Researcher meets reality, or: my first RIPE meeting

This November I was lucky enough to participate in my very first RIPE meeting. RIPE is one of the five Regional Internet Registries that distribute IP numbers and numbers for Autonomous Systems. Autonomous Systems are the networks, which together make up the Internet.

Thanks to a stipend from the RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative I could follow the invitation to London and present my research approach on "The social side of internet interconnection" (slides) in the Connect Working Group.

Before the talk, I suddenly became nervous. Talking to network engineers meant a first reality check for my ideas about internet interconnection because the engineers are the objects or rather agents in my research. You might notice some of my nervousness in the video. But all in all it went well and lead to interesting conversations. So here is me, talking to the experts:

In the presentation I am showing a video. In this clip Internet exchange point operators and peering coordinators perform their version of John Lennon's "Imagine". I like this video because it charmingly reveals topics that matter in this community such as informal agreements and collaboration. Have a look, it is fun and it says a lot about "the social glue" at the core of the Internet.

I am still looking for network engineers, peering coordinators and other interconnection experts to tell me about their experiences in an interview. Get in touch here!