Plan for IANA
On Thursday morning of the IETF 90 meeting, we had a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session called IANAPLAN: Planning for the IANA/NTIA Transition.
We have built a lot of support for remote attendance in the IETF, but this week I saw something new.
Nik Tomkinson was attending the meeting as a robot, while himself staying back in UK. We’ve all been through video conference experiences, but the feeling that you get from a robot that is moving around, turning to look at you… mingling in the IETF receptions… is different, and quite life-like.
Nik and his colleague Nathaniel Borenstein from Mimecast have teamed up to attend IETFs, one in person and the other one as a robot, and this time it was Nik’s turn to be the remote attendee. They use a commercial telepresence robot from Double Robotics. The robot is connected over the Internet back to the user’s home, and its movements are controlled by the user.
This is what Nik had to say about his experience:
Attending the IETF conference as a robot was quite a unique experience. It enabled me to engage and be part of the sessions to a much higher degree than with the unidirectional ‘listening in’ to the live audio stream. I was able to attend sessions throughout the whole week, take part in a face to face meeting and even drive around among the crowds at the Bits and Bites reception. Also, I was not restricted by the location of the cameras and microphones, as I carried my own around with me.
Currently there are a number of operational issues which requires a ‘helper’ to assist at the conference, but I can see that over time the dependence on someone in this role would diminish with improved software, hardware and networking.
It certainly was a more practical and convenient way to travel across the Atlantic and to take part in such an event. Saying that, it was a little frustrating not being able to shake someone’s hand when you meet them at the conference. Maybe we need to develop a bluetooth appendage.
Will we see a crowd of these robots in future meetings?
On Thursday morning of the IETF 90 meeting, we had a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session called IANAPLAN: Planning for the IANA/NTIA Transition.
Last week, I visited the ICANN50 meeting in London. The meeting was held at a location well known to us at the IETF – the Hilton London Metropole.
For every IETF meeting, the steering group receives a number of proposals for new work. Not all new work in the IETF has to go through a public meeting to be accepted.
New IETF work begins often as a proposed new working group, through something called a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session.
During an IETF meeting, the IESG and IAB members are busy with what is going on in our areas, and we have little time to talk to each other. But we organise yearly retreats where we get to talk to each other, and can tackle issues beyond the usual daily ones.
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