Hi Laura!

Please use Marc's reply for the update - the grant application isn't a totally accurate portrayal of our goals, current progress and next steps. Namely, we're not intending to create a free-as-in-beer, fast, high-speed network, but rather the focus is on cultivating a community of participants sharing their existing bandwidth with a public, open network and developing local applications and services- all built by and for the people with resiliency in mind.

Thanks for putting this together!

On 03/13/2015 11:23 AM, Laura Turiano wrote:
> Thanks Marc and April. This is so exciting and you are really being
> thoughtful about the build out and testing.
> Laura
>
> On 3/13/15 7:07 AM, April Glaser wrote:
> > Hi Laura,
> >
> > To clarify, the $40 node isn't $40 a month for an Internet connection.
> > It's the price of the antenna set up to connect to the network.
> >
> > So we're still working out the details on how we will distribute
> > access to the network. Some parts of Oakland still report that less
> > than 50% of residents have access to a reliable Internet connection.
> > In those areas we might experiment with other methods of distribution.
> > To that end, we're doing outreach to local organizations and the like
> > to discuss how to best expand the network.
> >
> > Here's a description of our work that we used recently to apply for a
> > grant, in case this also helps.
> >
> > *What's your project? What's below is about 30 words over. Can someone
> > tighten it up?*
> > We are a homegrown, community-owned network in Oakland, California
> > working toprovide free Internet access at faster speeds than
> > traditional providers.
> > The People's OpenNetworkis dedicated to the idea that our community
> > must have a central role in theoperation of ourcommunications
> > networks. That is why we are building our own free network that
> > provides high-speed, open access to the global Internet, while hosting
> > local applications and services crafted by and for users in the East Bay.
> > We are committed to universal, equitable, and unfettered access, free
> > of unwanted surveillance and censorship. People's Openuses Sudo Mesh
> > firmware, a free software project developed by
> > volunteersenablingrobust, non-hierarchical mesh networks. The firmware
> > provides a simple way for users to share a configurable portion of
> > their Internet connection with the network – made relatively safe
> > because the traffic from the shared connection is notassociated with
> > the donor's IP address. Sudo Mesh is distinct from other opensource
> > firmwaresbecause we prioritize both sharing andprivacy.
> > Every aspect of People's Open is participatory, and every week we host
> > three open meetings, including firmware development and community
> > organizing. We're collaborating with local organizations and our
> > diverse neighbors to co-create the network.
> > *What assumptions will you test? *
> > We hope to establish that a small-scale community-run network can
> > provideservices currently assumed to be the province of large,
> > top-down Internet providers. Specifically, we are exploring how local
> > media and applications can be developed on such a network tobenefit
> > local users. Examples of services include a local bulletin board,
> > grassroots journalism outlets, local Voice-over-IP, archives,
> > community asset maps, and Internet radio, all hosted on our local
> > network.
> > Instead of paid-subscribers, our goal is to have active participants.
> > To that end, we currently offer training and hold open hack-nights at
> > Oakland community hackerspaceSudoroom. Topics range from cryptography
> > and network administration to antenna design and firmware hacking. We
> > are actively designing our network through conversations with
> > community partners, like Media Alliance, AspirationTech,
> > ICSI/UCBerkeley, and others as part of our long-term outreach strategy.
> > Access to the Internet is a human right, and we oppose practices that
> > corner users into paying exorbitant rates to get online. Our network
> > offers a free connection to anyone within range or willing to host a
> > node. We challenge the idea that users need to trade personal data to
> > engage with their community online, and People's Open encourages our
> > neighbors to support other free software projects.
> > *Who is the audience/user of this project? How will they be impacted? *
> > The current model of Internet distribution in the East Bay isn't
> > working for everyone. Many neighborhoods continue to report that over
> > fifty-percent of residents lack a reliable home Internet connection.
> > People's Open is partnering with community anchors, like churches,
> > neighborhood gardens, schools, small businesses, and libraries, to
> > mount antennas in underserved neighborhoods.
> > This is a community network, and we're working with our neighbors to
> > build and maintain it collectivity. We meet with local leaders and
> > invite our neighbors to participate, fostering collective expertise
> > and helping to ensure sustainability of the network.
> > We are building a captive portal that directs users tolocal
> > applications, such asa community calendar, grassroots media, maps, and
> > bulletin boards. Working directly with activist groups to co-design
> > trustworthy platforms, we're exploring ways to host local social media
> > and digital classrooms. We are also in conversation with branch
> > libraries and social service organizations about hosting information
> > directories on the network. People’s Open is a grassroots media
> > project, and we want to help meet the information needs of our
> > communities.
> > In sum, we provide a faster connection to the global Internet than a
> > traditional residential ISP, while strengthening our community’s
> > relationship with technologies that we depend on everyday.
> >
> > *What have you made so far? *
> > For the past year and a half, most of our work has gone into
> > developing and testing our firmware, which is a heavily modified
> > version of OpenWRT. Our sources are on GitHub
> > (https://github.com/sudomesh/) <https://github.com/sudomesh/%29>and

