Kendra Initiative: The First Meeting: Minutes

Please note that these minutes are rough and ready. We aim to do better next time!

Whole day meeting of participants at a Central London Hotel, timed to coincide with various internet broadcasting conferences taking place in London, which resulted in overseas representatives being 'in town', who might otherwise not have been available.

To begin with its conclusions, the meeting confirmed the sentiments expressed in the opening paragraph of the Kendra website, which had been the primary common point to all participants prior to attending the meeting.

http://www.kendra.org.uk

'Kendra is an open architecture, format independent, research project developing a transport system for distribution of high-bandwidth video content over the Internet. Or, to put it another way, an Internet distribution and delivery system for the entertainment industry. Kendra is about building a system that will make money for all those companies (like ISPs) and individuals (like artists) in the content distribution industry. Kendra (the organisation) will not profit from any Kendra systems.

A more detailed outline of proceedings follows...

Arrival: Morning coffees and informal networking

Morning Session

Short talk by Justin Keery explaining why Atlantic sponsored the Kendra meeting.

Small group sessions allowing participants to outline and discuss their problems and frustrations with webcasting and outline their experience.

Refreshments and networking

Plenary session with feedback from spokespersons from each group, including concurrent brief discussion of topics raised. Concurrent compilation of bulleted and ordered list of topics raised for consideration during the afternoon session.

Morning session 'list of items discussed'

Lunch break and networking

Afternoon Session

Concurrent compilation of topics felt to be of relevance to the future development of making real the vision outlined by Daniel of 'being able to make available as producers of content, to transmit as technical standards are generated for the future broadband technologies , in order to serve the needs of consumers to access on-demand, and pay for, any particularly desired item of programming, with a system appropriate to covering costs for use of service, or recompense for services rendered on the part of all concerned.

Refreshments and networking

Afternoon session 'list of items discussed'

Continuing round circle discussion of ways forward through the maze of issues, while remembering

• There can be no single 'killer-app'
• Diversity must be key
• Terminology should minimised and process be understandable to all
• Accommodate both 'key-player' and broad membership of 'individuals' and 'small interests'
• That it is key to maintain representation 'as individuals'; rather than on behalf of particular companies / interests
• Membership is sought on a Global level as a way forward rather than developing a regional outlook
• Technical matters to be discussed in working groups
• Learn from the napster experience
• Recognise the significance of 'identifiable data packets' in the development of metadata (follow-up papers)
• Technical, and other working parties can report to broader membership
• Maintain a not-for-profit outlook
• Recognise that as high a proportion as 80% of existing fibre optic capacity is not currently 'lit up' and the very high costs of 'lighting it'
• While a high rate of sponsorship offers can be envisaged independence be maintained in order that the interests of its smallest constituent members continues to be served
• Innovate in order to deal with criticism that 'everything for all people all the time won't work'
• Devise a more specific mission statement while using technology to inform as broadly as possible, preventing a 'talk-shop-only' culture but allowing the message to be in the form rather than in the technology or the medium - all of which is to emerge over time rather than being capable of definition now.
• Open a self-nomination list of 'active participants' to see to issues in preparation for a follow up meeting to be held in London during November 2000.

Action Points (Deliverables)

• Write up the minutes - *this* document.
• Neil Harris to write Metadata helper/links page.
• Have another meeting end of November 2000 with larger and more cross industry attendance.
• Write a mission statement.
• Set up Kendra Mission Statement Proposal Group email list to work on mission and agenda for next meeting.

Kendra Mission Statement Proposal Group (15)

Attendees (51)

End.

Kendra Initiative: The First Meeting: Morning Session

Groups were asked to discuss and list problems and frustrations experienced personally and professionally with content distribution. And here's what they came up with:

Group 1

• Internet not designed to carry all content - infrastructure must improve
• Hoster networks not same as access network
• Consumer wants everything easy to use / access
• Wireless delivery a challenge when phonecalls are difficult
• Multi cast a niche implementation - some successful delivery v small scale
• Single protocol / format - standardisation
• Copyright - users don't care / need authentication
• Access providers need to target
• Common platform

• Consumer would like to be able to pay
• Not enough understanding of digital media
• Content owners don't have standards forum
• Content producers fed up with being dictated to
• Frustration with barrier between product / media

• Incompatibility with protocols / hardware
• Cost associated with bringing broadband to consumer
• Royalties conflict between those that don't want to pay / those that don't want to give up content
• Mismarketing to consumer - confusion
• Fear - customers don't want to pass personal data
• DSL / cable / wireless

• Broadband access technical difficulty
• Broadband application - napster? - what would home user want - end product
• Quality of experience
• Abillity for user to become creative - create own compilations
• Recompense
• Fluidity
• What needs to standardised & what doesn't

• Local loop (last mile format) - costing - that is if you can get access
• Content delivery network - CDN - encourage transparency to enable us to measure strengths & weaknesses
• Digital rights management / standardisation
• Payments - micro payments for joe public - transactional billing houses
• Trust / Fraud - 40% / visa - 76% - Common Criteria EU 2001
• Super portal / personal portal
• Applications that drive broadband - multiple usage
• Disk space cheap - TV model may / will change
• Ownership / home archiving may disappear - involves a cultural shift that may not happen

