What we are talking about

The theme of BigHook2001 will be "The Boundaries of the Network." For four years, many of us have been saying that the network is getting stupid inside -- that intelligence, applications, and value creation are moving to the edge. Today it's almost a truism.

Indeed, the "edge" is where we find the neato applications, the value creation, and the people who actually use these apps, value them and impart value to them. As we look back at the winner apps of the last decade --email, audio-on-demand, e-commerce, instant messaging, etc. -- none of them were created by the owners of wires and switches or the vendors that serve them!

But what does "edge of the network" mean exactly? Where is the so-called edge of the network? Is it at the last router? At my IP stack? At my fingertips? In my mind?

What do these edges include? And what (and who) do they exclude?

Is 'edge' even the right metaphor? Maybe we should be using words like border, boundary, transition zone, rim, skin, fringe, or frontier. Maybe the best 'edge' metaphor is membrane, because in biology a cell membrane has structure, and its structure (and its interactions with stuff inside and stuff outside) determines how it functions. In other words, membranes are active. You could even say that a membrane defines its cell, rather than vice versa.

There's an infrastructure aspect to this, i.e., what does the access network look like (who builds it? who owns it?), and what properties do/could/should connections and access devices have? Here we can talk about wired and wireless access and the economic and regulatory issues that gate and shape access to our network.

There's an aspect that revolves around devices and applications. For example, we could explore the potential of XML to create whole new families of applications that don't exist yet and we can't even imagine. Closer to home, there's the promise of SIP and the issue of Microsoft's entry into SIP's world. And then there's i-mode, 3G, 802.11, ultrawideband, cognitive radios, game platforms, other digital devices and the applications that they afford.

There is a human aspect, i.e., what is the interface between who we are in cyberspace and who we are in the physical world -- as networks reach into our lives, into less developed economies, to the bottom of the ocean and out to the planets -- as networks grow out and our life on the network grows in, how does this change us?

There's a lot of unknown territory to explore here.

Here's why we call this meeting BigHook . . . 

Who's coming

BigHook2001 will be co-created by some 50 specially selected SMART People, including:

Scott Bradner, former chair of the IPv6 working group, and current Area Co-Director of the IETF Transport Area.
Napier Collyns, co-founder of Global Business Network (with Stewart Brand, Peter Schwartz, etc.), responsible for building GBN's remarkable network of Remarkable People.
Dewayne Hendricks, editor of the Dewayne-Net Technology List (news source for all things wireless), advocate of open wireless access and CEO of the Dandin Group.
Lawrence Lessig, author of "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace", former Special Master in the Microsoft anti-trust trial, and professor at Stanford Law School.
Bob Lucky, head of Applied Research at Telcordia, commentator on corporate culture and chair of the FCC Technical Advisory Committee.
David P. Reed, co-author of "End to End System Design" (1981), which is the original Stupid Network paper.
Clay Shirky, explicator of peer-to-peer architecture, economics and social effects. See Clay's recent paper on Hailstorm.
Bill St. Arnaud, network architect for CANARIE, the national research network of Canada.
David Weinberger, perpetrator of "Journal of the Hyperlinked Organization", co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and the author of a work-in-progress about life on the Web, entitled Small Pieces, Loosely Joined.

I have once again engaged the services of:

Joe Sterling, an inspired scribe who has a genius for capturing the flow of a conversation in words, shapes and pictures.
Chef Roland, cooker of great food.

Here's a complete list of BigHook participants we currently expect . . .

Spouses, Partners, Children welcome at all meals, events, etc., (except formal meeting sessions) and to use the Airplane House grounds during the conference! (Please send the names of guests to Carolee.)

When: the agenda

The conversation will convene Wednesday, September 5, 2001, at Noon with a light lunch, followed by the first session about 2:00 PM. Participants and guests are welcome on the airplane house grounds beginning as early as you want on Wednesday morning. Also, if you arrive

The last event will end at about 11:30 AM on Friday, September 7. An optional lunch will be served at noon. Participants and guests will be welcome to use the Airplane House grounds all day.

Here's THE DETAILED AGENDA.

Where and how to get there

Folks will gather at the awesome Airplane House in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

There's more information available on Woods Hole here . . . 

Here's how to get to Woods Hole . . .  

Why: a different kind of communications conference

Communications networking conferences are sorry affairs these days . Former bubble billionaires babble about intrinsic value. Sessions have unscheduled empty spots becaust the companies that were scheduled at the podium struck out in the middle of their third round raise. Confused carrier CEOs confabulate about recapturing the margins they deserve. 'Services' has become a sloppy term for everything from phy-layer restoration and cold-potato routing to content creation. Artificial scarcities rule the day.

Meanwhile, communication on the Internet threatens to become a liability. One of "George the second" Bush's first acts as U.S. President was to shut off email communications with his friends. It is becoming illegal to write or even distribute music coding software without permission from the Recording Industry, even if you use it to listen to legally purchased music. These clues suggest a scenario in which the only information on the Internet will be information about us published by the marketing department of Big Brother, Inc.

What a difference a year makes. Last year, BigHook2000 was a pause in our headlong rush to get networked. This year, let us remember that communications is more than a way to make or lose billions, that it retains potential to be a fundamental human good. Let's think critically about this goodness, whence it arises, wherefore the technologies that would implement it, why innovation and creativity flourish under certain business models but not under others, and the changes in our lives that might result from the alternatives.

Like last year, let us adopt a broad perspective. Let's think about the network we would like to leave to our children, to people on other continents besides North America, to the Bottom Three Billion (B3B) and to future generations. Let's discuss ideals: what kinds of networks we want, what their properties should be, what their business and social implications could be, and how we could bring the best aspects to realization.

Unlike last year, let us spend some collective effort on thinking about effective ways to communicate our findings.

At most conferences, the formal presentations are not the main event.  The real action takes place in collegial conversations in the hallways, by the pool, over meals, etc., far from the prepared, self-interested, marketing-oriented remarks on the stage.

Let us make this conference different. Let's try to capture "the action" within the main event. During these three days, "presentations" will be brief and organized in panels, which will set the stage and context for ensuing discussion.  In addition, everybody will get one "chip" when they register, worth three minutes of floor time, which they can "play" at any point (except during somebody else's five minutes.)

How: a few details on your participation

IMPORTANT:  Please note that your invitation means that I'm inviting *you*personally.*  The Airplane House only holds 50 people.  So I'm hand-selecting invitees from the SMART List.  I'm inviting people who not only can think deeply and express themselves clearly, but also who can listen openly and expand their viewpoints.  Therefore, your invitation is not transferable.

We're overbooked at this time. If you're not confirmed yet, we can put you on the waiting list in the event of a cancellation.  If you'd like to be on the waiting list, please e-mail me. If we have an opening for you, the fee will be $2000, but don't worry about this unless we find you a seat.

The Sponsors of BigHook2001

Thanks to the people and companies who are making BigHook2001 possible, including:

Stephen Kamman and Tim Horan of CIBC World Markets
Richard Prytula and Marc Balevi of TechnoCap
David Curry and Jonathan Thatcher of World Wide Packets

BigHook Main Page.

Date page last modified: October 16, 2001