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Dear Norbert and dear Claus,<br>
<br>
I can just confirm that what was written by Claus and Norbert is
true. <br>
I also attended all INET<br>
conferences from 1992 onwards and the last one in Barcelona.<br>
The spirit was as Klaus wrote for Montreal 1996 conference and for
that one in San Francisco<br>
<br>
"These were the days my friends........."<br>
<br>
However, the world is changing and ISOC has changed (we must admit
and accept that) BUT<br>
in case of such anniversary some global and general attitudes should
be followed in<br>
the spirit of the first paces of ISOC at the end of the last
century when the academic<br>
Internet stop to exist. <br>
<br>
With regards,<br>
<br>
Borka<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Dne 25.1.2012 11:45, piše Klaus Birkenbihl:
<blockquote cite="mid:4F1FDD36.7010500@Isoc.de" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear Norbert,
wow! Thank you for this!
I was considering to take the effort to go to INET2012 - not a big one
actually being based in Germany. I attended all INETs between 91 and
98. As far as I remember all of them had program committees, call for
papers, ... A process too academic for ISOC today? At least it was
transparent, it had some mechanism to collect ideas and to assure quality.
Looking at the announcement of INET2012 I can see nothing like this.
All you can say today is that there might be a program. There is an
Agenda on a Glance available. The topics you read there are what you
would expect: e.g.: /The Open Internet and the Security and Privacy
Conundrum/ or /The Rule of Law and the Internet: Is the online world
different from the offline world?/ or /Collaboration: The Key
Ingredient for Advancing Internet Innovation/ did we discuss these
topics before? Not that we finished the discussion but the agenda
doesn't tell you why you should expect something new. But there is
help: /For additional details on our event, download the Global INET
brochure <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.internetsociety.org/global-inet-brochure-pdf"><http://www.internetsociety.org/global-inet-brochure-pdf></a>/.
Hm, an Internet organization that provides the meat in print? Well, if
you are not interested in some excellent - and probably expensive -
artwork: no need to download since it only replicates what is on the
Web pages.
Did you notice that the early registration closed by Jan 20^th ? And
still wrt the program we are supposed to buy a pig in a poke.
Admitted: the conference program is not everything. But the way it is
composed tells a lot about the spirit of the event. /Father knows
best/ vs a /transparent process/, /marketing bubbles/ vs. /listen to
your prospective audience/, /wheeling and dealing/ vs. /participation/.
Veni generously started this thread with another example for
transparency within ISOC.
More often than never I hear members complain about ISOC
communications: too much sales not enough content. I wonder if the way
INET2012 is organized can reduce these concerns.
Klaus
PS.: wrt INET96 2 things are burned into my memory: the vibrating
Montreal Jazz festival with musicians all over the city (seriously
competing with the excellent conference program) and a chat with
Norbert on his work that time in Cambodia. Maybe I should check the
Geneva events calendar for April 22+ to make-up my mind wrt INET2012.
President ISOC-KH wrote on 2012-01-24 17:02:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Dear Fellow Chapter Delegates,
Dear Alejandro for having started an important discussion, and for
refocusing it,
Dear Anne for your clarifications – in addition to our regular good
cooperation,
Dear Veni for sharing the information about your special invitation
to the Geneva meeting, and asking for more transparency on procedures,
and thanks to the many others who joined in the discussion since,
sharing the conviction that the Internet Society has to give more
weight and role to its Chapters – the common ground on which we exist.
Having read with growing interest the discussion as it developed, I
was thinking since some time to join.
Anne's explanation, Alejandro's response, and Veni's information let
me start, and I add some elements.
Some initial information:
1) I am quite happy that our young, possibly future leader, who has
not attended any international ISOC events, who got positive
endorsements from 3 of the 5 members of our Board, was finally
accepted according to ISOC procedures as a recipient of the Geneva
travel fellowship. We have scheduled a number of preparatory
meetings where I will try to prepare him as well as possible for the
Geneva events.
