RFC 7649

The Jabber Scribe Role at IETF Meetings

📅 published September 2015, from ietf

RFC 7649: The Jabber Scribe Role at IETF Meetings 🎀

okay bestie, let's get into it 💅 This is RFC 7649, called The Jabber Scribe Role at IETF Meetings. It's an Independent Submission in the Informational category (ISSN: 2070-1721), published in September 2015. The authors are P. Saint-Andre (&yet) and D. York (Internet Society). The title block has no Obsoletes or Updates entry, so this one doesn't replace or change any other RFCs 🫶

Abstract 💖

During IETF meetings, individual volunteers often help sessions run more smoothly by passing information back and forth between the physical meeting room and an associated text chatroom. These volunteers are usually called "Jabber scribes" ✨ This document sums up experience with the Jabber scribe role and gives some suggestions for doing it at IETF meetings 🧚

Status of This Memo 🦋

Not an Internet Standards Track spec, bestie. It's published for informational purposes 📚

This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independent of any other RFC stream. The RFC Editor picked to publish it at its discretion and makes no statement about its value for implementation or deployment. Documents the RFC Editor approves for publication aren't candidates for any level of Internet Standard, see Section 2 of RFC 5741 💅

Info about the current status of this doc, any errata, and how to send feedback lives at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7649 🔗

Copyright (c) 2015 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) as in effect on the date of publication. Please read these carefully, because they spell out your rights and restrictions for this document 📜

Table of Contents 🧚

1. Introduction ....................................................2
2. Know Your Users .................................................3
3. Know Yourself ...................................................4
4. Primary Tasks ...................................................4
5. Additional Tasks ................................................5
6. Suggestions .....................................................6
   6.1. Getting Set Up with Jabber .................................6
   6.2. Before the Session Begins ..................................6
   6.3. As the Session Is Starting .................................7
   6.4. During the Session .........................................8
   6.5. As the Session Is Ending ...................................9
7. Advanced Tips ...................................................9
8. Dealing with Abusive or Inappropriate Behavior .................10
9. Reporting Problems at the Meeting Venue ........................10
10. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ............................11
11. Security Considerations .......................................11
12. References ....................................................11
   12.1. Normative References .....................................11
   12.2. Informative References ...................................12
Acknowledgements ..................................................12
Authors' Addresses ................................................12

1. Introduction ✨

During IETF meetings, individual volunteers often help sessions run more smoothly by passing information back and forth between the physical meeting room and an associated text chatroom. Since these chatrooms run on Jabber/XMPP tech (see [RFC6120] and [XEP-0045]), the role is usually called a "Jabber scribe" 💜 (That said, nothing stops the IETF from using some other chatroom tech in the future, or from dropping chatrooms entirely. Just saying 🙈)

This role matters a lot, because it's the main way a remote attendee can give feedback or comments back into most IETF meeting sessions 🔥 Remote attendees have other ways to listen and follow along, but the chatroom is how they get their feedback back to the physical meeting in something close to real time ⏱️ All of this holds for IETF working group sessions, IRTF research group sessions, IETF "birds of a feather" (BoF) sessions, and similar sessions at IETF meetings 🌸

Based on the authors' own experience and input from other people who volunteer a lot, this document gives some suggestions for doing the Jabber scribe role at IETF meetings 🎀

2. Know Your Users 👀

Chatroom participants usually fall into three categories. They're labeled here just to make things easier to follow 🧁

  • Remote Participants: Remote attendees who are listening to the audio stream or, in some cases, following along with a real-collaboration system (right now, that's mostly the Meetecho service). These folks might want to send questions or feedback to the physical room 📡
  • Observers: IETF meeting attendees who are in another session happening at the same time in a different physical room. They often watch the chatroom to find out when a certain topic comes up, or to see what people are saying there. They usually can't listen to the audio stream, and sometimes they ask for more detailed commentary so they know when to switch rooms and join the session's physical room 👁️
  • Local Participants: IETF meeting attendees who are in the same physical room. Sometimes they like to follow the room discussion and the chatroom at the same time. They can also help the scribes out 🫶

It can happen that every chatroom participant is a local participant, so none of them need heavy service from a scribe. Feel free to ask in the chatroom whether there really are any remote participants 🙋

Chatroom participants usually go by a "nickname" or "handle" instead of a full name. This can be confusing for scribes, since they don't always know who's giving the comments they need to relay. A scribe ought to ask for clarification so the remote participant's identity can be announced at the microphone (see also Section 10). If a remote participant insists on staying anonymous, the scribe is best off reminding them of the "Note Well" [NOTE-WELL] and pointing to that document as the reason for not relaying those comments to the meeting 🔒

