Nethui 2013: Taking action at InTAC
Monday at Nethui is largely given over to workshops. At InTAC (Internet Technical Architecture Conference) a series of team exercises attempted to answer two questions:
- What do we want the New Zealand internet to look like in five years?
- What five actions can the industry can perform in the next five months to make that future more likely?”
These weren’t rhetorical questions, but real questions moderators Dean Pemberton and Tim Wright asked attendees to answer through a workshop with coloured Post-It notes, marker pens and collaborative software.
Pemberton called for “less talk, more do” which meant silent brain-storming sessions and moving between tables as the day progressed.
Attendees were asked to name issues, what we like and what we don’t, then an ideal future state. With these nailed people broke in to groups to explore the transformations needed to get to that future state. The goal was to draw up a list of practical, short-term steps that people can take now to bring about the ideal future state.
Participants identifies six areas where we can take practical steps to make the internet better in New Zealand: modernising copyright law, improving access to low social-economic areas, better passwords, develop networks to meet future demands, make sure all developments have positive security models and how to improve and simplify the user experience
Among the ideas explored were things like asking Internet NZ to explore ways to press for copyright reform, finding innovative ways of delivering internet access to poorer New Zealanders.
