DCN INFORMATION PROVIDER COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES

[These are draft notes until approved at a subsequent IPC meeting.]

DATE: 8/6/97
TIME: 6:15 - 7:30 PM
LOCATION: City of Davis Computer Lab, 600 A Street.

ATTENDEES: John Batchelder (visiting), Anne Hance, Paul Healey,
           Tommy Ho (visiting), Richard Lowenberg, Steve McMahon,
           Esther Polito, Keith Pryor (proposing mini-project),
           Vicki Suter.

NOTETAKER: Paul Healey


A  1. Approval of Agenda.
	
      The agenda was approved.

   2. Discussion of IPC Subscription request by John Batchelder.

      John's letter to the committee was discussed and his request
      approved.

   3. (Non-agenda item.) The committee approved a "do not forward"
      policy for postings to the committee mailing list, a note to
      that effect to be automatically generated at the foot of all
      messages. 
     
B. Project Proposals

   1. HyperNews for Delphi project, presented by Keith Pryor.

      A proposal for an online Davis Nexus project -- a "Delphi" in
      the sense that participants are not identified during discussion
      -- with a focus on developing a leadership group around educa-
      tional issues, and with academic participation by UCD and CSU.
      The proposed vehicle is HyperNews, with the discussion publicly
      accessible but contributions restricted to members of the group.
      Conclusions would be summarized in a final report made publicly
      available in Adobe Acrobat format.

      It was pointed during committee discussion that this project, in
      addition to supporting other general DCN goals, can be seen as a
      case study in the migration of discourse to interactive styles 
      supported by newer technologies -- in this case, HyperNews.  Vicki
      Suter emphasized the importance of an evaluation plan in that 
      respect.

      The project was approved as a 10-month mini-project, with two
      non-dialup accounts (initially gratis, but with an expectation of
      conversion to paying within a reasonable time), and a 5 megabyte
      HyperNews area to be set up by Steve McMahon.  The final report
      is part of the agreement.        
      
C. Housekeeping

   1. Approve Notes of Previous Meetings.

      Notes for the 7/2/97 meeting were approved.

D. Content Review

   1. DCN News Groups -- Steve McMahon

      Steve noted that DCN has been piggybacking on the UCD news server,
      and that new UCD policy will preclude that in the future.  Although
      CWNet has a general newsgroup feed, it does not carry the local
      Davis/DCN groups housed at UCD.  Since DCN's carrying those groups
      itself raises considerable cost/resource questions, it was decided
      that Steve would pursue agreement to a feed of the local groups from
      UCD to CWNet. It was proposed that usenet groups are approaching
      archaism, and that the question should be treated as one of resources
      alone.  There was one weary objection to that point of view. 

E. Reports

   1. DCN Board Meeting Highlights.

      Reported that the Board has been almost totally preoccupied with the
      ISP transition.

   2. Web Team

      Just working ...

   3. Projects

      Yolo Basin Foundation (Paul Healey) -- Nothing to report.
      Hattie Weber Museum (John Movius) -- Project taking a rest.
      YoloLink (Steve McMahon) -- Project stalled, possibly due to
        bureaucratic delays.
      Spare the Air Days -- The project has been spotlighted on
        DCN's home page.
      Neighborhood Project -- No liaison yet.

   4. Content Policy Ad hoc Committee

      Presenter not present.


The remaining agenda items were tabled.

Vicki Suter, founding chair of the Information Providers Committee, 
ended her term of service in order to devote time to her other
well-known projects. She remains a committee member.