16 Mar
2015
16 Mar
'15
11:53 a.m.
Hey guys,
Yeah, that grant proposal definitely intertwined some aspirational
statements with our current progress. So maybe it wasn't the best
project update. But in any event, I think you're all really great. And I
think it'll be incredibly cool once we start to expand the network even
more.
I've sent out a handful of emails to folks who have been involved with
community network projects before to pick their brains about what stage
we are at, and I'll be in touch when they get back to me.
Two more questions:
-Are we fully switched at the Omni now to LMI?
-What do folks think about doing a test bed network here at xxxxxxxx
xxxxxx? There are a lot of people without Internet here because no ISP
will serve parts of the area because of weird zoning things. It makes it
hard for this community to organize and stay plugged in, and like at the
Omni, we'd have complete access to every house/cabin, mast, flagpole,
etc. That'd make it faster to install. And we'd buy our own equipment.
-- do we even need another test bed?
Peace,
April
On 3/13/15 3:23 PM, max b wrote:
Hey Jenny,
I really wish you wouldn't have publicly walked back April's statement
like this. A number of people have different ideas for the next
directions for this project, and I think one of the things we've
realized lately is that when they don't align, we rely on eachother's
good judgement and communication in order to not shout eachother down.
In fact, I don't really agree with your statement:
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.
I, for one, do intend in part to create a fast high-speed network
which would allow folks to join with a sliding scale membership. I
don't really think that anything in the grant proposal that April
wrote up fundamentally contradicts our values or motives, so I'd
prefer that if you have your own constructive additions you voice them
without attempting to cancel out anyone else's.
Thanks
On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Jenny Ryan <tunabananas(a)gmail.com
<mailto:tunabananas@gmail.com>> wrote:
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:
--
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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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(a)riseup.net
<mailto: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.