[Cu-wireless] Wireless meeting this Thursday at 6:30.

[Sascha Meinrath]

Hi everyone,

I will be at another meeting (and thus unable to attend) but I think it's
important that folks get together to talk about next steps, so interested
folks should definitely meet then.  I haven't been very good about
communicating what I've been working on with the list; so here's a brief
update:

1. I'm making a final(?) round of our city councilmembers to shore up
support for public funding of a network prototype.  The proposed budget is
$28,035 for 15 nodes and a year's worth of T1.  Dave and I have met
personally at least once with every councilmember except Jim Hayes and I
am in weekly contact with most of them.

2. Mike K. of the Cityview -- we're still working out the details for a
November feature of the Wireless project.  This will probably either be a
two-page spread or the feature for that issue.

3. I've been in contact with folks working in Ambazonia (Africa) and
Argentina (near the Amazon) -- they are interested in the network we are
building.  I am also working with some folks out in Seattle to scrounge up
some funding through them.  We also have a couple grant options (we've
actually been invited to apply for the Progressive Technology grant --
which means we stand a much better chance of getting it -- Dave has the
application).

4. Dave and I met last night with Nitin (a professor at the U of I) and we
may be applying for substantial funds in collaboration with him in about a
year (utilizing the IMC as a community organization to get National
Science Foundation funds).

5. I'll be ordering a couple new antennas tomorrow (if anyone would like
to help pay for the order, please let me know, since I'd love to be able
to buy more than 2 more antennas).  Dave and I have been paying for all
installation equipment not donated through the University out of our own
pockets and would love to have help.  We have one site already scoped out
and possible leads on at least 2-3 more.

6. I'm working with Zach to set up a CVS repository and Bugzilla for the
project so that we can track changes and problem reports to our software.
Other ideas for project management tools are definitely welcome (e.g. it
would be great to get an online map of where our nodes are located and
coverage areas).

7. Because we are now officially fiscally sponsored by the UCIMC, all
donations to the project are tax-deductible.  We can also apply for
grants, seek out public funds, etc. etc. etc.  So keep your eyes open for
funding opportunities.

I believe that we're quickly heading into a new phase for the project --
one where we will be dealing with an operational system in the field.  I
am hoping to line up both public and political support for the endeavor.
What we are sorely lacking is an infrastructure to track the project --
right now we can keep it all in our heads, but its complexity is going to
be increasing exponentially as we add new links, test pilot new software
(and programs), set up various test-beds, etc.  We _really_ need to have
basic infrastructure in place very soon or we run the risk of becomming
increasingly inefficient as the project's complexity grows.

It would be great if Thursday's meeting could include a brainstorming
session on needed tools/infrastructure and "assignments" for all
participants -- Dave and I have been doing this a lot of late and I think
it's time to get more interested folks involved in the day-to-day
activities of the project.

Finally, we should all take a moment to really appreciate Dave Young's
(continuing) contributions to the project.  I doubt anyone has worked as
hard or as many hours as he has; and we certainly wouldn't be where we are
today without the immense effort he's poured into the wireless project.
So buy that man a beer next time you see him.

--Sascha