Organization Reports > Action Plan 2017

Action Plan 2017

In 2017 we strive for even greater effectiveness, seeking to be a stronger force for change in the world. We aim to build and deepen engagement across our community and organization. We embrace our technical roots, planted in the Internet Engineering Task Force. We remain inspired by our mission, and look forward to setting the stage for the next 25 years of success.

The Internet Society community around the world is united by the conviction that a ubiquitous and trusted Internet is a unique force for good. We are guided by the vision of an Internet of Opportunity that is open, globally connected, and governed by its users from “the bottom up”. The Internet of Opportunity allows us to tackle our most pressing challenges: ending poverty and hunger, improving healthcare, increasing access to education, and promoting innovation. And, we understand that our collective potential increases as more of us connect with each other.

Yet, even as half the people in the world are expected to have access to the Internet in the coming year, emerging challenges threaten progress towards an Internet for everyone. First among these is ensuring the Internet is a trusted platform for communication that people seek to use. At the same time, we must continue to extend the opportunity to connect to the half of the world who are not yet online.

Conversations about the Internet are increasingly focused on uncertainty, insecurity, and fear of online interaction. We believe that to ensure people take advantage of the capabilities Internet access provides, a multi-faceted effort to strengthen online trust is required. In 2016, the Internet Society set strong foundations for a coordinated approach to addressing the policy, technical, and operational aspects of this challenge. The increasing importance of this issue compels us to redouble our efforts in 2017.

People who want to connect must have the opportunity to do so. Therefore ensuring those yet unconnected gain access to the Internet becomes more important, yet more difficult as they often are in locations that present greater challenges. We know that providing infrastructure is required but insufficient. Building regional communities of technical and policy expertise is a key component of ensuring strong and sustained connectivity. This has been a core of the Internet Society’s work over the past 25 years, so we approach this effort with an understanding gained through past successes, and with an urgency imparted by its importance for addressing the broader challenges in the world.

Our accomplishments over the past 25 years provide knowledge and confidence. In 2017 we strive for even greater effectiveness, seeking to be a stronger force for change in the world. We aim to build and deepen engagement across our community and organization. We embrace our technical roots, planted in the Internet Engineering Task Force. We remain inspired by our mission, and look forward to setting the stage for the next 25 years of success.

People sitting in a room

2017 Objectives

For 2017 we have set four main objectives. Two objectives continue themes established last year around trust and access, and two focus on strengthening the Internet Society and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). 

Both trust and access are necessary components for realizing an Internet of opportunity for everyone. Our success also depends on increasing the influence of the Internet Society organization and community. Likewise, we are committed to ensuring the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) remains a vibrant and sustained source of the open standards that form a foundation of the Internet. We also understand that to achieve our vision, our approach must reflect the principles of collaboration, inclusion, transparency, and partnership embedded in how the Internet itself works.

The following section summarizes these objectives, outlines the key initiatives that define how we will approach each of them, and provides examples of the tangible outcomes we expect to result from the cross-organizational projects we will undertake.

Our Objectives for 2017 are to:

These four objectives, taken together, organize our efforts around the key challenges facing the Internet today, and strengthen our ability to address those challenges in the future. They advance Internet Society’s vision and mission and they strengthen the Internet Society and the IETF. We believe they are critical to the continued growth and evolution of the global Internet.

Understanding how well we accomplished what we set out to do is critical to setting a course for the future. Did we reach the goals we set for ourselves? Did we connect with the individuals we needed to reach to be most effective? Have we effected the change in the world we sought to make? To that end, an integral part of our plan in 2017 will be to evaluate our efforts.

This will include conducting a study on the diversity of people and communities our efforts included and affected.