Constructing a Better, Broader & Bespoke Internet with ISOC

#ISOC publicity# General Announcement

Do you pay regular visits to one or more web addresses around the globe through the Internet? I bet you do. Do you have suggestions, complaints and queries about the Internet’s structure and its accessibility? I think you might. Are you aware that there is a global body responsible for the engineering, governance and sustenance of the internet? I am not sure you do. Have you been informed of the possibility of contributing your ideas about the Internet and getting heard? You deserve to know. Well, this is to broadcast the existence of the Internet Society (ISOC).

You probably know what IP means. But for the benefit of doubt, IP or the Internet protocol is a data transmission standard that controls the routing and structure of information generated and transferred over the global interconnection of computerised devices which make up the Internet or international network. In other words, it is one of the technology models that define the parameters of the data you are able to access and post over the World Wide Web (WWW) through your end device such as 3G-enabled phones, networked computers, internet-enabled palmtops or pads and other portable internet devices.

The Internet Society

ISOC or the Internet Society is a non-profit corporation that is operated exclusively for educational, charitable and scientific purposes. Its responsibilities include the establishment and promotion of principles that are intended to persuade governments to make decisions that are right for their citizens and each nation’s future in order that a healthy and sustainable Internet may be made available to everyone.

ISOC hopes to:

• facilitate and support the technical evolution of the Internet as a research and education infrastructure and stimulate the involvement of the scientific community, industry, Government and other stakeholders in the evolution of the Internet
• educate the scientific community, industry and the public at large concerning the technology, use and application of the Internet
• promote educational applications of Internet technology for the benefit of government, colleges and universities, industry, and the public at large
• provide a forum for exploration of new Internet applications, and to stimulate collaboration among organizations in their operational use of the global Internet

What’s more?

ISOC welcomes new ideas from both technical and non-technical members of the civic society and offers ISOC memberships to individuals and organisations alike at very convenient plans.

If you feel concerned about the engineering and governance of the Internet or simply interested in the ongoing conversations that influence the future of the internet, you could make the newest site on your web browser the Internet Society’s. Simply visit www.internetsociety.org to get started. Remember, you don’t have to know any technical jargon. It’s all about being in-the-know. Besides, there are forums and mailing lists where jargons get explained.

#ISOC publicity# General Announcement

Sleepinolosis

You wake up and it’s late in the morning
It’s ten o’clock but you’re still yawning
Your mates are already off to work
But for you, even that sleep was work!

You brush your teeth quickly and sit on the sofa
Boy, even the TV knows you’re a loafer
From show to show you stick to the screen,
Chewing white gum till your face turns green

Then at noon, it’s time to take your brunch
And it’s everything your eyes see that you crunch
You eat so much till even your teeth grow fat
And you’re determined to lose weight by a simple chat

You hit the bed and the bed complains
Mocking your body because it’s never the same
You bite your nails and snore aloud
I guess all these “achievements” have made you proud

An idle man is a regular prisoner of boredom
Play and consume- that is how he intends to build an empire
And the folly he nurtures tells him his time is long
Truly, life is short but idleness makes it seem long. 


First Published as Minus Productivity on Taking IT Global's Panorama Magazine

A Dummy’s Guide for Hiking to the Goal Line

(Music Playlist: J. Moss’ Praise on the Inside, Third Day’s Trust in Jesus, Casting Crowns’ Courageous, Kari Jobe’s We Are, Matt Redman’s 10,000 Reasons, Chris Tomlin’s I Lift My Hands, Sidewalk Prophets’ Live Like That)

Save the last dollar. If you are a creative thinker, you might realise in years to come that on the long term, the work you eventually co-create will bring you more fulfilment. So, start planning for your years of personal cost-cutting. Even if it’s a dollar you are able to save each month, save it. It will count during the famine.

Receive NOs with thanksgiving.  When rejections come, let your determination to emerge with better results rise above them. Be persistent and true to your personal values. Stay true to your true friends. Love them as you love yourself. It is almost impossible but it is about the only way to keep a good heart. If you have a good heart, you can still have anything. If you have a bad heart, you can lose everything.

Talk less, do more. Talk is cheap, productive work is expensive. It will demand energy, money, time, pressure and the very skills you lack. Endure and build inner strength. Save energy by talking less and thinking more and achieving your intentions. Unless you’re trying to inspire other people, talk is a waste of time; especially if you’re telling the wrong people or those who can’t help or synergise with you.

Do selective advertisement. Network with people who are pursuing similar goals or already doing something similar to what you want to do and broadcast the briefs of your ideas. Speak your heart out to those who can help out. Tell the gist of your story in places where the vocal power would not amount to a waste of energy.

