Domain Pulse 2014 is coming in February and this year’s hosts, nic.at has announced a programme that looks at internet governance, new gTLDs, how internet policy influences innovation, internet exchanges, privacy, why innovations generally come from Asia and the US but not Europe and the hot online topic of the moment – surveillance by the NSA and GCHQ of everything we do online.There are also two keynote addresses – one from Key Note Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Professor for Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute who will look at “Big Data: a revolution that will transform how we live, work and think” and another from Tarek Kamal, Senior Advisor to the President for Government Engagement at ICANN who will speak about the internationalisation of ICANN, internet governance and the challenges for the multi stakeholder model and ICANN’s regional strategies.The Domain Pulse conference is the largest domain name conference each year in the German-speaking countries of Austria, Germany and Switzerland, rotating between the three countries annually and hosted by nic.at DENIC and SWITCH. It is regularly attended by 300 to 400 people mostly from the three host countries, but there are plenty from across Europe and some from even further afield.All presentations are translated into English, if in German, or into German if the presentations are in English. So don’t non-German speakers should not be put off!The conference will be held on 20 and 21 (Thursday and Friday) February in Salzburg and is a great opportunity to explore the amazing city over the weekend following, or to go skiing in one of the numerous ski fields nearby.And best of all, just like ICANN meetings, registration and participation is FREE! The venue is the Salzburg Congress, conveniently located in the centre of Salzburg, and within walking distance of the railway station and the historic city centre. There are also a number of hotel rooms reserved nearby that are listed on the conference website.And a couple of suggestions for attendees. The best (Italian-style) coffee, a great breakfast, fabulous cakes baked on premises and some pretty nice food can be had at 220 Grad at Chiemseegasse 5. Also check out St. Paul’s Stub’n Beer Garden at Herrengasse 16 for dinner or for great local food check out Weiserhof at Weiserhofstraße 4.For more information on Domain Pulse 2014, including registration, go to http://www.domainpulse.at/.