[sudo-discuss] Fwd: [omni-discuss] Omni Member Application — Sudo Mesh

[Yardena Cohen]

Hey Sudoers, what do you all think about the mesh project becoming an
Omni member collective?

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mai Sutton <mai.ishikawa.sutton at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Apr 1, 2020 at 9:20 PM
Subject: [omni-discuss] Omni Member Application — Sudo Mesh
To: <consensus at omnicommons.org>, <discuss at omnicommons.org>
Cc: <info at peoplesopen.net>


Dear Omni Collective Delegates,

Below you will find Sudo Mesh's application to become a member
collective of the Omni Commons. We welcome your questions and any and
all input you may have about our application!

I plan to be present at the Omni Delegates meeting tomorrow, April 2,
to formally present our application and receive your feedback.

Best,
Mai

---

OMNI MEMBER APPLICATION - SUDO MESH

What do you do that makes a difference in the world?

Sudo Mesh develops software and assembles hardware systems to build
open community networks. We are building open technology that helps
connect our neighbors, support local businesses, and enable community
collaboration and cultural production. In the event of a natural
disaster or state censorship, community mesh networks can be a
resilient means of communication and sharing of information.


Our projects include People's Open Network, a community-owned and
-operated non-profit digital network in Oakland and disaster.radio, an
off-grid, solar-powered, long-range mesh network built on free, open
source software and affordable, open hardware.

Briefly recap your history as an organization.

Meetings to build the People’s Open Network began in January of 2013
at Sudo Room. Several founding members of the project, including Marc
Juul, Jenny Ryan, Daniel Arauz, Lesley Bell, Jehan Tremback, Jake
Sternberg, and Matthew Senate, continue to be involved to this day.


We have continued to build off of the contributions and experiments of
people who have been involved over the years. Our accomplishments over
the last seven years include:


Development of our own version of mesh routing firmware, SudoWRT,
which was built off of existing open source operating system OpenWRT
in addition to open source mesh routing protocol Babel.

Organized six Build Your Own Internet (BYOI) events where we’ve hosted
hands-on activities and presentations about how the internet works and
our digital network commons initiatives.

Installed 30+ antennas and routers in homes and businesses to become
wireless nodes in People’s Open Network. One includes a node at the
Internet Archive building in Richmond, CA, which we placed there in
order to distribute gigabits of donated, free bandwidth.

Raised over $180,000 in grants and individual donations to support our
work, including a $30,000 donation to Omni Commons and a $10,000
donation to Sudo Room (where we have hosted our meetings and storage
for years).

Laptops for All (another Sudo Mesh project) has given out dozens of
laptops to high-need individuals.


Our most active projects are the People's Open Network and Disaster Radio.


People’s Open Network empowers communities to build and operate their
own wireless networks without relying on last-mile ISPs. Using our
design built on open source software, off-the-shelf hardware, and open
educational materials, small groups of people can utilize existing
bandwidth to share their internet connections and cover public and
underserved areas. Those who connect to the network are not customers,
but community members, encouraged to learn, participate, host a node
or contribute to code.


Disaster Radio is an off-grid, solar-powered, long-range mesh network
built on free, open source software and affordable, open hardware. It
is being designed to be rapidly implemented in disaster areas by
anyone who can follow written instructions, acquire the necessary
components, and mount a nominal number of nodes. The nodes will be
small, entirely self-contained units running low-bandwidth web apps
that anyone can access with a WiFi-enabled device. We are designing
them to be solar-powered.

What is your incorporation status? (501c3? Unincorporated Association? etc.)

We are an incorporated 501c3 organization as Sudo Mesh, with EIN
46-4226376. We have our own bank account with UNIFY Credit Union,
including sub-accounts for each of our projects.

How do you make decisions?

We are currently undergoing a transition in our decision-making
process, which has been slowly evolving over the last two years.

Until 2018, major decisions were made by in-person votes at weekly
Tuesday night meetings by those actively involved in Sudo Mesh
projects. Otherwise, decisions were made on an ad hoc, individual
basis by those who had the capacity to work on different aspects of a
project.

For the last two years, we have been experimenting with the
decision-making platform, Loomio. We collectively selected active
members as “Stewards” who are empowered to vote on any major
decisions, particularly those involving financial expenditures. We are
also using Loomio to discuss ideas and proposals before they go up for
a vote. Currently, proposals must be approved by consensus of approved
Stewards. Stewards are not able to block if they are the sole person
opposed to the decision — they must work with the proposer to come to
a proposal that works for them.

This has largely worked for us, but we still lack many protocols that
could ensure a stable governance process. For example, we do not have
minimum involvement requirements for those to remain as Stewards. We
hope to address such issues in the coming months.

State your goals for becoming an Omni member collective. How would
your presence in the Omni contribute to its purpose and Statement of
Solidarity?

We believe in the power and potential of the commons as an alternative
to capitalism, which justifies the extractive, violent, and depraved
treatment of humans, animals, and the Earth. Networked communication
has not only become critical for people to access and share
information, it’s a necessity for community connection, social justice
organizing, and to inspire and disseminate stories and art.


Sudo Mesh is a small project out of many thousands of digital commons
organizations that are fighting for a more just and equitable
internet. Our goal is to build network infrastructure that is truly
owned by and for the public, with a more specific aim to create
technology that addresses the information and communication needs of
Bay Area neighborhoods.


Sudo Mesh has also long been a pillar organization of Omni Commons.
Several of its members have and continue to contribute their time and
expertise to maintain the wireless network in the space. Our members
have helped with building maintenance and we have also used the space
for our BYOI events. Our donation of $30,000 to the Omni Commons in
2018 is also a testament to our commitment to support Omni as a
critical community resource in Oakland.


Explain how you will finance your Omni membership dues/rent.

We currently have some savings that would allow us to pay our
membership dues for the near future. However, we will continue to
apply for grants, seek individual donations and other recurring
sources of funding to fund our work and all our expenses, including
our rent and Omni membership dues.

Describe what dedicated physical space (if any) you need. What will
you do in the dedicated space? What can you do in shared space? Will
you need to make any modifications of the building? Include floor
plans if that makes your proposal clearer.

We already use some space in Sudo Room: a walk-in storage space in the
southeast corner mezzanine. We have considered using more space at the
Omni as a regular workspace, but we currently do not have plans to
expand our use beyond that space.


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