3. Know Yourself 🪞

People have different aptitudes and skills. Some scribes can produce a pretty complete transcription of what's said and done in the physical meeting room, but that's not what's expected from most volunteers. (Don't get scared off by the word "scribe" 😭) Doing the primary tasks in the next section isn't a big burden for most volunteers, and it can be a fun way to take part in a session 🥰 This document tries to describe the experience and offer some helpful guidance, but if you're thinking about volunteering, you might also ask other volunteers about theirs 🗣️ Knowing your aptitudes and skills (for example, maybe you're not a great typist) can help you figure out how involved you're comfortable being 💅

4. Primary Tasks 🎯

The primary "customers" of a scribe are the remote participants, and they get served in real time ⚡ A scribe can assume that remote participants have access to at least the audio stream, and maybe video for the session too (except in extraordinary circumstances, like when there are technical problems with the streaming facilities) 📺 Even though chatroom sessions are logged during IETF meetings, and those public logs can be a useful addition to the historical record, a scribe isn't expected to transcribe what's said and done during the session 📝 Instead, the main job of a scribe is to act as a relay between the physical room and the remote participants 💖

Individuals who volunteer as scribes usually complete the following tasks:

  • Relay questions and comments from the chatroom to the physical room. This usually means going up to the microphone to pass along the comment from the remote participant 🎤
  • Count, or otherwise keep track of, the number of chatroom participants who virtually "hum", raise their hands, volunteer to review documents, and so on, then feed that info back to the physical room 🙌 (Humming in the physical room gives people some anonymity, but that's not true in the chatroom, since the only way to register an opinion there is to type something like "hum in favor". So it's fine for the scribe to at least give a rough count or percentage of chatroom hums, to get a sense of the chatroom 🌡️)
  • Relay information about hums and similar interactions from the physical room to the chatroom (preferably after getting a "readout" from the session chairs) 📣

It's the convention in most sessions that the scribe gets to go to the front of the microphone line to relay info from remote participants 👑 Some scribes use that privilege, while others wait in line with everyone else in the physical room. But keep in mind that there's a lag (typically 20 seconds to 2 minutes) between in-room discussions and the audio stream, plus the inevitable wait while a remote participant types a question or comment to be relayed. So it can really help for the scribe to "jump the queue" so those questions and comments aren't stale by the time they reach the microphone 🏃‍♀️💨

5. Additional Tasks 🍓

Some scribes also often complete the following tasks:

  • Relay the names of people speaking in the physical room to the chatroom. (To avoid typing full names of people who speak a lot, scribes often use initials, but they ought to expand the initials the first time they use them.) See Section 6.4 for details 🏷️
  • Relay the slide numbers or slide titles, so chatroom participants can follow along more easily 🖼️
  • Ask remote participants about the quality of the audio stream, and relay that info to the session chairs 🎧
  • Relay any logistical or procedural issues related to the meeting to the chatroom participants (for example, known technical glitches at the physical meeting or delays in starting the session) 🧩
  • Provide links to the current set of slides and the document being discussed, so chatroom participants can easily follow along 🔗

Scribes generally aren't expected to transcribe the complete contents of conversations in the physical room for the chatroom. But they sometimes relay the gist of those conversations, especially during ad hoc discussions where slides aren't available 💭 (If the session chairs and the scribe arrange it ahead of time, actual transcription might be expected for particular sessions 📖)

6. Suggestions 💡

Experience has shown that the following behaviors make it easier to act as a scribe 🌟

6.1. Getting Set Up with Jabber 💖

okay so first things first, the IETF Jabber service has an overview on the IETF Groupchat/Chatroom Service web page [JABBER] 🧚 Tons of common instant messaging clients support Jabber/XMPP, and at the time of writing you can find a list of them on the XMPP Standards Foundation Software List [XMPPLIST] 💅 Here's the catch: the IETF Jabber service only does chatrooms and doesn't let you register user accounts directly, so you'll need an account at some other service. One list of those is the IM Observatory Server Directory [XMPPSERV] ✨ Also, at the time of writing, the Meetecho service used at IETF meetings lets you join IETF chatrooms without making an account anywhere else, which is so convenient 🫶

not every client can join a chatroom, so bestie, test your favourite software before the meeting 🔥 the hallway@jabber.ietf.org room is perfect for practising. The exact steps depend on your app, but usually there's a "join room" option that either wants the whole room address (like hallway@jabber.ietf.org) or wants the room name (like hallway) and the domain of the chatroom service (like jabber.ietf.org) entered separately. Honestly, asking your fellow IETF folks which apps they use is a total cheat code for finding good Jabber/XMPP clients 💜

6.2. Before the Session Begins 🌸

if you've volunteered before the session, here's your checklist:

