PERSONAL STATEMENT

Aaron B. Helton, United States, Computer Sciences

While my interests in computers and the Internet are certainly not recent, I have come to
appreciate the broad social impact they have had within the last year or so. I received my first
computer at an early age, as what I considered to be a consolation gift for having to give up a
bulkier toy. The circumstances that prompted this change would punctuate my entire childhood:
we moved almost every year (sometimes sooner, sometimes later), and I remember this move
primarily because I was forced to give up this large toy I had really wanted because the new
place was not going to be big enough for it. The computer, however, turned out to be a more
fortunate choice, for that Commodore 64C ignited in my eight year old self an intense interest in
computers, one that would occasionally be eclipsed over the years yet never diminish. My early
experience with this computer shaped my later interactions with the Internet, especially once I
discovered how to program. Despite this, computers remained something of a toy for me until
much later; I simply did not grasp their potential.
Even though I am among the last generations that have not always known the Internet, I
can scarcely remember when I first got online. Oh, I remember the method, the dial-up
connection we had at the time, but the Internet has become such an integral part of my life now
that I almost have trouble remembering what life was like before 1995. To say that the Internet
is good for communication is a vast understatement, but back then, I could only guess at where it
would lead. Nevertheless, I discovered an aptitude with the Internet that built on the love of
computers from my childhood, and I soon discovered how to find almost anything and how to
meet people from across the world. Because I still viewed it as a toy, though, I did not seriously
consider it as something I would want to work with for the rest of my life. In what was perhaps
either the least or most fortunate choice of my life, I turned away from computers to pursue a
different field.
My first attempt at college represented the most significant setback I had encountered to
that point. I had grown up assuming I would study one of the "hard sciences," physics or
chemistry or the like, and when it came time to choose a college and program of study, I chose
Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. Immediately on commencing study, I realized
I was in over my head, but it took the rest of the year before I would admit it to myself. When
the next year's loans were denied because of my poor performance, I was devastated. Deep
down, I knew what I should have done, but by that point I had no plan. I worked the summer
sweeping floors and arranging bolts by size, in despair but determined to do something, to get
back on the horse, so to speak.
While I worked with no clear plan, I met a man who suggested the Army, an idea that
took hold of me and would not let go. I looked into other branches, but what attracted me to the
Army was the fact that I could choose a job specialty outright and be guaranteed training in that
field. This time I played it safe and told the recruiter I wanted to work with computers. He
found me a job doing just that, and I gave up six years and three months of my life. In return, I
learned a great deal more about computers, networks, and the Internet, than I had ever known,
and more importantly to me at the time, I got money for school, which I wholeheartedly pursued,
finishing my bachelor's degree in 2003. I discovered that my earlier affinity for computers and
the Internet gave me a natural talent for my job, and were it not for a difference in methodology
between myself and the Army, I might have remained in the service longer.
 During my time in the Army, I had the chance to experience several cultures firsthand. I
spent three years in Germany, and while some of my peers avoided interacting with the locals if
possible, my wife and I found that our time there was greatly enhanced by those interactions, and
we developed some cherished friendships in the process. In addition to Germany, I spent six
months in Kosovo at a combat hospital; since I worked with the computers, we made many trips
out to purchase equipment, and we even got the chance to help clean up a war-devastated school
house. Later in my stay in Germany, I had the unique opportunity to participate in a Partnership
for Peace exercise in the Republic of Georgia. For two weeks, my Army unit lived and worked
with a Georgian military unit, and I was surprised at how well we could communicate with one
another despite the language difference. These interactions with cultures foreign to my own
appealed to one of my other latent interests, gained through extensive study of National
Geographic magazines, and left a lasting impact on me.
The Internet provided the basis for my communications during large portions of my
Army service, and while my view of it had matured somewhat, it had now become a simple
utility; email, instant messengers and search engines were just interfaces to it, like light switches
and power outlets to the power grid. Perhaps because broadband was not ubiquitous until near
the end of my enlistment, I did not see it for what it could really do. I did not suspect that
Estonians would use it in 2005 to vote in regional elecions and again in 2007 for national ones. I
did not predict that bloggers would transform the US electoral landscape in 2004, and it never
occurred to me that broadband's enabling of on demand video would make the 24 hour news
cycle look slow. I began to catch on in 2005, and by 2007 I had begun to make my own attempts
to answer the question of where the Internet will take us next. In light of my military
background, I found the transparency of democratic governments, especially the parts that are
appointed, to be an obvious, if difficult target, and I am looking forward to examining this very
closely in a democracy that has already achieved a great deal.