
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
and represents information that the IAB has deemed valuable to
provide for permanent record. It represents the consensus of the
Internet Architecture Board (IAB). Documents approved for
publication by the IAB are not a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 7827.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document.
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RFC 7827 The Role of the IRTF Chair March 2016
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Duties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1. Strategic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2. Administrative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3. IAB Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1. Introduction
The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) focuses on longer-term
research issues related to the Internet, while its 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 that 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.
[RFC 2014] details the procedures by which RGs operate. [RFC 4440]
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 in the IRTF Stream [RFC 5743].
The IRTF Chair is appointed by the IAB [RFC 2014] for two-year terms
and manages the IRTF in consultation with the Internet Research
Steering Group (IRSG) and -- for some types of decisions -- the IAB.
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.
There is no general appeals process defined for the IRTF. However,
[RFC 2014] states that when an RG disagrees with the IRTF Chair's
decision to close the group, it can appeal to the IAB. Since the
IRTF Chair serves at the discretion of the IAB, it has been current
practice to generalize this special case in [RFC 2014]: any grievances
related to the IRTF Chair can be taken to the IAB, and it takes
appropriate measures.
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RFC 7827 The Role of the IRTF Chair March 2016
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.
2.1. Strategic
Arguably, the most important part of the duties of the IRTF Chair is
strategic and concerns shaping 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 in
various ways -- a publication record, membership in conference
program and organizational committees, participation in publicly
funded collaborative research projects, etc.
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 has turned into more of an administrative
duty. The IRTF Chair and an ISOC representative pick and chair the
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RFC 7827 The Role of the IRTF Chair March 2016
ANRP selection committee, which advertises the ANRP, encourages
community nominations for the prizes, and reviews nominations and
selects prize winners. The IRTF Chair and the ISOC representative
also mentor the ANRP winners, who are often IETF newcomers, and
introduce them to other attendees who may have an interest in their
work.
Chairmanship of the ANRP selection committee also relies on strong
ties to the academic research community, to identify suitable
selection committee members and to encourage nominations for 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 are related to publishing RFCs on the IRTF Stream, such
as ensuring sufficient review, so that documents published are of
good quality; scheduling the required Internet Engineering Steering
Group (IESG) review [RFC 5742]; 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 [RFC 2014]) and the IRSG. At the
moment, these procedures are captured 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
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RFC 7827 The Role of the IRTF Chair March 2016
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.
The IRTF Chair provides a status report on the IRTF to the IAB on a
monthly basis and also 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 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, planning IETF meeting agendas, and providing 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 Stream of RFCs and is hence part of the group that
reviews the RFC Editor's performance and operation; also, the IRTF
Chair engages with the Independent Submission Editor in cases where
submissions on the Independent 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 are important.
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RFC 7827 The Role of the IRTF Chair March 2016
2.3. IAB Membership
The IRTF Chair serves as an "ex officio" member of the IAB [RFC 2850]
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."
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. Informative References
[IAB-EXP] NomCom 2015, "Desired Expertise: Member of the Internet
Architecture Board", 2015,
<https://datatracker.ietf.org/nomcom/2015/
requirements/#iab-member>.
[IESG-EXP] NomCom 2015, "Generic IESG Member Expertise", August 2015,
<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/iesg/trac/wiki/
GenericExpertise?version=18>.
[IETF-JOURNAL]
Internet Society, "The IETF Journal",
<http://www.internetsociety.org/publications/
ietf-journal>.
[IRTF-WIKI]
Internet Research Task Force, "IRTF Wiki",
<http://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/irtf/trac/wiki>.
[RFC 2014] Weinrib, A. and J. Postel, "IRTF Research Group Guidelines
and Procedures", BCP 8, RFC 2014, DOI 10.17487/RFC 2014,
October 1996, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 2014>.
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RFC 7827 The Role of the IRTF Chair March 2016
[RFC 2850] Internet Architecture Board and B. Carpenter, Ed.,
"Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)",
BCP 39, RFC 2850, DOI 10.17487/RFC 2850, May 2000,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 2850>.
[RFC 4440] 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/RFC 4440, March 2006,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 4440>.
[RFC 5742] Alvestrand, H. and R. Housley, "IESG Procedures for
Handling of Independent and IRTF Stream Submissions",
BCP 92, RFC 5742, DOI 10.17487/RFC 5742, December 2009,
<http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5742>.
[RFC 5743] Falk, A., "Definition of an Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF) Document Stream", RFC 5743, DOI 10.17487/RFC 5743,
December 2009, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5743>.
Acknowledgments
Robert Sparks, Brian Trammell, Stephen Farrell, Niels ten Oever, Dirk
Kutscher, Aaron Falk, Jana Iyengar, Mat Ford, Adrian Farrel, Barry
Leiba, and Dave Thaler provided suggestions that improved 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 author's
views, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use
that may be made of the information it contains.
Author's Address
Lars Eggert
NetApp
Sonnenallee 1
Kirchheim bei Muenchen 85551
Germany
Phone: +49 151 120 55791
Email: lars@netapp.com
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RFC TOTAL SIZE: 16696 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Thursday, March 31st, 2016
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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