  • Coordinate with the chairs so remote participants know where to find the meeting materials, agenda, audio stream, etc. Honestly, you could send this info to a working group discussion list so remote participants don't have to ask about it once they're in the chatroom 🙈
  • Coordinate with the chairs to see if they have any special expectations for the scribe. Some chairs might want you to transcribe more detailed info about the session proceedings into the chatroom 📝
  • Ask the session chairs whether it's okay for you to move up to the front of the microphone line with time-sensitive comments from remote participants 🎀

6.3. As the Session Is Starting 🦋

as you're getting settled and ready for the meeting to start:

  • Sit near the microphone most likely to be used for discussions in the physical room, so you can easily catch the names of people who come up to it. Usually that's a seat at the end of a row, or somewhere you can pop out of your seat and get to the mic fast 🏃‍♀️
  • Start up your favourite Jabber client, log into your server, and join the chatroom for your session. The addresses look like group-name@jabber.ietf.org or bof-name@jabber.ietf.org 💅
  • Having a few browser windows or tabs open is a total power move:
    • the agenda page for the session
    • the overall agenda page for the IETF meeting (the "tools-style agenda" is especially helpful for copying links to session-specific resources like the audio stream)
    • the materials page, so you can relay links to slides if needed (at the time of writing, URLs for materials related to IETF working groups are of the form https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/<nn>/materials.html#<name>, where nn is the meeting number and name is the acronym for the working group, research group, or BoF)
    • the documents page for the working group or research group (or the BoF wiki page), in case you want quick access to documents mentioned but not on the agenda page
    • the meeting registration system page (see below)
    • the overall remote participation page for the IETF meeting in question (at the time of writing, the URL for this page is of the form http://www.ietf.org/meeting/<nn>/remote-participation.html, where nn is the meeting number)
  • Find out if the session will be streamed through a real-time collaboration system such as Meetecho. If so, you can point remote participants to that system for interaction too ✨
  • If the session is big or is expected to be especially active (a controversial BoF, for example), find a co-scribe who can help you by sitting at another microphone, taking turns relaying info, etc. 👯‍♀️

Having a co-scribe is super useful if you want to go up to the microphone to speak as an individual, if you have a presentation to make, or if you need to take a break or step out of the physical room at some point. You can work with a co-scribe as a temporary stand-in, or as someone who shares scribing responsibility for the whole meeting 🫶

6.4. During the Session 🔥

as you're doing your scribe thing during the session:

  • Identify yourself in both the physical room and the chatroom (or ask the session chairs to identify you), so participants in both venues know you're the scribe 🎀
  • Ask chatroom participants what level of info they need relayed. For example, if everyone in the chatroom is listening via audio or a system like Meetecho, they might need less relayed from the room 🎧
  • Ask chatroom participants to start statements they'd like you to relay with "RELAY" or "MIC". The former is less ambiguous, so that one's the fave 💜
  • When relaying a question or comment from the chatroom to the physical room, say "this is X relaying for Y from the chatroom" so people know you're not speaking for yourself 🙈
  • It's not expected that you'll know everyone's name at the microphone. If you don't know the person's name, you've got a few options:
    • look at their name badge if you're sitting nearby
    • ask them directly (calling out "state your name, please" is totally acceptable)
    • ask in the chatroom, or type something like "?? at the mic", since a local participant can probably identify them for you
    • if you know part of the attendee's name, look up their full name in the meeting registration system (at the time of writing, this is typically found at a URL of the form https://www.ietf.org/registration/<meeting>/attendance.py, such as https://www.ietf.org/registration/ietf93/attendance.py). You can quickly look up a name there if you're in doubt 🔍
  • Be aware there's a lag between when something is said in the physical room and when someone responds in the chatroom. Take that into account when things are time-sensitive, like during a hum or a show of hands ⏳
  • Because of that lag, ask remote participants who take part in a hum to say which choice their hum is for, instead of just typing "hum" into the chatroom. For example, "hum yes" or "hum for option 1". That makes tallying and reporting the results to the physical room way easier 📊

6.5. As the Session Is Ending 🌈

when you're wrapping up your scribing at the end of the session:

  • Post a message in the chatroom letting everyone know the session is finishing up, and ask for any final comments to be relayed 📣
  • When the session is done, say so in the chatroom 🎉
  • Let everyone know you're leaving the Jabber room and that nobody will be around to relay further comments 👋

7. Advanced Tips 🧚

it can be helpful to run two separate Jabber clients connected to two separate Jabber servers. That way, if one server goes down mid-session, you won't be stuck (yes, it has happened, bestie 💀)

if you get a chance, measure the lag between when something is said in the physical room and when it's heard on the audio stream, then let the remote participants know how long the delay is. You can do that by listening to the audio stream yourself, or by working with a remote participant you know is on the audio stream 🎧

sometimes a remote participant has a long discussion with someone in the physical room. In those situations, it can be easier to stand at the microphone so you can relay a series of comments in one go 🎤

