It rather staggers my mind that it was two years ago today, on September 19, 2011, that I began work for the Internet Society (a.k.a. "ISOC"). Longtime readers and friends may remember my impassioned (and naturally long) post at the time, "Ch-changes - Taking A New Job At The Internet Society To Join The Fight For The Open Internet".
Two years later that passion has only grown stronger! The events of recent months with the massive Internet surveillance disclosures have only reinforced the need for organizations like the Internet Society to be out there doing what they can to preserve the open character of the Internet.
Whether it is the excellent work on leading Internet technologies - and support for the IETF... the incredible work of our public policy team ... or the great work going on to to expand access to the Internet in regions where there is limited connectivity... or the global work of our chapters helping at a local and regional level... or the programs to develop the next generation of Internet leaders... or the many, many other activities going on around the globe... it's been an absolute pleasure to be a staff member for the Internet Society and I look forward to many more years ahead!
For me, being involved with the creation of the Deploy360 Programme has been an amazing experience. Working on Deploy360 has enabled me to unite my writing and communication skills with my passion for and knowledge of technologies such as DNS, IPv6 and routing technologies - as well as my enjoyment of social media as a way of distributing content and engaging in conversations. Plus, I've had a chance to continue my work with WordPress and so many other social tools.
I've had the opportunity to work with an outstanding team ... and I've had a chance to meet some of the most amazing people all around the world. With Deploy360 our goal is to find out what challenges people are having with deploying IPv6, DNSSEC and routing technologies - and then find or create the appropriate resources to answer those challenges and help people overcome those issues. To do that, you have to go out and meet people... to talk to to them... to hear their questions and to ask them questions.
And so there is this exquisite irony that someone who works for the Internet Society winds up spending an insane amount of time on airplanes traveling to places all around the world to meet with people responsible for deploying these open Internet protocols. And sometimes it's admittedly a bit absurd... such as the trip to Singapore where I spent more time in airplanes traveling there and back then I did actually on the ground in Singapore! (I was only there about 36 hours.)
But it's the people that make the travel worth it! I've met incredible people doing great work to keep the Internet open in so many different places... and in places that quite honestly I would never have even imagined that I'd wind up going! Sure, I've traveled through North America and Europe, but I mean... Russia? (see also: my thoughts on walking in Red Square) China? South Africa? India? Colombia? Poland? Singapore? Brazil? It's been a privilege to be in those places and meet these people doing such great work.
I hope that in some small way I've been able to help them with their efforts. I've certainly learned from what they are doing... and that's been fed directly back into what we're doing within the Deploy360 Programme.
Two years into the role there is still a great amount of work to do... we have content roadmaps that outline MANY documents we want to either find or create... we have new topics that we want to add to the site... we have code we want to help get created... we have new best current operational practices to help document... we have other groups we want to engage with...
The two years seem to have flown by rather quickly - it's been rather a whirlwind ... but I'm looking forward to where the next two years go. Lots to do - and the challenges ahead for the open nature of the Internet are only going to get tougher and more demanding!
I know I haven't been writing here on DisruptiveTelephony as much as I used to... but I'm hoping to do a bit more in the time ahead. Much of my writing these days is on the Deploy360 blog and sometimes over on CircleID. You can always track my writing via my danyork.me site... or of course follow me on any of the social networks.
Thanks for all the support and help that so many of you have given me over these past two years - and I look forward to working with so many more of you in the months and years ahead!
P.S. One great way you can help is to join the Internet Society to stay up-to-date on current issues affecting the Internet - membership is free for individuals. You can also subscribe to my infrequent email newsletter where I hit many of these topics.
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