> > are available for other communities wishing to create a similar
> > network. We are finally at a point where we can begin to offer a
> > reliable networking service.
> > We have also deployed two testbed networks, one in Omni Commons, a
> > giant community center which houses Sudoroom, and one in West Oakland,
> > consisting of routers running our firmware.
> > People's Open also has a long-term outreach and communications
> > strategy, with the goal that the network will bloom and remain
> > responsive to our communities. Our outreach strategy focuses on three
> > tiers: large organizational partners, community anchors like churches
> > and small businesses, and neighborhood mapping. In working with
> > existing and trusted community groups, we hope to invite their
> > networks to join and participate.
> > Finally, we have a dedicated team in the project for the long-haul. We
> > have three open hack-nights a week at Sudoroom, a well-known community
> > center, where anyone is welcome to get involved at every level of the
> > project. We frequently welcome new participants and keep our website
> > up-to-date.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 3/13/15 3:04 AM, Marc Juul wrote:
> >> On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 3:13 PM, Laura Turiano<scylla@riseup.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hello meshers,
> >>>
> >>> I'm writing an update for Oaklandish about the Omni and would like to
> >>> include info about progress on the mesh network. Can someone tell me
> >>> how
> >>> many nodes have been installed, any other accomplishments, what are the
> >>> next steps, etc.?
> >>>
> >> Hi. Here are my thoughts. Other mesh folk, please correct or expand
> >> as you
> >> please.
> >>
> >> Next week we're activating a test network at the Omni to test our indoor
> >> nodes in an apartment-complex-like setting, as well as a small six node
> >> high-speed roof-to-roof network in west Oakland. We have been working
> >> on a
> >> new, friendlier, web admin interface as well as features that will allow
> >> people to start out with an entry-level ~$40 node and upgrade their
> >> coverage later by adding rooftop or street-facing nodes without any
> >> extra
> >> configuration.
> >>
> >> Over the next month or so we'll be stress-testing our two networks and
> >> completing these new features. The next phase will be a beta release
> >> where
> >> we invite the adventurous to adopt nodes. I would like to see a beta
> >> test
> >> network with maybe 50-100 node locations. The beta test will be less
> >> about
> >> testing the technology (though there will be some of that) and more
> >> about
> >> understanding the problems and opportunities that arise when a diverse
> >> group of people with diverse skill-sets have to run their own
> >> network. If
> >> the network is to succeed as it grows, then it cannot rely only on the
> >> small group of volunteers that make up sudo mesh. We're going to have to
> >> figure out how to communicate to node operators that this is not a
> >> traditional ISP with a support line. Instead it is rather like a
> >> community
> >> garden where everyone helps out to make it succeed and we want so figure
> >> out how to best facilitate that cooperation. During this phase we'll
> >> also
> >> be finalizing our automation tools for receiving orders for new nodes,
> >> automatically configuring those nodes and shipping them out. Once we're
> >> comfortable that everything is ready for a rapidly expanding network the
> >> next phase might take the form of a large crowdfunding campaign where
> >> people can get nodes as perks.
> >>
> >
>
>

--

Jenny
http://jennyryan.net
http://sudomesh.org
http://thevirtualcampfire.org
http://technomadic.tumblr.com

`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"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
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