Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Jan 01
My Four Words For 2014
As has been my custom now for the past few years, I like to start my writing off in a new year with a post about a few "words" that I intend to use as guides for the year. They aren't "resolutions" as much as they are areas of my personal life in which I aspire to be active this year. In previous years (2013, 2012, 2011, 2010) I've chosen three words, following a meme started by Chris Brogan many years ago.
This year, I found myself struggling to reduce four words down to three... and finally said "Hey, wait a minute, it's MY blog... if I want to have four words this year, I can! ;-)" And so... here is my list for 2014...
RUNNING
Those following my writing here have known that running became an important part of my life over the last 3.5 years. I even recorded an audio commentary last year (while running) about how important it is to me.
But I suffered a real crisis in confidence - and enjoyment - when I ran an extremely frustrating half-marathon in September. I never wrote a response to my post about preparing to run the half-marathon... rather than "third time is a charm", it was more "three strikes and you're out!"
I'll write some other time about that particular race and the resulting mental fallout, but suffice it to say that I've had a hard time getting back out there. I know intellectually that I just need to get back out there and do it... and in 2014 I intend to once again make running a core part of a healthy lifestyle!
And maybe I'll get to where I do try another half-marathon.... (but probably at a cooler time of year).
UPDATE: - I started off the year on a good note here by running a 5K on New Year's Day on our treadmill that we'd relocated to our basement. It was fine as long as I kept my head straight up so that it stays between the rafters!
RELIGION
You wouldn't know it from any of my online writing or any of my activities on social networks, but religion and spirituality are topics I'm incredibly passionate about and care deeply about. My father is a (now retired) Methodist minister, as was his father before him, and so I grew up deeply steeped in a progressive Christian church.
Yes, I am a "preacher's kid." :-)
When I was in my late teens and into college I had a severe falling out with the Methodist faith of my fathers and spent a significant amount of time searching for a religious community where I could belong. Like anything I do, I plunged in and dived deeply into reading, visiting churches, etc.... but never found anything until a random invitation from a friend some 20+ years ago introduced me to the world of Unitarian Universalism. Many years (and many UU churches) later, I'm president of the board of trustees of our local Keene UU Church and in fact led the worship service there last Sunday giving a sermon/message about the challenges of being open about religion in the age of Facebook.
But you wouldn't know any of this from what I write and post online. There are thousands of blog posts online from me since 2000 and many thousand tweets/updates/posts on social media...
... but pretty much NONE of them say ANYTHING about religion.
There are a lot of reasons for WHY I have been silent about the religious side of my life in my online activity... and I'll write a post about that at some point (probably soon).
But I've realized that in being silent and hiding this aspect of myself I'm not really letting myself be truly whole.
So I'm going to start... I've been letting pieces of that side of me leak out into Facebook lately. THIS blog post is a huge step for me.
I'm not going to be "in your face" about religion or anything (that's not the UU way! ;-) ). But I'm going to stop hiding that side of me. I will treat it instead just as yet another facet of the complicated person that I am (and that we all are).
We'll see... this will, in all honesty, be a bit challenging for me... but is an area I'd like to grow personally.
AUDIO
In a change from past years, I'm carrying a word over from the previous year. I did a great amount with audio in 2013, but in 2014 I intend to do more. I want to move forward with "FIR On Technology" and have a number of interviews in mind. I want to bring back Blue Box: The VoIP Security Podcast for some interviews... and I'm hoping to do more audio components in my daily work with the Internet Society Deploy360 Programme.
I'm excited... and "stay tuned" has never been more appropriate!
STRATEGY
Finally, there is an exquisite irony to me that while my job title at the Internet Society is "Senior Content Strategist", my own personal content online is severely lacking a strategy. I am inconsistently writing across 8 or 9 different places online - and I'm adding more sites like the Monadnock Curling Club... and there are a few other projects in the works.
Yes, this is a bit of a case of the proverbial "cobbler's shoes", but in 2014 I'd like to pull some of this together a bit more and have a bit more discipline about what I'm doing with all my online content. I'm at least aggregating my online content at my danyork.me site, but this year I want to do more with getting more consistent with the creation of content.
