hey y’all

Over a month ago, thanks to @jhpoelen’s initiative, we started the Node Whisperer Program (NWP). While a wonderful program, some people (i.e. me, myself, and I) noticed that the NWP omits one crucial aspect of the People’s Open Network, the extender node. There were suggestions that knowledge about extender nodes could be shared in extension to NWP (the Extended Extender Node Whisperer Extension Program?); however, recent excitement surrounding node mounts has encouraged me to propose an alternative.

Therefore, I’d like to propose a separate Node Installer Program (NIP) -- open to other names node mounter, node placer, node shouter. Unlike NWP, which has a strong focus on sharing mesh networking concepts and debugging skills, the NIP would be focused on training people to facilitate node installations (colloquially known as “node mounts”) which is the main point of interaction with extender nodes. My initial proposal for this program is as follows.

To become a “certified” People’s Open Node Installer (a PONI), one must complete the three following tasks:

1. Participate in a Node Mount Training and Safety Explanation session (either at the Omni or on-site)

2. Contribute to at least one (ideally two) node mounts, this means going along, learning the steps, becoming familiar with equipment, and interacting with a node owner.

3. Facilitate at least one node mount, this means finding someone from our list (or just a friend, family member, co-worker) who’d like a node, scheduling the installation, performing day-of coordination, and completing the install.

Node installers should also be familiar with (and contribute to?) the learning materials at https://github.com/sudomesh/mounting

I’m open to alternative course material and structure suggestions. I would be interested to hear who already considers themselves a PONI (Ben, Jenny, Will...) and who would like to take the steps to become a PONI. Looking forward to discussing this at Tuesday night’s meeting (notes available here, https://peoplesopen.net/ ) and perhaps doing some of the first official training at this Sunday’s office hours.

thanks,

grant_____(@paidforby)