THE NETWORK

It will be made up by a series of permanently connected servers with enough power and with a strategic geographical distribution, to cover the planetary necessities relative to the population, and complemented with Web sites and distribution lists. Additional servers must implement and follow the existing server standards.

Protocols and Architecture

The communications protocol stack consists on TCP/IP protocols at a lower level and WWW protocols, Distribution Lists and IRC at higher levels. The work scheme is based on the client/server model.

Communications infrastructure:

The network of servers:

Connected through an infrastructure of communications so that the central skeleton (backbone) of the network is robust, fast and safe. Infrastructures that comply with these requirements and are a part of the internet will be used.

On the client side, it is understood that the different internet communication infrastructures and software that enable the connection with final users must support the same internet structures and software used by the clients.

The proximity of the servers to users is decisive because it will reduce lagging between users and servers. Servers should be located geographically and structurally on universities, research and business sites. Server setup must be progressive and should follow an intelligent plan.

Server Setup:

It must follow these requirements:

It should be located on a university, research or business site which is compatible with the project guidelines.

Technical characteristics (compatibility between the platform and server software) are network speed, reliability and security.

Local administrator groups should have experience, offer guarantees and express a high motivation for the program to be successful.

It should develop an improvement and not a deterioration of the service.

It mustn’t produce a saturation of on-location communications.

Coverage:

World-wide (accessible through any Internet connection), but with a special emphasis on Spanish-speaking users. For this reason the geographic distribution of the servers should be defined so it offers an optimal service in these geographic areas.

Hardware platforms:

Both as a client and a server, the compatibility of applications should be promoted.

Software:

The use of commercially available software or free distribution software will be a priority.

2. - USER MANAGEMENT

Any person or Internet user will be able to have access to the network. But, the same way as in a scientific conference where the audience doesn’t wear masks to hide their identity, this scientific IRC doesn’t want to follow the anonymity that characterizes today’s IRC. That is why we think that User ID is determinant in obtaining the level of seriousness and security necessary for this project.

The loss of anonymity absolutely does not imply the loss of privacy and tranquillity. Although a user can be perfectly recognized and be identified on the network, this does not mean that other users will withstand quackery by anybody.

Based on our experience, the solicitation of user identification has been solved easily by explaining the situation with clarity and asking each user for the required information. On the channels now available, people can go in and don’t have to register, but they usually do so after a while simply by observing how the channel works.

Only once in a while has it been necessary to use some type of force. Our experience confirms that demand makes a product very valuable and we haven’t lost potential users due to being demanding on this issue, quite contrary, the process has been the other way around, more people tend to register.

This user ID, mostly non-existent in almost all of the internet services, we believe has been a key factor in the success of the primary stages of this network. The user assumes all responsibility and also offers a small resume to other users where he/she states what he/she does for a living, the place where the user works and the city and country where they are located at.

We think that the system is sufficiently rich, trustworthy and reasonable, and we propose that it not be altered.

3. - CONTENTS MANAGEMENT

We should be aware that, although any IRC users can create a channel if the user is responsible, we also look for topics, ideas, projects and contents that can be of community interest. Already created channels with specific stable topics have been considered, and all (new and old) will be backed up by a team of people who is responsible for the content on the channel with a visible channel operator.

This way we can talk about a ‘virtual knowledge city’ that will be highly structured, to offer a fast and efficient access to information in such a way that themes will be established, where each theme can belong to a broader area of knowledge: medicine, law, biology, etc. We consider the use of a hierarchy of thematic areas divided structurally into districts and streets.

By integrating different services (IRC, www, distribution lists, etc) and by promoting active collaboration we will be able to produce a high quality product.