Workshop Report: EName Workshop

Dates: October 10th and 11th, 2017

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Internet namespaces rely on Internet connected systems sharing a common set of assumptions on the scope, method of resolution, and uniqueness of the names. That set of assumption allowed the creation of URIs and other systems which presumed that you could authoritatively identify a service using an Internet name, a service port, and a set of locally-significant path elements. 

There are now multiple challenges to maintaining that commonality of understanding.

• Some naming systems wish to use URIs to identify both a service and the method of resolution used to map the name to a serving node.  Because there is no common facility for varying the resolution method in the URI structure, those naming systems must either mint new URI schemes for each resolution service or infer the resolution method from a reserved name or pattern.  Both methods are currently difficult and costly, and the effort thus scales poorly.
• Users’ intentions to refer to specific names are now often expressed in voice input, gestures, and other methods which must be interpreted before being put into practice.  The systems which carry on that interpretation often infer which intent a user is expressing, and thus what name is meant, by contextual elements.  Those systems are linked to existing systems who have no access to that context and which may thus return results or create security expectations for an unintended name.
• Unicode allows for both combining characters and composed characters when local language communities have different practices.  When these do not have a single normalization, context is required to determine which to produce or assume in resolution.  How can this context be maintained in Internet systems?

While any of these challenges could easily be the topic of a stand-alone effort, this workshop seeks to explore whether there is a common set of root problems in the explicitness of the resolution context, heuristic derivation of intent, or language matching.   If so, it seeks to identify promising areas for the development of new, more explicit naming systems for the Internet.

The deadline to submit position papers was August 11, 2017.

Workshop venue:

Microsoft Vancouver Office
1111 W. Georgia, Suite 1100 (11th Floor)
Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 4M3

Phone: 604-688-9811
Fax: 604-688-3680

Conference Room: MPR

Area Hotels

There are a number of hotels nearby. We have not arranged any specific room rate or block booking so participants should make their own bookings.

Hotel Vancouver Fairmont
900 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC V6C 2W6, Canada
Tel: +1 (604) 684-3131

Hyatt Regency Vancouver
655 Burrard St
Vancouver, BC V6C 2R7, Canada
Tel: +1 (604) 683-1234

Marriott Pinnacle Vancouver
1128 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC V6E 4R5, Canada
Tel: +1 (604) 684-1128

Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside hotel
1133 W Hastings St
Vancouver, BC V6E 3T3, Canada
Tel: +1 (604) 689-9211