2) Looking back at “my” ISOC history since 1996 is, of course quite
personal. After having started the first ISP in Cambodia in 1994, I
was privileged in 1996 to receive a fellowship and to participate in
*INET 96 in Montreal: “The Internet Society 1996 Workshop on Network
Technology for Countries in the Early Stages of Internetworking.”*
3) I did now some research on ISOC history – especially about people
in our history – but I could not find a report about INET 1996 after
it was finished, nor the participants' list – I think we were about
250 participants, about 50:50 anglo- and franco-phone. *The 1996
program goals were the following:
“The workshop is specifically directed toward the needs of people
from developing countries who are playing or will play an important
part in introducing and extending networking in their countries and
regions.”*
To find original sources of the 1996 INET event and workshop was not
easy – finally I found
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isoc.org/inet96/inet96/index.html">http://www.isoc.org/inet96/inet96/index.html</a>
(but in future it may be
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.internetsociety.org/inet96/inet96/index.html">http://www.internetsociety.org/inet96/inet96/index.html</a> ?)
The event was announced like this:
*
Since 1991, the INET conferences have become a common meeting ground
for participants interested in the design, implementation, operation
and use of the Internet. Global policy and economic issues, ethical
concerns, and many technical issues are raised in a variety of
contexts. The rapid influx of commercial and individual users on the
Internet has influenced the nature of the system and broadened its
utility. The importance of the Internet and its technology to all
sectors of the global economy is growing as is the social impact of
access to the Internet. The goal of this conference is to provide a
platform that will bring together those developing and implementing
Internet networks, technologies, applications and policies worldwide
for infrastructure development. *
But more impressive is the detailed program plan – it is really
worthwhile to open this link about a really “extraordinary event”
with an impressive program:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isoc.org/inet96/proceedings/index.htm">http://www.isoc.org/inet96/proceedings/index.htm</a>
My effort, to find a list of participants did not lead anywhere (if
anybody can find it – please let me know). But I remember *some
participants from Montreal whom I met later over the years – they
turned out to be leaders. Surely there are more (sorry – I mention
only some I immediately remember to have met later repeatedly):
Alex Corentin* – Senegal – President of ISOC Senegal
*Mohammad Diop* – Senegal, ICANN board member
*Luis German Rodriguez* - Venezuela
*Mao Chakriya* – Cambodia - director general of the Ministry of Post
and Telecommunication
*Nii Quaynor* – Ghana – ISOC Postel Award 2007
*Emmanuel Tonye* – Cameroon - Professor in Telecommunications and
Remote Sensing, University of Yaounde
*The search for our present Chair of the ISOC Board,* whom I also
had first met at INET 96, was quite difficult:
Old fashioned – and I got:
*Your search - isoc "Raúl Echeverría" site:www.isoc.org - did not
match any documents.*
New (still with problems – but Google helped to solve them):
*No results found for "Raúl Echeverría" site:www.internetsociety.org.*
*Results for Raúl Echeverría site:www.internetsociety.org (without
quotes):
Search Results
Board of Trustees | Internet Society
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/board-trustees">www.internetsociety.org/who-we-are/board-trustees</a>
Selected By: Chapters. Raúl Echeberría. Uruguay. Term: ...
Compensation Committee. Raúl Echeberría, Chair · Bob Hinden · Bert
Wijnen. Elections Committee ...*
Why only “(without quotes)”? - Because the ISOC site of the Board
Trustees gives his name as Echeberría, but actually it is Echeverría.
*How do, for example, these persons remember and evaluate the last
20 years of ISOC?
*
When we reflect on these 20 years – what have we achieved since –
looking at some of the 49 program items from INET 1996?
/Multilanguage Support - Character Sets for Internet Services - The
Internet and the Mass Media - Classroom Access to the Net: Who Will
Build It? - Learning Diversity and Difference: Culture on the Net -
Students as Partners in the Learning Process - Communities and
Networks - Multicultural and Physical Access Barriers - Internet
Content: Rights and Responsibilities - Security and Cryptography
Directions - Democratic Processes - Ensuring Internet Access/
What did we learn – where are we facing the same questions, but did
not find new ways? And why?
/Bulgaria is still struggling to get their country code in their own
script accepted by ICANN; how are the mass media and the Internet
dealing with their related futures; why is classroom access in some
regions of the world almost as far away as it was in 1996 - is
there, or why is there no progress? How do we operate our chapters
in view of difficulties for democratic processes and censorship -
different from situation to situation – having now a Vice President
of Public Policy? Do we want to, can we do it, in our different
contexts? Where do we really work together?