8. Dealing with Abusive or Inappropriate Behavior 💅

okay, real talk: sometimes tempers run hot and discussions get contentious. In those moments, comments in the chatroom might even turn abusive or inappropriate 😬

a scribe isn't obligated to relay those comments verbatim, or to edit them in real time at the microphone. Instead, a suitable approach is to ask the contributor to rephrase the comments in a more constructive way 🫶

that said, a scribe isn't responsible for managing poor behaviour within the session. That responsibility lies initially with the chairs, and a scribe isn't expected to take any specific action beyond what any regular member of the IETF community would do 🌸

9. Reporting Problems at the Meeting Venue 🚨

at the time of writing, there are several ways to report a problem during an IETF meeting (like problems with media streaming):

  • For network and media streaming issues, email tickets@meeting.ietf.org.
  • For all other issues, email the "Meeting Trouble Desk" at mtd@ietf.org.
  • To chat with members of the Network Operations Center (NOC), join the noc@jabber.ietf.org chatroom.
  • To report a problem with Meetecho, mention "Meetecho" (with a capital "M") in the chatroom, and the Meetecho team will be alerted. (They join the chatrooms for all sessions as the user "Meetecho".)
  • To report a problem in person, visit the help desk in the Terminal Room.

10. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) ⭐

when a chatroom participant makes a comment in the chatroom (whether or not it gets relayed to the physical room), that statement counts as a "contribution" to the Internet Standards Process [RFC2026]. That means it's covered by BCP 78 (see [RFC5378]) and BCP 79 (see [RFC3979] and [RFC4879]) 📜 A scribe doesn't become a "contributor" just by relaying one of these contributions. The main responsibility for following the IETF's IPR policies sits with the person who made the comment.

a scribe can still help keep things compliant by asking chatroom participants who use an alias to confirm their identities before relaying their contributions. 🕵️‍♀️

11. Security Considerations 🔐

okay, this one is seriously important, so pay attention 👀 XMPP Multi-User Chat [XEP-0045] rooms can be set up to lock down nicknames and require registration with the chatroom before you can join. At the time of writing, though, IETF chatrooms are not configured that way. That opens the door to social-engineering attacks on discussions held in IETF chatrooms. It really helps scribes to be aware of this possibility 😱

on top of that, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks of various kinds are possible, e.g., flooding a chatroom with unwanted traffic 🌊

12. References 📚

12.1. Normative References 📚

okay bestie, this is the "you need to read these first" list 🎀 the normative refs are the ones the spec actually leans on, so they're required reading 🤓

12.2. Informative References 🧠

these ones are the extra reading, helpful for context but not the core rules 🌈

  • [JABBER] IETF, "IETF Groupchat/Chatroom Service", <http://www.ietf.org/jabber>. 🧚 the chatroom the IETF runs, so this is where the vibes live 💬
  • [NOTE-WELL] IETF, "Note Well", <http://ietf.org/about/note-well.html>. ⭐ the official "heads up, everything you say here is on the record" page, iykyk 🙈
  • [RFC6120] Saint-Andre, P., "Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP): Core", RFC 6120, DOI 10.17487/RFC6120, March 2011, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6120>. 🍓 the XMPP core spec, which is the protocol the chatroom runs on, periodt 💅
  • [XEP-0045] Saint-Andre, P., "Multi-User Chat", XSF XEP 0045, February 2012. 👑 the group chat extension, so yes, that's how the room works 🫶
  • [XMPPLIST] XMPP Standards Foundation, "Clients", <http://xmpp.org/xmpp-software/clients>. 📱 a list of XMPP clients, for when you want to pick your app 🌸
  • [XMPPSERV] IM Observatory, "Public XMPP Server Directory", <https://xmpp.net/directory.php>. 🔥 a directory of public XMPP servers, so you can find one to join 🦋

Acknowledgements 💖

big thank-you energy to everyone who helped out with their comments and suggestions 🫶 Thanks to Dan Burnett, Dave Crocker, Adrian Farrel, Wes George, Janet Gunn, Joel Halpern, Jelte Jansen, Michael Jenkins, Olle Johansson, Warren Kumari, Jonathan Lennox, Jon Mitchell, Alexandre Petrescu, Hugo Salgado, Melinda Shore, Lotte Steenbrink, Yaakov Stein, Dave Thaler, and Greg Wood. ✨ Adrian Farrel in particular proposed text for the sections on IPR and dealing with inappropriate behavior, so he's literally iconic 👑😭

Authors' Addresses 🎀

the people who wrote this 💅

Peter Saint-Andre
&yet

Email: peter@andyet.com
URI:   https://andyet.com/


Dan York
Internet Society

Email: york@isoc.org
URI:   https://www.internetsociety.org/

and that's the whole doc, bestie! 🦋💜🌈

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