[wsfii-discuss] Was FON in Spain - Now, can someone please explain...

Wed Jul 19 17:43:01 UTC 2006

hi all,

as we say here in catalonia, "in wi-fi the distance dosen't matter" and
well, as I can read from you, our approach of the
management is like a mirror

we have the tools (our web, the maps, the unsolclic configuration, and so
on), and with the mailing lists, the forums and as a fallback the mobile
or just coming to house we solve all the problems without any core-admins,
obiously there are core-admins, but they are the-facto not elected or
by-the-face ;)

this approach isn't in conflict with some areas where a company, a local
council or something like this can have the role of the core-admins, as we
say: if the net is free, we can't put limits, if they respect our Wireless
Commons, it's all okay, and to be honest, if any company have the interest
to control (in the terms of repair the problems, not like cops) the net
and ensure that when something fails one of his employers will go to fix
.... it could be great! we can focus on deploying or develop new
funcionalities on the web, the firm or whatever

tell me if you don't understand me, my english it's quite dangerous to the
eyes :)

en/na Juergen Neumann va dir:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Please see bottom for my comments.
>
>> > These are lightweight infrastructures and though vulnerable is many
>> > ways are easily repairable and flexible enough to overcome
> obstacles.
>> > Networks and users will always require attention and support as they
>> > grow and develop, and will always raise issues for us to tackle.
>>
>> Again, based on a developing nation deployment, who would be the
> person
>> that fixes these problems - oftentimes fighting the obstacles of very
>> computer illiterate users coupled with long distances compounding the
>> problems.
>>
>> My concern is based on who, if anyone, is looking at this aspect of
> the
>> daily use of these networks.
>>
>> In a centralized network, this type of problem can be dealt with,
>> individual users can be shut off if they are infected with a virus as
>> well as defensive action can be taken from DDOS attacks. Considering
>> that roughly 2/3rds of the total Internet traffic is now compromised
> of
>> PtP transfers a centralized network can also "manage" this traffic but
> I
>> see no comparable mechanism in the networks we are talking about here.
>> Is there such a thing? Does this even need to be addressed?
>>
>> > Our "spontaneous networks" are user oriented, all involved have a
>> > contribution to make and much to learn.
>>
>> Please understand, I love this concept and can see all kinds of
>> applications for this technology ranging from emergency communications
>> to infrastructure deployment as well as many, many others. I see this
>> type of network being able to provide many critical services while
>> providing value to the community at large without monthly recurring
>> expenses. However, this is also something that I see as being suitable
>> for industrialized nations to be deploying and based on my complete
> lack
>> of understanding I have concerns (as noted above) that this type of
>> network architecture is not the best choice for developing nations as
> it
>> sits today.
>>
>> Based on your experience, do you think some kind of management can be
>> designed where "superusers" can be granted the ability to see network
>> issues and fix them remotely? Can some kind of monitoring be built
> into
>> these platforms that will identify trouble spots so they can be dealt
>> with? Is this approach even advisable?
>
> I think that amongst the different community networks out there, there
> are many variations of these issues. I want to say something about our
> Berlin approach and why I think that this is the best way to run
> networks of large scale and almost unlimited growth.
>
> If a network is administered by a core group, the core group and it's
> organisation will have to grow with the number of nodes attached. That
> is a huge project in a huge network. The "user" in such a network will
> always expect help and support from the administration and will not take
> efforts to help him- or herself. The network will not be self-provided
> but provided by an (any) other organisation.
>
> Our approach is a totally self run and self administered network. Every
> single user or better every node-owner is responsible for his/her node.
> All problems are solved locally by the local community of neighbours -
> of course with the help of the rest of the community in form of wikis,
> mailinglist, and other colab-tools and self organized visiting and
> helping each other face-to-face.
>
> Such a network has to suffer from misconfiguration, frustration,
> DOS-attacs (many of them happening because people don't know what they
> are doing - not on purpose) and so on and so forth, but in the sum, and
> I can state that with more than three years of experience here in
> Berlin, I works pretty well.
>
> The big advantage is that people can grow the network themselves without
> any dependency on the administration (which just doesn't exist). The
> community as a whole takes efforts to optimize the system - basicly the
> software run on the nodes and documentation and teaching material). So
> the intelligence of the software which is run on the nodes is the
> essential key to quality of the network. This software MUST be
> open-source, so that the community can contribute, optimize and change
> it to their needs (that's another reason why fon just is no alternative
> at all!).
>
> With this totally decentralized approach based on the idea that people
> help themselves in a do-it-yourself (DIY) manner, self organized, self
> responsible, we have managed to run a network that grows from day to day
> without any centralized administration.
>
> I know that there is a lot of critique about this approach and many
> people believe that it just doesn't work for one reason or the other.
> And I know that it takes a lot of optimism to start a project this way -
> putting the trust in the community not in a legal entity. And maybe in
> some places it works better and in some other places this might even
> fail ...
>
> But if I think of India and it's agenda for 2007 or Afrika  or other
> huge projects I think this is the best way to reach the goals. It means
> to trust and to teach the local people and to enable them to fulfil
> their own wishes. It means to enable people to help and teach each other
> in a true grassroots manner.
>
> These are just my 2 cents about deploying ICT in large scale. Maybe I
> have no clew of what I'm talking about !?
>
> Best ...
>
> JuergeN
>
>
>
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>

-- 
gil forcada

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