“Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.”
― Aristotle
This past week I was once again at Auttomattic’s annual Grand Meetup (GM). For the second year in a row, it was held in scenic Whistler, British Columbia, Canada – a truly magnanimous experience, cradled in a bowl of nature’s beauty.
The GM is an opportunity for all 600+ Automatticians (what we call ourselves) to make new connections, spend time with work friends, work on projects, learn from one another in classes, and bond as freedom fighters who strive to democratize publishing to the web. Each Automattician has a different experience at the GM. It depends on one’s personality, team, role, interests, and desire to learn and meet others. Truly, I believe like most other things in life, we get out of the GM what we put into it.
Alongside my normal GM and team activities, I was also asked to teach a 15-hour class on domains and emcee our closing party. Both are exciting and challenging. The odd thing is I have extensively more experience working with domains. Having emceed a few events in my lifetime, I have only spoken in front of a few hundred people at one time. Despite this imbalance, as I prepared for both, I felt much more comfortable emceeing than teaching the one subject I can arguably be considered an expert in.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
― William Arthur Ward
Earlier in the week I was asked what I was going to do at the GM – a project, a class or my own job? I said I was teaching a class on domains. A fellow Automattician asked, “is there enough material about domains to teach for 15 hours”? That question confirmed one of my fears about teaching domains. Most people, even in tech, have little idea of the breadth and complexity of domains. My response was a polite, “certainly” but my inner dialogue was screaming, “Are you kidding me? I can speak for weeks on DNS alone?”
There is the multi-layered food chain consisting of ICANN, Registry, Registrar, Reseller, and Registrant. Policy and compliance through ICANN is akin to having a seat at the United Nations. The technical intricacies of domains are, well…have you ever tried explaining how the DNS works? (…..Zzzzzz…). And there are things like WhoIS, domaining, lifecycle, drop catch, auctions just to name a few other topics. The terminology and acronyms alone are enough to make learning Mandarin seem easy.
“In learning, you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn.”
― Phil Collins
So how do you teach a subject like domains that is wide, deep, and dare I say, dry?
It is like building a house. You focus on building a solid foundation from which everything else is anchored, keep the design interesting and challenging, while the actual work fun. For domains, you must be passionate about the industry, have engaging stories that are interesting and relatable, and create an interactive space that bridges abstract concepts with physical and tangible activities.
Oh, and plenty of patience!
Don Ruiz 