NII Fellows Discussion list

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

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Proposal for NII (National Information Infrastructure) Fellows
(V. 2.0 , Draft 1/16/94)


        Attached is a draft proposal for "NII Fellows" that reflects
comments and suggestions on an earlier draft.  The opinions expressed are
solely those of the author and not necessarily those of the U.S.
Government.


        Please feel free to circulate the document, and to suggest other
people who might be interested in participating in this discussion.


        I have no pride of authorship on the specifics of the proposal, but
think the concept is worth exploring.  Thanks for your interest!


Thomas Kalil
National Economic Council
The White House
Washington DC 20500
(voice) (202) 456-2801
(fax)           (202) 456-2223
(e-mail)        tkalil () arpa mil


Q. 1.    What is the purpose of the "NII Fellows" proposal?


It is designed to address three needs:


¡Ensuring that there are enough people tackling challenges associated with
developing the NII that are beyond the ability of any one company,
industry, or institution to solve.


        Some challenges associated with developing the NII are likely to
pose what economists term "collective action" problems.  The benefits to
society for these kind of activities are large, but a firm can capture the
benefits regardless of whether they participate.


        Ensuring interoperability is a good example.  Given that the NII
will be a "network of networks", with people using many different
information appliances to access a wide range of databases and information
services, interoperability is essential.  Defining some open interfaces at
key points of the NII is critical.  This activity requires cooperation
across companies and industry sectors, which in turn requires a lot of hard
work by engineers and technologists.  Industry may have a collective
interest in ensuring that this happens, but individual companies might be
tempted to be a "free rider."


                One solution to this problem may be to encourage companies,
universities, and other institutions to provide one to two year "special
assignments" to technologists, engineers, professors, etc. as "NII
Fellows."


¡Ensuring that people with backgrounds in other fields and disciplines are
knowledgeable about the NII and its implications for their profession.


        The development of the NII should not be driven solely by Unix  and
networking gurus.  If we are to realize the full potential of the NII,
health care professionals, educators, artists, leaders of non-profit
organizations, Americans with disabilities, etc. must also be involved.
For example, doctors and nurses should be involved in the design of
computer-based patient records and other health care applications, but
there are very few people with extensive training in both medical science
and computer science.


                Ideally, people in non-technical fields should have some
way of exploring the development of the NII through customized training,
research, and hands-on experience, and the NII Fellows program could
provide this opportunity.


¡Ensuring that the Administration can draw on industry experts, academics,
and others to design and manage new NII initiatives:


        The NII initiative has its origins in the High Performance
Computing and Communications Initiative, a roughly $1 billion R&D
initiative.  However, the federal government as a whole is a $1.5 trillion
entity.  There is a great deal that individual agencies could do to promote
and use the NII.  Examples include (a) re-engineering basic agency
functions through better use of information technology; (b) providing
networked information to the public; (c) promoting NII applications of the
NII through procurement or elimination of regulatory/legal barriers.


        One of the obstacles to wider use and promotion of the NII is the
shortage of technically proficient personnel in non-technical agencies.  An
"NII Fellows" program could help remedy that.


        In addition, NII Fellows who were not engaged in government service
full-time could serve as resources to policy makers, by, for example,
supporting the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information
Infrastructure or the Information Infrastructure Task Force.


Q. 2.  How might this program be financed?


        Possibilities include (a) in-kind or monetary contributions from
the private sector; (b) gov't financing of personnel costs through
Intergovernmental Personnel Authority; and (c) foundation grants.


Q. 3.  Would the NII Fellows program have any overall structure?


        Some structure is important.  Possibilities include:


¡Formation of a non-profit organization, or tasking an existing
organization, to run the program;


¡Competitive selection process with a fixed number of NII Fellows (e.g. 50
- 100);


¡A "program manager" within the federal government to serve as a single
point of contact and ensure that the program stays on track;


¡Periodic meetings with each other and with senior policy-makers in
Washington to exchange ideas and progress reports; and


¡A core of basic support services.


Q. 4.  How might this proposal actually happen?


-       An Internet mailing list is established to hash out the specifics
and build consensus among interested parties in government, industry,
academia, non-profit institutions, and foundations;


-       A critical mass of interested parties endorses the idea and
indicates a willingness to participate;


-       A smaller group is charged with developing a business plan;


-       A non-profit organization is formed to manage the program;


-       A press conference is held to announce the first competition for
the NII Fellows program.