After 2 intense days I am finally finding some time to reflect. The Realising Our Broadband Future Forum was an attempt at a new way of engagement for big issues. Some might see it as just rah-rah and a talk fest of people congratulating themselves on their mutual agreement, but it was a lot more than that. The format wasn't perfect, and I think I'll talk about that in another post, but the substance was strong and positive.

All the sessions were recorded. As well as the the ones I mention below, I'd recommend the stream wrapups, and Nicholas Gruen. The Wiki is was supposed to be open for another 7 days for comment, but isn't, hopefully they will fix that on Monday. Text, slides and links to my presentation are my blog post from Friday.

For me the NBN will stand or fail on two issues: strategy and engagement.

I was impressed, not only by what Mike Quigley described as the strategy for the NBN, but also how. I'm sure that he lost almost everyone along the way somewhere. It is not an easy task to get a complex and highly technical concept across to people in a way that treats their particular technical capacity with respect and leaves them with a better understanding without feeling inadequate. I think he did that.

In any case, what he said impressed me as well. The NBN is a platform. Ordinary people will know it by what it brings to them, not by what it is of itself. Many comparisons to railroads, electricity, telegraphs were made over the two days. And one of the main points from the community stream was about the value of the ubiquity of broadband. The government is investing the layer that makes it ubiquitous. The market will provide the delivery and the services. Innovation, demand and competition will set the pricing.

I believe this is a sound strategy, structurally and technically, that will create a foundation for innovation.

The bigger risk is in the engagement. Getting people to "get it". Jeff Cole noted that the step from dialup to broadband is bigger than the step from not online to online. Broadband changes the dynamics of how we work, how we play, who are our communities, and how we transact. While Mike Quigly is a great explainer, different engagement is needed in our various communities.

In the communiites stream we were all reminded that the questions ordinary people will ask are: "what can I do with it?" and "how much will it cost?" Until the community can get answers to these questions, the NBN will be a thing for the true believers.

It is the possibilities for innovation that gets the true believers excited. As Alan Noble noted (quoting Vint Cerf) most of the interesting applications haven't even been thought of yet. This idea gives me goosebumps. This is the incalculable value of the NBN. As hard as I tried for my presentation to think of ideas for the future I knew I was only thinking of different ways of doing what we do now. We can't imagine the future until we get there.

For me the excitement is in the opportunity for social innovation. Getting the NBN to remote and regional areas first is terrific (even though I want it to my house now!). This has the potential to energise regional areas and make them vibrant and prosperous. This will be good news for the whole nation.

I challenge anyone to find a sector of Australian society that could not benefit by the NBN. Agriculture, health, education, disability, entertainment, infrastructure, resources, science, emergency services, work, business - and on to a very long list.

It is easy to see that I am a technologist and an optimist. Not so much of an optimist to know that it could all go horribly wrong if it is done badly. But this is the stuff I live for - paradigm changing technology, opportunity for creativity, invention and really clever things and the chance to make lives better. The excitement the vision of the future, like the one laid out for Tasmania by David Bartlett, the Premier is what will make this work. I think that the NBN is off to a good start.