First of all thank you to Kim Hawtin for proposing and organising the Community Wireless Mini-conf at this years Linux Conference. I think he would agree with me if I was to declare it a success. Video and Audio for the mini-conf talks are available online as well as slides from the Community Wireless miniconf.
The wireless mini-conf happened on the first day of the schedule, which meant conference registrations were happening in the morning. Being a first time Linux Conf delegate I didn't know what to expect so I thought I would arrive "early" at 8am and found the registration desk already in full swing, boy these guys are eager! I found myself in the right place for the Community Wireless mini-conf by 8:30am and there were already 15 people in the room, 1 hour before the miniconf was scheduled to begin. This grew to 35 people by the start of the miniconf.
The first talk on Open Street Map was presented by Andrew. This lead in to a discussion on mapping challenges and issues around community and internet.
Tyson Clugg from Melbourne Wireless then did his presentation on "Visualising the dream: Online mapping for community wireless networks." The talk included much useful information on how to set up a useful and intuitive website to help create community wireless networks through online mapping. We were even given a crash course in cartography to make sure everyone had solid background knowledge! Many of his ideas are already implemented in the Melbourne Wireless website. The talk was well received, as attendance kept growing despite the airconditioner not working.
Up next was my talk on "Outdoor Wireless Networking: Technical Challenges from Physical to Application." Just a note to self here, 120 slides is probably a bit too much for essentially a 40 minute talk. Fortunately I was permitted to resume the talk after lunch, and managed to get through the useful information I was hoping to present. Discussion was then opened up, on a backdrop of pictures from Air-Stream projects over the years. By this time there were over 50 people in the room and a good discussion was had on various subjects related to community wireless networking.
James Cameron then gave a presentation on "One Laptop Per Child, Wireless Design & Testing" giving us an update on his last year of testing of the OLPC hardware wireless performance. Especially important was stuff for us to touch and play with.
Unforunately the OLSR talk was cancelled so that wrapped up the community wireless miniconf for 2008.
During the rest of the week I had people expressing interest in outdoor wireless and community wireless networking. I see this as one success of the mini-conf, to get the word out there about community wireless networking.
Kim reported that he received good feedback since the Mini-conf and hopes to hold another next year. We both hope to get more Air-Stream members involved next year as well people from other community wireless projects around Australia and the world.
This years annual Australian Linux Conference was held at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne from 28th Jan to 2nd Feb. Next years Linux Conference is going to be held at the University of Tasmania in Hobart from 19th to 24th Jan.
