Re: [DisasterRadio] Mozilla/NSF Grant Timeline & Action Items

Greetings meshers, Am posting this off-list as there are ~250 people on the sudomesh mailing list and many of them will likely be competing for the same grant. Also, I made a mailing list for Disaster Radio folks [1] as a supplement to #disasterradio channel in Patchwork. Those who were on the conference call last month have already been added, but feel free to join if you'd like. Also started a hackpad for the Peoples Open Network submission [2], plz add to it! -- Timeline for the NSF/Mozilla WINS grant below, followed by action items (plz read those if you intend to participate in either the Disaster Radio or People's Open submissions): INTENT TO APPLY (OCT 15TH): I checked back on the 'Intent to Apply' form, which is due OCTOBER 15TH, and noted that the only info they required was a contact name, org name, org status, and which challenge the org is applying for - 'Both' is an option, and I'm 100% confident that's what I submitted back in August. According to the challenge rules, "Teams may submit Submissions to both Challenges and may submit more than one Submission per Challenge." So we're good on the Intent to Apply for both People's Open and Disaster Radio. 1023 NONPROFIT APPLICATION (MID-OCTOBER): The next deadline is self-imposed, and that's getting Sudo Mesh's 501c3 application in the mail ASAP - I am hoping by early next week, but may be the following week since I'd like Jesse to review it and sign the Power of Attorney form. It only took the IRS ~2-3 months to send both Omni's and Sudo's exemption letters, so hopefully we'd get ours by January, when the Stage 1 prizes are announced. I'll include a letter for expedited treatment in the application, which lives currently in the Sudo Mesh google drive and is nearly complete: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4_Q7DQvNFT-MWx5bkI5MXVUYkU [3] Design Concept Submission (Nov. 15): All submissions must first apply to the Design Concept Stage, for which we need to submit mockups, hardware & network diagrams, and written documentation. Prizes (for $60K, $40K, $30K, and $10K[x7]) and projects eligible to move on to the Working Prototype Stage will be announced in JANUARY 2018. Working Prototype Submission (June 22): If Mozilla deems our submission(s) eligible, we then need to submit working proofs-of-concept by JUNE 22, 2018. For this they suggest the following forms of documentation: Network test data, Video demos, Photographic documentation, Software code, and Hardware schematics. "Finalists during the Working Prototype Stage may be required to provide live demos for judges and/or a public audience at a Challenges Showcase in SUMMER 2018." _"Prizes will be announced in or around AUGUST 2018. Finalists during the Working Prototype Stage may be required to provide live demos for judges and/or a public audience at a Challenges Showcase in Summer 2018."_ ACTION ITEMS: 1. Define teams: While we have a defined team for the Disaster Radio project (for which we're applying to the Off-the-Grid Internet Challenge [4]), we need to define a team for submission for the People's Open Network (for which we're applying to the Smart Community Networks Challenge [5]). Let's discuss who wants to participate in the PON team at next Tuesday's meeting. Any participant can be on multiple teams. I started a hackpad for the PON submission here:

[2] 2. Choose Team Leaders: Both projects will also need to consent to someone who can serve as the Team Leader, essentially the point of contact between Mozilla and the project. This is ideally someone highly responsive to emails, organized and able to stay on top of the various elements of the submissions. Happy to play this role for either or both, and can think of a number of folks who'd make excellent points of contact - just think it over and volunteer if you have the spoons! 3. Sudo Mesh board members - namely JAKE, LESLEY, MARC, ANDREW, AND JORRITT - please write up 1-2 sentences describing your 'qualifications' (eg degrees, work experience, notable projects) into the spreadsheet I sent you yesterday [6] - it's a requirement of the 1023 application. 4. Everyone working on the grant team(s) should read through the Application Submission Guide [7] to get a sense of what kind of questions we need to respond to and documentation we'll need to write up. Consider your strengths and interests and what role you'd like to play - code dev, written documentation, use cases / user stories, design, website, some combo of the above, etc. We've already sorted roles for Disaster Radio - but ADD YOURSELF HERE IF YOU'D LIKE TO WORK ON THE PEOPLES OPEN SUBMISSION AS WELL:

[2] -- I'll propose we sesh on the Peoples Open grant submission as a breakout session for next Tuesday's meeting and see if folks are down to have an extended hackathon on it sometime in the next two weeks. And a reminder that Disaster Radio hacks on Monday evenings and to register for Science Hack Day [8] for the weekend after this! <3 Jenny Help open a people-powered common space in Oakland, California! https://omnicommons.org/donate `~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories." -Laurie Anderson "Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." -Hannah Arendt "To define is to kill. To suggest is to create." -Stéphane Mallarmé ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`