21
July
2023
InCommon for All Seasons, But Especially Christmas in July
By Kevin Morooney - Vice President of Trust and Identity and NET+, Internet2
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
I am fortunate to live in a place where I experience all four seasons. It is summer where I live. I’ve come to enjoy anticipating the changes in the upcoming season and reflecting on the opportunities the past season enabled.
In my youth, summer meant potato salad, fresh tomatoes pulled off the vine, grilling, baseball, crabs, and extra deodorant. Summer 2023 has the added bonus of the Women’s World Cup! A World Cup makes for some of the best months in any given year. So why in this humid, carb filled, daylight-filled time of year am I thinking about Christmas?
Christmas!?!?!!! Yes, Christmas.
As InCommon workmates will tell you, one of my all-time favorite movies is A Christmas Carol, the one with Alistair Sims (you might be tempted to go for the colorized version, the photography in the original is powerful). The only other version of this movie allowed in my house is The Muppet Christmas Carol. My kids and I will fight you on that.
I could do a blog posting once a month for two years on this movie and this story. I love it that much. So why is it that in July I’m thinking about Christmas?
The spine of the A Christmas Carol narrative is reflecting on the past, better understanding the present, and trying to understand how that will impact the future. Living an intentional life makes the present better and promises a better future. This time of year at InCommon when we are hosting BaseCAMP and planning for CAMP Week in the fall. The 2022 Accomplishments Report is still fresh in my mind, and the InCommon Futures2 Project is underway. Within just 90 days, all of these activities will occur or be launched. I can’t recall such an intense period of activities in the 20-year history of InCommon. It’s incredible!
I’d like to think that we – the InCommon community – have lived good IAM lives over the last 20 years. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, we’ve been working hard to get direction and accomplishments right since the beginning. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get better still or even that what got us here will get us there. The InCommon Futures2 Project will be our engine for changing our intentions, just as the three ghosts of Christmas were for Scrooge.
Marc Wallman and I will be talking about this project at the Internet2 Technology Exchange (TechEX), September 18–22, in Minneapolis, and you will be seeing lots of communications about it in the months to come. The first InCommon Futures Report had an incredible impact on the growth of InCommon, and we’re going to aim for the same with Futures2.
Did I mention that I love this story 🙂 ? I’ll wrap up with this quote from the narrative:
“Men’s courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead,” said Scrooge. “But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!”
If I didn’t see you at BaseCAMP, I hope to see you at CAMP and ACAMP in Minneapolis during TechEX. Looking forward to working with you to agree on what the future needs to look like.
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