Thursday Session III: 14:00 - 16:00 (Guangdong)
Chairs: Ignacio Castro, Alvaro Retana
Agenda:
Agenda bashing and Chairs' welcome
Priscylla Silva (University of São Paulo), Global Standards, Local Voices: Mapping Latin American Participation in the IETF Meetings
Mi-jin Kim (Yonsei University), From Standards Adopter to Standards Author: The Evolution of Korea's National Standardization System with a Focus on ICT
Noga H. Rotman (University College London), Beyond ASCII Art: Making RFC Protocol Logic Auditable with RFSeek
*note that this agenda reflects the session (the agenda was changed on the fly during the session)
Title:
Global Standards, Local Voices: Mapping Latin American Participation in the IETF Meetings
Abstract:
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is one of the main global organizations responsible for developing and maintaining the technical standards that sustain the Internet. Although its processes are open and volunteer-based, participation remains geographically concentrated. This talk presents early findings from an ongoing longitudinal study of Latin American and Caribbean participation in IETF meetings, examining who contributes, from which institutions and sectors, and what factors shape engagement. We created a dataset covering all IETF meetings (IETF 1–123), consolidating participant names, affiliations, countries, and registration types. Preliminary analyses show that North America and Europe continue to dominate participation, while Latin America and the Caribbean — led by Brazil — have shown gradual growth since the 2010s. Regional participation is concentrated around organizations such as NIC.br, LACNIC, and universities, with fellowships and remote participation hubs playing an important enabling role.
Short bio:
Priscylla Silva is a researcher in Computer Science working at the intersection of data analysis, visualization, and Internet governance. She recently completed her PhD at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). She is currently involved in studies on participation dynamics and representation in Internet standardization processes, with particular interest in IETF and IRTF communities, geographic diversity, and institutional engagement in technical governance.
Title
From Standards Adopter to Standards Author: The Evolution of Korea's National Standardization System with a Focus on ICT
Bio. Mi-jin Kim is a research fellow at the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University. She received her Ph.D. in International Management from the Graduate School of International Studies at Yonsei University and M.S. in Technology Management from the Graduate School of Management of Technology at Sogang University. She was a senior researcher at the Korean Standards Association. Her research focuses on the political economy and geopolitical dimensions of international standardization, particularly in critical and emerging technologies. She examines how states and other key actors engage in global standard-setting processes, and how governance shapes participation, coordination, and influence within international standards development organizations (SDOs).
Selected recent publications include:
- Kim, M., Lee, H., & Kwak, J. (2020). The changing patterns of China’s international standardization in ICT under techno-nationalism: A reflection through 5G standardization. International Journal of Information Management, 54, 102145.
- Kim, M., Eom, D., & Lee, H. (2023). The geopolitics of next generation mobile communication standardization: The case of Open RAN. Telecommunications Policy, 47(10), 102625.
- Lee, H., & Kim, M. (2025). From Standards Adopter to Standards Author: The Case of the Republic of Korea. World Development Report 2025 Background Paper.
Abstract
This presentation examines Korea’s transition from standards adopter to standards author, tracing the evolution of its national standardization system from the 1960s to the present. In its early stages, standards primarily supported export-driven industrialization through national planning and the development of quality infrastructure. Over time, however, standardization became increasingly integrated with industrial and technology policy.
From the late 1990s onward, Korea pursued a more proactive strategy in ICT standardization, linking research and development (R&D) with international engagement and expanding its participation in global standards development organizations. Institutions such as ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) and TTA (Telecommunications Technology Association) played coordinating roles between government, industry, and international SDOs, contributing to Korea’s growing presence in ICT-related standard-setting activities.
As rule-setting in critical and emerging technologies becomes increasingly competitive, the strategic importance of ICT standardization continues to grow. In this context, Korea's case would offer insights into how institutional development enhances a country’s participation in international standardization.
Title: Beyond ASCII Art: Making RFC Protocol Logic Auditable with RFSeek
Abstract: RFC specifications are long prose documents whose protocol logic is often distributed across multiple sections. While authors sometimes include ASCII state machine diagrams to aid understanding, these diagrams are intentionally simplified and may omit behaviors described elsewhere in the text.
This talk presents RFSeek, a tool based on a new approach we call summary visualization. RFSeek extracts protocol logic from RFC text using Large Language Models (LLMs) and produces interactive visual models where each transition is linked to the specification passages that justify it. These provenance links allow users to inspect and audit the extracted behavior. Applying RFSeek to several protocols surfaced logic missing from published diagrams, including a TCP transition that led to an accepted editorial errata for RFC 9293. We will also invite protocol practitioners to try RFSeek and participate in upcoming user studies at the IETF 126 Hackathon.
Bio: Noga H. Rotman is a Research Fellow in Machine Learning and Networking at University College London and a recipient of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Postdoctoral Award for Women in Mathematical and Computing Sciences. Her research explores the intersection of networking systems and machine learning, with a focus on building reliable and auditable systems. She previously held a Viterbi Postdoctoral Fellowship at Technion and completed her PhD in Computer Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.