02/16 …. ISOC-DC business meeting, 6:30-8:30 PM, Verizon DC offices,
                     1300 I Street, N.W.. Suite 400W, Washington, DC.
                     Agenda includes: selecting the new leadership team for the chapter, planning future events.

                ISOC-DC Bylaws Final Draft (2-04-10)   (read here)
                     Please post your comments on our LinkedIn page by Feb. 11   (comment here)

6:30-8:00 PM, Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Lister Hill Auditorium, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda

VIDEO OF EVENT AND SLIDES ARE AVAILABLE, see: www.isoc-dc.org/docs.

The DC area members of the Internet Society have organized a series of meetings to discuss the evolution of the Internet. The next discussion will explore how the electric power grid–and the appliances in your home–are being networked, enabling electric utilities to better control electric power generation, consumption, and distribution–and give consumers ways to save energy and money. But it is not clear how the Smart Grid will develop. Will the Smart Grid be fully integrated with the Internet or will proprietary technologies and security concerns make that difficult? What steps will be needed to ensure the security of the Smart Grid? How will the Smart Grid interoperate with home networks and other systems? Will each utility and each country adopt different approaches or will there be global standards–and who will set those standards?

Introductory remarks by Donald Lindberg, Director, National Library of Medicine, NIH.

Discussion leaders:
- Fred Baker, Fellow, Cisco Systems, and former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society and former Chairman of the IETF
- Katherine Hamilton, President, GridWise Alliance
- Harry Wingo, Policy Counsel, Google
- Don Von Dollen, Program Manager, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)

Moderators:
- Sally Wentworth, Internet Society
- Michael R. Nelson, Visiting Professor, Internet Studies, Georgetown University

This event is free and open to the public. It’s a discussion–not a lecture. The goal is audience participation. In addition to the featured speakers, a number of participants in the IEEE PES Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference being held at NIST January 19-21, will be taking part. (http://ewh.ieee.org/conf/isgt/2010/).
You will need to bring an unexpired, government-issued photo ID
For information on NIH security: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/about/lhcaud_gen.html#secur.

We are pleased to invite you to a special evening conversation, the first in a series of public seminars on the subject of “Grand Challenges of Cyberspace”.

Vint Cerf will be our lead panelist, and will be joined by a few others – likely including a guest host from National Public Radio (unconfirmed), who will bring the view of an observer of social dynamics at the boundary of cyber and human.

A public interactive conversation with the “Father of the Internet”, moderated by Brett Berlin

The seminar is first in a new public series examining societal impacts, challenges, and opportunities at the cyber-physical boundary between technology and society.

Future public seminars in this series will address more specific areas of cyberspace challenge, such as warfare/security, research & engineering, social networking, health, etc. This 1st interactive discussion also serves as the “keynote” session for a series of graduate seminar courses during which participants engage a multi-disciplinary study of the emergent nature of cyberspace — within and across communities, societies, nations and dynamic affinity networks — to identify the “grand challenges” which face those working at the cyber-physical boundaries, where technology, governance, and social dynamics meet.

The course, IT 590-001 Grand Challenges of Cyberspace, is open to graduate, senior undergraduate, and returning students. Technology background not required. Skill in research, critical thinking, collaborative analysis, and communication.

1901 Moves Closer to Final Approval as an Official International Standard

Las Vegas, NV | Jan. 6, 2010 | At the 2010 International CES, the HomePlug® Powerline Alliance today celebrates the …

As Chair of Internet Society Board of Trustees, I would like to take this opportunity to offer my best wishes for a wonderful New Year to Members, Chapters, partners, and friends around the world.

As a community joined by a vision of the Internet’s potential to foster global innovation and to benefit individual lives, I believe the past year provides us many reasons for confidence. Our collective efforts have helped make the Internet more accessible to an increasing number of people around the world. We have helped promote the adoption of technologies that are at the core of the Internet’s continued development.

Perhaps most importantly, we have helped those beyond our community understand that openness and transparency are not just chance features of today’s Internet, but properties intrinsic to its creation and continuing evolution, and that they must be preserved.

Thus, I look forward with much optimism to working with you in 2010 as we continue to advance the cause of an Internet for everyone.

Most sincerely,

Raúl Echeberría

Thanks for an Extraordinary Year of Achievements from Lynn St.Amour,
President and CEO of ISOC

Dear Members, Friends, and Colleagues,

The end of 2009 is rapidly approaching – and what a year it has been.
The Internet Society continued to prosper in 2009, the results of our work
reaching wider and deeper than ever before. So it is a pleasure to extend my
sincere gratitude to all of you whose combined efforts, energy, and
dedication have made this such a great year.

We often use the term “Internet community” and, looking back at the
achievements of this year, it is clear that these are truly the result of a
strong, committed community pulling together around shared values and
principles.

It is impossible to list here all of the Internet Society’s achievements
from such a busy and productive year, but I would like to single out a few
highlights.

Washington Post | By Michael Alison Chandler |Dec. 21, 2009: [summary] Nationally, the portion of schools that offer an introductory computer science course has dropped from 78 percent in 2005 to 65 percent this year, and the corresponding decline in AP courses went from 40 to 27 percent, according to a survey by the Computer Science Teachers Association.

In the spring, the College Board, citing declining enrollment, canceled its AP computer science AB class, the more rigorous of its two courses in the subject.

The result of sporadic or skimpy computer science training is that a generation of teenagers great at using computers will be unlikely to play a role in the way computer technology shapes lives in the future, said Chris Stephenson, executive director of the New York-based Computer Science Teachers Association.

For the full Washington Post story go here

FCC news release Dec. 16, 2009: Options for a National Broadband Plan

Wireless Week | Andrew Berg | Dec. 16, 2009 : The FCC today published what amounts to a framework for the final phase in the development of …

In Dec. 2009 (see 2nd item below) the Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced ISOC’s support W3C’s for evolution as an organization that creates open Web standards.

A definitive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page has been posted on the ISOC.ORG web site. Well worth the read.

10 December 2009 (via ISOC-NY) – The ISOC Nominations Committee seeks statements of interest from individuals who wish to join the Board of Trustees.

In 2010, three positions on the Board of Trustees are open for election. Two Trustees will be elected by ISOC Organizational Members and one by ISOC Chapters. The Trustee positions are 3-year terms that start June 2010 and expire June 2013.