ARIN XXVII Fellowship Program Now Open

I would like to share this great opportunity to the Diplo community for the upcoming ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers) XXVII fellowship program this coming March 2011 in Puerto Rico. The application period opened today, January 11 and will close on the 25th of February 2011. I got this news blast from Jud Lewis, Membership Coordinator for ARIN, whom I have personally met last October 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. I was fortunate enough to receive the fellowship for ARIN XXVI in Atlanta as the representative for the US. It was a great experience interacting with policy makers, government representatives, the private sector, the technical community and CS groups.

As a fellow, I was assigned a mentor from the ARIN Advisory Council and she helped me interact with ARIN members, and especially with folks from the technical community who explained a lot of technical issues. I got to actively participate in the voting of some proposals and even voted for the NRO NC election.  It was a great educational experience for me because I am not a very technical person and the experience helped me understand a few pressing issues in the IG technical community. There was even an instance where we went out for a burger at 11:OO PM in Atlanta and on a piece of napkin, I learned about IPv6 from the AC members who themselves drew analogies so I can understand. They also threw a couple of tough questions for me. But of course, not being a technical person, I went there to learn and perhaps ask the right questions when policies are being presented.

I think of the ARIN experience, too, as one big classroom where I learned a lot about about IPv6 - statistics, and issues from different parts of the globe coming from APNIC, AfriNic, LACNIC and RIPE.

The next ARIN XXVIII will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 12 - 14 of 2011.  Please shoot me an email at [cembley@esc17.net] or message me here if you have specific questions. Three free meeting fellowships are available for residents of Canada, the Caribbean, and the US and outlying areas.

Applicants for ARIN XXVII can apply to the program at:

https://www.arin.net/participate/meetings/fellowship.html