/
I think it is legitimate to look back, analyze, and compare, and
consider whether, or not, we have a common future.
This is my background when I consider some aspects of the present
plans for Geneva.
I am disappointed that I still do not see much of CONTENT in the
program schedule for Geneva 2012. And, as Veni said: there is a lack
of transparency about the procedures by which we move. I say “we” -
even being only from a small, struggling Chapter.
All my questions relate to the fact that there is a wide distance
between some headquarter procedures and decisions, and the situation
of – at least some – of the Chapters.
Ted Mooney, Senior Director, Membership & Services, wrote recently:
*Because we believe this will be an extraordinary event, we wanted
the registration to be:
• Better than market for similar events
• Reflective of the value of the event
• Affordable by a high percentage of those who want to participate
• An opportunity to our members and to students
*
“Affordable by a high percentage of those who want to participate” -
is this a joke, or are we allowed to feel offended? I would like to
know more about how this percentage was calculated. We are not in
walking distance from Geneva, and – to use a reference figure – a
high school teacher here has a monthly salary in the range of US$
50.- (fifty, not 500).
I can read such a statement only as relating to an understanding
what the Internet Society is: a business conglomerate? The Geneva
event is “Better than market for similar events” - which “market,”
and which “similar” events?
Our colleagues Grigori Saghyan, ISOC.AM, said:
/I have same impression, that this event is designed in a way to
represent young generation on INET, without "old men" presence. May
be this is a right decision, in 1990-is participants were 25-40
years old, active, young, dedicated persons. Today these persons are
45-60 years old, may be not very active and creative. Young
generation can give new spirit and new vision. But if there is such
policy, it will be excellent to declare this policy openly. Of
course, even in this case necessary to have exact program and speakers,
/
Now we have a speaker and we can be thrilled – as Ted Mooney said:
Professor Leonard Kleinrock will deliver the keynote address. I am
looking forward to the report when our fellowship recipient will be
back, because in the years since 1983, since I started to use and
promote the use of e-mail, and since 1994, when I established the
first connection to the Internet from Cambodia – the first ISP here
- and in 1996 the ccTLD .kh which I administered it for some years,
and throughout the years since, involved also with the francophone
communicating community and with ICANN, I had never heard about
Professor Kleinrock. My mistake.
So far I could find out that, in his own words, he said: "Basically,
what I did for my PhD research in 1961–1962 was to establish a
mathematical theory of packet networks..." - as a key mathematical
background on queuing theory, leading to packet switching, the basic
technology behind the Internet. Twelve years later in 1977, on the
basis of this mathematical background, the Internet finally started
to be developed in the form of the ARPANET; and then come the names
many of us know from history - Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf, Jan Postel,
and many others. It will be interesting to hear how this leap from a
mathematical algorithm to practice is seen now, in the struggles
related to the social impact of the Internet, to keep the internet
free and open in a difficult economic and political atmosphere.
*I want to close with a serious practical concern. *Our accepted
ISOC Travel Fellowship recipient received the following information
with the paperwork:
Insurance:
*The Internet Society is not responsible for the Travel Fellow’s
personal health, safety, or belongings.
Acquiring and paying for any insurance that you might want to
conclude, including travel, health, and property insurance is the
Travel Fellow’s responsibility and not the Internet Society’s
responsibility.
*
I understand that this is standard procedure – every chapter can
send one fellowship applicant, every applicant is treated according
to the same rule – all: those from north America, and from western
Europe (where the majority of people are covered by their health
insurance anyway when they travel to Switzerland), and those from
Cambodia, and from some other countries lumped together as the LDCs
– “the least developed countries” - what a nice word. Fair? Just?
Why? Did those who planned this event think about it and think this
is OK? - I am now investigating to find out which international
insurer will provide such insurance for a Cambodian citizen. And at
which cost. And then start to find somebody who might help our
chapter to cover these costs. The Internet is for everyone, no?
Norbert Klein
President
ISOC Cambodia Chapter
_______________________________________________
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--
Klaus Birkenbihl
Internet Society German Chapter e.V. (ISOC.DE)
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.isoc.de/">http://www.isoc.de/</a>
</pre>
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</pre>
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