That's my list for 2014. What about you?
What are you going to do this year with your one wild and precious life?
An audio version of this post is available on in my "The Dan York Report" podcast:
Jan 01
Your New Year’s Resolution for 2014 – Does It Include IPv6, DNSSEC or BGP Security?
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014! We’re VERY excited for this next year and look forward to bringing you another year of the best in real-world deployment information to help you make your networks better, faster, more complete and more secure! We’ll be continually adding more resources about IPv6, DNSSEC and routing security - and we may add in some more topics, too! We’ll be holding ION conferences around the world. We’ll be writing on our blog and posting video, audio, slides and more to all our various sites and services. We’ll be speaking and participating at events from ICANN, IETF and many, many more.
We’re looking forward to 2014 being a great year!
How about you? What are your plans for 2014? Have you made a New Year’s Resolution yet? If so, does it include IPv6, DNSSEC or BGP security?
If not, we’d encourage you to consider one of these as a goal for 2014:
- Implement IPv6 within your office (or home) network. View our IPv6 resources for ideas.
- Make your website content available over IPv6 – We have some suggestions for how to get started. Bonus points if you can get your content available over IPv6 by June 6, 2014, the second anniversary of World IPv6 Launch!
- Sign your domain with DNSSEC. Here are instructions for some registrars and DNS hosting operators – and ask your DNS hosting provider about how to get DNSSEC signing in their system.
- Set up your DNS resolvers to perform DNSSEC validation – there’s a great whitepaper that shows how easy this is!
- Tighten up the security of your router – read this Internet-Draft around BGP operations and security to understand how you can better protect your routing infrastructure.
Those are just a few thoughts… we could keep on going, but you get the idea – let’s make 2014 the year that IPv6 and DNSSEC get deployed!
What are you going to do? And how can we help you?
Happy New Year!
Dec 31
Revisiting My 3 Words For 2013 – How Did I Do?
As 2013 draws to an end, I thought it might be appropriate to reflect quickly upon how I did with my "three words" for 2013.
EXECUTION
I wrote in part:
this year I want to execute on some of the plans I have had for some time. There are some things I have been thinking about, talking about and even writing about for several years... but have yet to actually start. Not so much in my professional/work life, as I have been all about executing plans there, but rather in my personal life with some of my various side projects.
My record is a bit mixed here. I did dive more deeply into activities with a couple of boards that I'm on. I did start a few of the projects that I'd wanted to... but then others like rebooting VOIPSA are still out there lingering.
AUDIO
Here things have gone quite well! I've actually launched two new podcasts in 2013, experimented with another and have another couple of projects underway:
THE DAN YORK REPORT - What began as purely experimentation with SoundCloud as a platform for audio hosting has turned into a fairly regular podcast, "The Dan York Report", where I am commenting on a wide range of issues. I've recorded 55 episodes so far (and there were some before I formally had the name that could qualify, too), and I have ideas for doing more with this in 2014.
FIR ON TECHNOLOGY - Coming in just under the wire, I launched "FIR On Technology with Dan York" as part of the "For Immediate Release Podcast Network" and published the first full episode today where I interview a friend of mine, Randy Resnick, about how Google+ Hangouts On Air can be used by communicators. It was a great interview and I look forward to doing more of these in 2014. Having been a regular weekly contributor to the main For Immediate Release podcast since 2005, it's fun to expand out into some deeper episodes.
DEPLOY360 ON SOUNDCLOUD - In the "continued experimentation" stage, I started posting audio updates for the Deploy360 Programme on SoundCloud related to our work with IPv6, DNSSEC and other topics. I have some ideas of where I want to take this and am looking forward to it!
Beyond that, I confirmed a couple of people for some future Blue Box Podcast interviews, so there are some good things brewing there. And... well... suffice it to say I have some other ideas in the works. :-)
TRANSFORM
On this topic I wrote:
In a 2012 leadership workshop for one of the boards I am on, we were asked some questions that could perhaps best be summarized as "how are you using your life to transform the world?" To make it a better place? To bring people together? To strengthen connections and build stronger communities?