• Too many formats
• Is there enough capacity on internet
• No service level agreements between networks that make up internet
• Inability to identify users - hiding behind a perceived need for confidentiality
• Not being able to charge users who are getting more value out of service
• Lack of awareness at ISPs re: edge networks
• Rights owners / artists need / want to be paid
• No clear who gets paid along value chain - should it be distributor / rights owner
• Protection inconveniencing user - USA vs UK
• Ability to have access to any content anywhere / anyhow
• Lack of standards in identifying digital content - tag like IBN numbers for books - metadata - added value for consumer

• Creators have potentially greater freedom on net than they would on TV say - this generates need for simpler advertising to say their content exists
• Economy - can't just hand over content vs should it be free (sometimes) e.g. trailer for Star Wars - sponsorship for internet
• Distribution of free information - on a small scale students talking to each through PCs - large scale in neighbourhoods
• Dinosaurs vs napster users - is there a middle way?
• Metadata - in everyone's interest - to be able to advertise existence of content

Kendra Initiative: The First Meeting: Afternoon Session

The whole group collectively discussed the products of the morning session. And here's what they came up with (morning session text is in italics:

• Delivery Mechanism
• Bandwidth esp. last mile
• Inter Network Interoperability :- 'Hoster networks not same as access network'
• Wireless?
• Multicast? Communication concerning successes/failures
• No service level agreements between networks that make up internet
• Ability to have access to any content anywhere / anyhow (related to stds)
• Hardware open architectures/software etc???
• Single vs Multi protocol / format - standardisation or not?

• Providers could form a cartel / monopoly to prevent driving down prices
• Net congestion - last mile / last second mile
• Backbone - key issue
• Caching at exchange
• We will be reduced to the speed of light eventually!
• 82% of fibre is dark
• very expensive to light up
• how do we get to the dream
• we have to have the bandwidth
• the people that provide it have to pay for it
• moving bandwidth may get over content issue
• Kendra
• Cross vendor content distribution & delivery system
• Multicast
• Needs to be captured
• If napster works for the consumer on his dial up - can this not be expanded for TV / video
• If napster was revenue producing then maybe this would be an incentive to invest in a better model
• Note lots of little networks can do the same as a big network
• Does not have to be real time - needs to be stored

• Metadata is critical
• Educate content producers about technology and vice versa
• Don't need to invent anything - there is enough out there - increase awareness
• Lack of uptake - its use must be encouraged
• Educate them in metadata and how to utilise it
• It should be like a watermark
• Neil to write Metadata page!!!!!

• Are copyright holders dinosaurs
• Copyright is the basis of the music industry
• No standard definition
• Intellectual property management
• Authentication
• Tracking
• Payment
• Protection from unwanted users - financial information
• could you lock out countries - geographical rights
• DRM - digital rights management
• Advocate neither enforcement systems / honour systems - which one will make money
• Who has rights
• Creators
• Distributors
• User
• Opt out of e.g. porn
• Authenticity

• Content providers need convincing of responsibility / identity - they are holding back
• E.g. lottery tickets not being bought by someone underage
• Need to identify pertinent attributes
• Ability to pay
• Age
• Minimum framework

• Standards bodies vs 'we don't want to go the way of the TV networks' but Content owners don't have standards forum
• What needs to be standardised and what doesn't
• Lack of standards in identifying digital content - tag like IBN numbers for books - metadata - added value for consumer
• Not enough understanding of digital media, consumer wanting to pay, knowing how
• Frustration with barrier between product / media
• Producers enabled vs 'Network providers' having consumed bandwidth for even free product.
• Cost associated with bringing broadband to consumer
• Applications that drive broadband - multiple usage
• Dinosaurs vs napster users - is there a middle way?

Kendra Dream Vision Mission Statement

• Chaordic protocol like Visa
• Inner circle of 'prospectors'
• Pushing the vision out to other industries
• We want to be successful
• Expand / further the current technical trial and raise awareness of the trial - currently very crude
• Dti support - can encourage collaboration
• Gather views
• Get small guys and big guys together
• Open standards
• Communicating to people capabilities of technology
• Monitoring indicators - what / when

What Next

• Who else should we bring to Kendra
• Corporates / owners of copyright - they would be very interested in results
• Other initiatives

• Timescale
• Can't go forward with standard(s) until we have incorporated what everyone across the board has input / ownership
• Need to get everyone Involved - how will Kendra do this

Concerns

• Anti-trust
• Competitors - rules to prevent stepping on toes
• Is kendra going to be a bunch of meetings called by Daniel and sponsored by Atlantic

• Kendra model
• E.g. DSL Forum - get hold of a copy of MOU
• E.g. LINX
• Non profit
• An initiative not an organisation
• Participants or members
• People rather than companies
• Companies provide sponsorship
• Do not want to charge for participation
• If Kendra provides value to industry then companies will support it
• Membership would involve byelaws and finance
• Millions of artists, Tens of 1000s making money from their art. Also people want to distribute their photo albums to their families
• How many people could be involved
• Too many diverse organisations would mean possiibly too many commercial agendas
• What is a standard
• We can't be everything for everyone - need to be focussed
• We shouldn't end at forming a committee