There was an amazing power in what happened last night. There was a "magic" ... that I can't quite explain.
I sat in a room in Ottawa, Canada... but yet for 2.5 hours I was connected into a global meeting that brought me together with people all around the world... sitting in their homes, offices... or wherever. And gathered in large groups in New Zealand... Tunisia... El Salvador... Uruguay... New York... DC... the Dominican Republic... more...
The event was the Internet Society's InterCommunity 2015 ... something I wrote about on Circle ID, wrote about here, and talked about twice in my TDYR podcasts: episodes 258 and 259.
For that 2.5 hours we talked about how we are collectively working to bring the opportunities of the Internet to the 50% of the world that doesn't yet have access... we heard stories about the amazing work people are doing... we heard about our new 2015 Global Internet Report that highlights the rise of the "mobile Internet" and both the awesome potential - and pitfalls - that we are seeing... we talked about "Collaborative Governance" and how we need to work together to address the changes the Internet has brought to governance - and how governments adapt to the Internet... we heard from people in different parts of the world about the work they are doing... we talked about Internet security and how our "Collaborative Security" approach can be applied to activities people are doing... we had excellent questions about encryption and open vs closed systems... we talked about needing to speak in clear simple voices to explain these challenges... about the need for a stronger identity for the Internet Society... and so, so, so much more.
But it was FAR more than just the conversations... which were excellent.
It was the CONNECTION that I could feel...
Over 2,300 people registered for the event and some % of those folks were online for the first session last night...
There was power in seeing the faces of all the people around the world.
There was power in hearing the voices of the all the people around the world.
There was power in reading the text comments in the chat or on Twitter and social networks.
For that period of time... geography didn't matter... nationality didn't matter... race didn't matter... gender didn't matter...
We were just people ... connecting ON the Internet... and for the Internet.
Exploring together how we could truly bring about the "Internet of opportunity" that would be available to everyone, everywhere, and that could be trusted for our communication... our conversations... our commerce... and indeed our connections.
Talking really NOT about the technology, but rather the impacts of the Internet on our society... and on our daily lives.
It was a remarkable event.
And this was just the first session! While we in the Americas timezones were getting some sleep, another group of participants was having a second session bringing together even more people across Europe and Asia.
I woke up to see a steady stream of outstanding tweets using the #icomm15 hashtag - as well as email from colleagues and others - showing that the second session was equally amazing.
There was power in what happened last night.
The challenge now, of course, is to move what happened last night from beyond just conversation into the action that we need to truly realize the potential of the Internet.
That will be our task in the days, weeks, months and indeed years ahead...
For me, as I get ready now to make the 7-hour drive back home from Ottawa to New Hampshire, I'm still processing in my mind what it was all about. It may take some time - and reflection - to truly understand.
Yes, on one level it was "just" a meeting of different people tied in via video connections all across the Internet and streaming out to individuals via the Internet. No big deal, right? We can do this all the time, right?
But it was also something more...
There was power in what happened last night.
P.S. Here are some more photos taken by Glenn McKnight of the Ottawa node ...