Here things have gone well. I've become much more active in a way that I'll write more about tomorrow. Our family is now helping out with some community breakfasts that are a very tangible way to feel that we're helping people in our community. And I've been helping out in some other ways that I'm starting to see are making a difference. And... I love that a large part of what I do for work is based on a clear mission focused on helping people out!
There's much more I'd like to do on this topic (and more on that tomorrow)... but I feel that I did make a solid start on this in 2013.
So that's a wrap for 2013... what will I aspire for in 2014? Find out tomorrow... :-)
Dec 30
Deloitte’s Tech Trends 2013: IPv6 (and this time we mean it)
As we close out 2013, we’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that we were very pleased to see that IPv6 was included the “Tech Trends 2013″ report issued by the giant global consulting organization Deloitte earlier this year.
In their report section “IPv6 (and this time we mean it)“, they talk about how critical it is for businesses to start planning now for the transition to IPv6. Here is Bruce Short, a director at Deloitte Consulting LLP, offering his view on IPv6:
Deloitte has made their report chapter on IPv6 available for download and conclude their IPv6 page with this “bottom line” (my emphasis added):
As connected computing has become a ubiquitous part of business and leisure, part of the Internet foundation is faltering. Internet Protocol has become a universal address scheme for networking, but we’ve run out of new addressable space. With the explosion of mobile devices – especially with asset intelligence and machine-to-machine embedded connectivity in literally everything – unique IP addresses are becoming a scarce resource. The implications are many. Constraints on innovation, unwieldy network management and security concerns, such as the deployment of v6/v4 bridges in Asia that strip identity and allow for true anonymity. The IPv6 standard has existed for decades, but we’re at a point of finally having to take the issue seriously.
IPv6 is a bit like Y2K – with an ironic twist. A looming-but-unknown deadline, but where the repercussions of no action are precise and potentially catastrophic. Each piece of the migration is manageable. It’s the scope that is complex, as every piece of your IT footprint is potentially affected.
Organizations that start now will likely have time to take a measured approach, limiting risk without dominating the entire IT agenda. Those that wait may be forced to scramble – or get left unconnected.
Exactly! The time for waiting is over. It is great to see a large firm like Deloitte out there advising their clients and we hope that many enterprises will take this advice seriously and start making the move now.
How about you? If you haven’t already made the move to IPv6, how about making 2014 the year that you at least start (if not hopefully complete) your transition? Don’t wait. Don’t be left behind.
P.S. And check out our list of IPv6 resources if you need some help getting started!
Dec 30
FIR #736 – 12/30/13 – For Immediate Release
FIR Presents Higher Education joins the network; LinkedConversations episode 4 is up; FIR on Technology coming soon; our 10th year; Quick News: how the weather affects social media engagement, all about LinkedIn Endorsements, McDonald's axes employee site, 10 ingredients for the perfect presentation; Ragan promo; News That Fits: a holiday wish for social media speakers in 2014, Michael Netzley's Asia Report, teens opting out of Facebook, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, listener comments, startups can't rely on traditional PR, Dan York's Tech Report; native advertising's big challenges; music from Katie Dare and the Bad Luck Charms; and more.
Dec 27
Free Ebook: IPv6 for IPv4 Experts (in English and Russian)
Looking for some reading over the holiday break? Want to learn more about IPv6 and how you can be a part of the ongoing transition of the Internet?
If so, Yar Tikhiy has written a free ebook, “IPv6 for IPv4 Experts” that is available from:
https://sites.google.com/site/yartikhiy/home/ipv6book
The book is available in English in two forms of PDF and in Russian in PDF, HTML and EPUB.
I’ve not had a chance to thoroughly review the document yet, but on an initial glance through it looks to be quite an excellent resource for people looking to learn more about IPv6. We’ve added it to our list of IPv6 resources and encourage you to check it out.