Don’t commit suicide. It’s very fine to make where your parents peaked your own starting point. It’s okay to set their highest points as the lowest points on your life’s script. But, do not be mean to yourself for the things you are unable to do now. Even if in the worst case scenario of your forecasted progress rate, you do not get to fulfil some previous objectives, you can achieve other goals and believe that things will fall into place with time.

Do your best. When your priorities change for reasons that are most conducive for you and everyone concerned, adjust the associated goal. Do your best to achieve it.

Celebrate. Commemorate achieved goals. Give yourself a good treat. Experience heaven on earth.

Reset. Follow a histogram pattern of goal pursuit. Chase goals in standing progressions along your timeline. As you achieve more goals, drop the excesses and reset new short term goals in view of your mid and long term goals.

Anthills of the Savannah: Inspired by Angry People

An angry man is always a stupid man --Chinua Achebe, 1930-2013

Photo Credits: www.naijaleaks.org

The extent of human foolishness, immeasurable as it is, tends towards maximum under extreme conditions of ease, excitement or anger. Let’s check out anger. If the things people say or do when they are stressed or angry could be recorded and replayed back to them several hours later, many would laugh at their own stupidity. They are humorously inspiring.

Even in our daily public routine, some evidences are available. The traffic situation in Lagos alone has the inherent power to turn educated persons into illiterates. Elites who intentionally leave their offices in the later hours of the night to avoid the stress associated with heavy traffic and still find a hectic traffic waiting for them somewhere are susceptible to losing their calm on the way home. If they encounter similar traffic the following morning in the face of lateness, they may lose their calm again.

Angry men are like fighting babies. Often times, the bone of contention is a simple thing that can be easily resolved. Recently in a public transit unit, three men were arguing. How did it start? One of them said something in the disfavour of a certain politician. Another man who obviously liked the politician said something in his favour. A third one said something that upset both of them. Then a heated argument resulted out of a debate about someone who was elsewhere doing things no one knew. The angry men were discussing problems. Their talk was based on how there was once a country.

That we sometimes make mistakes is a proof of our humanness. That you find it relatively easy to forgive people when they fail you is both a symptom of your human consciousness and an intrinsic proclivity to divinity.

There is no end to the presence of problems, no end to the writing of books and codes. Some of the businesses of tomorrow are being developed today by people who listen to angry people.

Let your anger be against the problems; not the people. Hate the problems and love the people. Find a persisting solution to the problems of the country and let there be a country.

We are anthills climbing the clefts of cliffs sitting upon the bellies of a coarse dark mountain in a green Savannah. The clefts are the challenges in our lives. The cliffs are the problems in our nation. The mountain is where we consider our place of refuge. The green Savannah is the tropical expanse in Africa.

Be attentive to people when they go angry around you. They are sometimes inspiring…

Adieu to Chinua Achebe…I have done the said justice.

Creating Alternative Remedies for the Dis-ease of Unemployment

Picture Courtesy: http://www.africaheritage.com

First Published as University Overhaul Could Fill Employment Gaps

It is unfortunate that in spite of various economic reforms ongoing in the sphere of Nigerian leadership, the nation has remained a major consumer of technological innovation.

Unlike countries that comprise the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and have developed an economic edge, we have a large population that consumes technological gadgets and produces very little in return. Except for the media industry which has successfully produced and transferred elements of our culture through entertainment products that are available online, Nigeria has limited contribution to technological innovation on a global scale.

However, some encouraging works that can address this issue are in progress. It seems that the Nigerian government has now realised the need to change the mindsets of the people from the idea of using opportunities to creating them. Training programmes that are capable of empowering the youth have commenced and efforts to provide financial support to promising ventures are afoot. The government’s focus on unemployed graduates of tertiary institutions in this regard has shown some commendable results.

Now there is another factor that requires the consideration of government. While it is critical to develop as many entrepreneurs as possible, it is impossible for every youth to become an entrepreneur. Some people are not gifted to carry out the functions of an entrepreneur. Even after much training and financial support, it will take more personal effort, for instance, for persons of phlegmatic temperament to really do well in business ventures. In view of this, one would expect that the Nigerian government, through its agencies, would consider the creation of an alternative for persons in this group.

One suggestion would be to restructure our educational syllabus at the university level. Courses such as Zoology, Botany and Archaeology are fantastic and useful to both the academic community and life outside the university. Unfortunately, graduates who major in such courses hardly find any means of employment upon graduation. This is because there is no industry absorbing such inexperienced professionals in the economic sector. Consequently, they have to take additional degrees or scout for the relatively few companies that still offer employment consideration regardless of the applicant’s area of undergraduate study.

Such courses should either be remodelled or scraped by some of the universities offering them, while new and more relevant ones should be developed.....

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