• New Internet Architecture Board, IETF Trust, IETF LLC and Internet Engineering Task Force Leadership Announced

    Members of the incoming Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the IETF Trust, the IETF Administration LLC (IETF LLC) Board of Directors, and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG)—which provides leadership for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)—have been officially announced, with new members selected by the 2021-2023 IETF Nominating Committee.

      13 Feb 2023

    • Informing the community on third-party correspondence regarding the W3C

      In accordance with our policy of transparency, this blog post is being published in order to keep the community informed about recent correspondence with lawyers acting on behalf of the Movement for an Open Web.

      • Lars EggertIETF Chair
      8 Feb 2023

    • Six Applied Networking Research Prizes Awarded for 2023

      Six network researchers have received Internet Research Task Force Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP), an award focused on recent results in applied networking research and on interesting new research of potential relevance to the Internet standards community.

      • Grant GrossIETF Blog Reporter
      9 Jan 2023

    • Travel grants allow Ph.D. students to participate at IETF meeting in-person

      Sergio Aguilar Romero and Martine Sophie Lenders, both Ph.D. students in technology fields, attended and participated in the IETF 115 meeting in London with assistance through travel grants from the Internet Research Task Force.

      • Grant GrossIETF Blog Reporter
      7 Jan 2023

    • Impressions from the Internet Architecture Board E-Impact Workshop

      The IAB ran an online workshop in December 2022 to begin to explore and understand the environmental impacts of the Internet. The discussion was active, and it will take time to summarise and produce the workshop report – but the topic is important, so we wanted to share some early impressions of the outcomes.

      • Colin PerkinsIAB Member
      • Jari ArkkoIAB Member
      6 Jan 2023
    • Show all

    Filter by topic and date

    Filter by topic and date

    A Diverse IETF

      29 Jul 2013

      I wanted to return to a topic that we have talked about before: increasing diversity at the IETF.

      The word ‘diversity’ is a catch phrase, but I’m talking about bringing different kinds of people into the IETF who have not traditionally been here. Making IETF inclusive for all participants. I am very proud to report that at this Berlin meeting, we have attendees from a record 73 different countries. It is rare to have an organisation that draws people from so many places. This is something to be proud of.

      But this is not enough. We need to go further. And I want to talk about the motivation in more depth. Why do we need to strive for a more inclusive IETF? And what are we doing about it? With this in mind, I worked with Pete Resnick to talk about our goals:

      First off, we have room to improve. Geographic diversity is just one tiny aspect of the overall goal. What about vendors and operators? More academics? Gender diversity? Reaching to the areas of the world where there is still relatively little participation? Helping different participants to become editors and leaders? Coping with different discussion cultures? We recently talked to someone who classified the IETF as a “harsh” environment. IETF discussions go very quickly to critique and criticism of proposals, often in unnecessarily dismissing manner. Food for thought for all of us to improve our communication?

      Secondly, diverse teams work better. They have more experiences to draw on. They have several problem solving and communication styles. Thirdly, the world competes for talent. The IETF needs to welcome everyone.

      So, what are we doing? We can not claim we have made much of an impact yet, but we have started a number of efforts that will hopefully lead to great improvements in the long run. The Internet Society is helping us by increasing their outreach and fellows programs. Our Administrative Committee is planning an upcoming meeting in South America. Our leadership wants to get involved in a number of other forums and local events. We created a design team to understand the diversity problem and suggest solutions to make the IETF more inclusive. Volunteers created a mentor program that helps newcomers get introduced to the IETF. And there is a record 265 newcomers in this meeting.

      This is all great, but it is good to keep in mind that we have only started our journey. There is a lot of work ahead. And we are probably missing many things that we should be doing. Please send us feedback!

      P.S. We wanted to thank Kathleen, Suresh, Mary, Adrian, Brian, Alissa, Barbara, and others for interesting discussions in this space.

      Share this page