Update from Wade and Maggie re. working through RPi Node doco
Actions
Rob and Simon: get info ready for the March meetup
Jade and Rob: prepare call for involvement of volunteers for node stewardship at Feb meetup
Maggie: prepare to take signups. Do we want an online list of volunteers?
All: for the Solarpunk meetup consider bringing food, or help Jade with catering arrangements - e.g. from Green Refectory
Sarah, Jade, Simon: update website to provide up to date info about membership, volunteers and getting involved.
Sarah, Jade: continue to pursue joining Coop Cloud federation
Notes
Establishing nodes
A key benefit of setting up nodes in people’s homes (rather than organisations) is that it enables building volunteer base; engaged node maintainers. A pathway for hobbyist engagement.
Should we aim to find a solution to the challenges of getting a static IP, to ease participation? Not a priority. The CGNAT issue shouldn’t be a barrier. Tailscale or similar may be a way forward
Community centre / organisational nodes and home-housed nodes are part of the vision - Then building relationship with community facilities can come later
After that need to start investigating the connectivity question and providing other services
Volunteer needs and recruitment
Will be a big win for Jade to have someone else maintain our Kiwix recipe
Ideally we want about 10 volunteers who can steward notes, requires a moderate level of technical engagement. 1-4 hours per week for the average,
Envisaged that some may get more involved; contribute to open source coding to help solve problems.
The LoRes website has a technical roadmap but we don’t have a roadmap for personnel and governance.
How do we funnel interest from potential volunteers at the Solarpunk meetup?
Sarah suggests light touch approach: website info about what we need, request they email us. Maintain a list with info about what they are interested in doing / learning. Let's dedicate every other Meetup to a working bee, and meet and greet for new / potential volunteers.
Jade: we should also add them to our room on Matrix
Volunteer management
Can we find someone who wants to take ownership of recruiting and onboarding 10 volunteers?
Sarah notes that volunteer management is a tough gig. Ways to make it manageable: reduce, automate, pay someone?
Let's reduce it: aim for 3-5 volunteers who can be node stewards. Maybe we'll find one who is willing to take on training or coordination after a few months.
Node setup report from Wade and Maggie
Doco currently assumes someone with a bit of technical knowledge and skills; e.g. assumption was that they might already have dual booted Linux.
Wade: A lot of the documentation could be a script. A prepackaged image that can be put on a RPi with some config. Or perhaps we can keep with what we’ve got for now for debugging purposes.
BUT Blackboxing not ideal because we want people to be familiar with what's going on: node stewards are more important than nodes.
Solarpunk meetup next week
Rob and Simon: get info ready for the next meetup
We can put out a stronger call for involvement of volunteers for node stewardship
Maggie can take signups
At the March meeting, the following month we will be hacking stuff: Build your own RPi node and learn how to maintain
All: consider bringing food, or help Jade with catering arrangements - e.g. from Green Refectory
Sarah, Jade, Simon: website update to provide up to date info about membership, volunteers and getting involved.