At a very high level, the overall structure of the book is:
Preface
1. Defining the Problem
2. IPv6 Address
3. IPv6 Packet
4. IPv6 in the Protocol Stack
5. Neighbor Discovery Protocol
6. Advanced IPv6
Conclusion
Bibliography
If you look at one of the PDF files, you can see from the table of contents that there is a good amount of detail included in the ebook.
It’s great to see this kind of content being made available and we thank Yar Tikhiy for writing this!
Dec 26
TDYR #055 – On Remembering Those Who Are Struggling At This Time Of Year
TDYR #055 - On Remembering Those Who Are Struggling At This Time Of Year by Dan York
Dec 23
Follow Deploy360 On SoundCloud To Hear Our Audio Updates And Event Recordings
Are you following Deploy360 on SoundCloud? We’re posting there occasional audio updates about our activities as well as the audio recordings from our ION conferences and other events we attend. You can find our profile there at:
http://soundcloud.com/deploy360/
Our SoundCloud account is enable for podcasting and so there is also an RSS feed to which you can subscribe using whatever podcast client you prefer.
You can see an example of the types of event recordings we’re doing in our ION Krakow “set” on SoundCloud. The cool thing is that you can start the set playing and basically listen through the entire ION Krakow event. It’s a great way to listen to what you missed if you weren’t able to attend or listen live.
In the new year I plan to get the audio recordings up there for ION Toronto as well as some of the recent ICANN DNSSEC Workshops. Plus, we’ll continue to provide audio updates from time to time to let people know what is going on with our activities within the Deploy360 Programme.
We’d love to have you follow us there and comment on and share our audio recordings. While you’re there on SoundCloud, perhaps you might also be interested in following the Internet Society SoundCloud account where we share some of the other audio content created at various Internet Society events.
The great thing about SoundCloud is it makes it extremely easy to create, upload and find audio recordings. The only down side from our perspective is that it is not yet available over IPv6. 
If anyone knows of a similar service for audio hosting and sharing that does work over IPv6, we’d love to hear about it. We haven’t found one yet.
Dec 23
Dell: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love IPv6
Dell gets my vote for best IPv6-related blog post title in a while with “How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love IPv6“. And yes, I know it’s a play on Dr. Strangelove and yes, I also realize that the post is ultimately an ad for Dell’s SonicWALL routers (which, I also admit, I didn’t realize Dell had acquired back in 2012). Still, it’s great to see a company like Dell writing about IPv6 and author Wilson Lee is right on target with his final paragraph:
So how did I learn to stop worrying learn to love IPv6? It wasn’t to stick my head in the sand or to sweep the inevitable migration under the rug. Rather, as a Dell SonicWALL technologist, it was to make sure that our customers establish the best practices in preparing for IPv6 by deploying security policies on their firewalls, secure remote access appliances, and email security appliances that are tuned for IPv6. And as consumers of technology, it’s all of our jobs to insist that companies design technology with built-in IPv6 security measures. The Internet of Everything promises to revolutionize our lives; let’s work together to ensure a secure Internet, stop worrying, and learn to love IPv6.
Indeed! All of us need to do what we can to make the move to IPv6! Have you viewed our IPv6 resources? Looked at our IPv6 basics page? How can we help you make the move? Please let us know!
Dec 20
Ebook: IPv6 for IPv4 Experts (Available In English And Russian)
In September 2013, Yar Tikhiy released a free ebook titled “IPv6 for IPv4 Experts” available at:
https://sites.google.com/site/yartikhiy/home/ipv6book
The ebook is available in English in multiple PDF sizes and in Russian in PDF, EPUB and HTML. In an A4 paper size the document comes in at 402 pages and at a high level has this structure:
Preface
1. Defining the Problem
2. IPv6 Address
3. IPv6 Packet
4. IPv6 in the Protocol Stack
5. Neighbor Discovery Protocol
6. Advanced IPv6
Conclusion
Bibliography
The ebook is marked as a draft and some errata have been noted.
