Re: [Legba2013] PapaLegba 2013 review.

[Johnny D. <jhi...@tr...>]

1)  We need to reach out to other high structures on the playa and not just
build our own towers.  There are MANY high towers out there and we should
reach out to all of them to see if they vibe with what we are doing.  Let's
get our gear attached to those towers in advance so we don't have such a
challenge building out the network.  Ice might help with this.

2)  Ice needs to understand we got limited this year.   Let's get better
involved with the Gate/Exodus crew fast.  Pete has been working on the
airport.   Next year I think if we do some basic groundwork, we'll own
comms at BM.  (free coms)

3)  Some of us added additional load on to do other art projects (Me with
the mobile piano bar, Tim with Luna...everyone helps in every direction).
 This year we didn't have Shaddi, Kurtis...(to name a few hands)  I
personally consider this a great success and (those who choose to
participate) next year will leapfrog this year.

4)  And jesus, Peter, can we get one more day before you bring out your
ass?  ;)



On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 12:58 AM, Peter Stuge <pe...@st...> wrote:

> tim panton wrote:
> > What didn't work?
> > 1) We set up late.
>
> If Papa Legba is to run a useful cell network without early arrival
> then I think it is an absolute requirement to arrive better prepared.
> No building on playa. Build in advance and just deploy on playa.
>
> That means e.g. mounting antennae to masts before loading masts
> into truck and loading equipment into truck in a manner optimized
> for deployment rather than for space or time, which surely requires
> both more space and more time.
>
> Better preparation also means a clear distinction between pre-event
> participation and during-event participation. Many things are only
> relevant pre-event and if all preparations are to take place in a
> single location then anyone who is not at that location will be
> unable to participate in any and all pre-event matters.
>
>
> > 3) We lost power _every_ night.
>
> This had very significant impact on the radio network. I had hoped
> that my request for running all infrastructure off 12V DC would have
> meant that we ran more equipment directly off batteries this year,
> but we weren't. I did however also not look into the power situation
> too closely, neither in advance nor on location.
>
>
> > It is frankly amazing that anything worked at all.
>
> Many good people put in much hard work and together I think we made
> the best we could out of the circumstances.
>
> What amazes me is that performance was *so* much worse than last year.
>
> I'm not sure that more hands on playa would have made a big difference.
>
>
> > 6) We broke our promise to Ice to deliver a gate SMS application
> >    through to monday evening.
>
> I hope that Papa Legba will continue to communicate with Ice.
>
>
> > 7) we didn't communicate our purpose very well to other burners.
>
> Personally I think I successfully communicated our purpose to those I
> spoke with - I got a lot of good response and none bad, and I also
> really liked our banners on the front porch tent and on the truck!
>
> But as a theme camp I think Papa Legba could do much better. However -
> given that we didn't offer very good user experience in the cell
> network it is just as good that we weren't heard so broadly.
>
> Most other burners who came to see us were simply interested
> in briefly using a phone, any phone, or an internet connection.
>
> We would diligently explain to them why we were really there,
> to build a cell phone network that didn't work for Verizon or AT&T
> customers, while they waited for their turn to use the hardphone
> and listened to us politely, but with varying degrees of genuine
> interest.
>
> They just needed to communicate right then and there. I'm glad and
> proud that we made that possible for so many who came to see us.
>
>
> > What worked?
>
> I think the AT&T opt-in ritual worked late in the week. Nice!
>
>
> > 1) It looks like the new L3 held up ok, although I have no stats on that.
> > 5) The inter-base station 3.5GHz network
>
> Are these two one and the same? The 3.65 GHz connectivity was good,
> excellent link quality in undisturbed spectrum. The radios had the
> factory default insecure configuration, which could have interfered
> with the NOC provisioning system (yes, even though it's a different
> band - no, not RF wise but end-user wise) but that was quick and easy
> to address.
>
> NOC told me that they will likely use 3.65 GHz for some links next
> year, so it will be important to coordinate with them (probably at
> the WiFi summit) to avoid RF interference.
>
>
> > 6) PlayaNet as backhaul worked ok for us this year - perhaps
> >    becuase we didn't require anything special of it.
>
> I'd prefer to call the NOC network uplink. As uplink it almost always
> worked well, once it had been configured, precisely because we didn't
> use it as backhaul, ie. we didn't require anything special - no manual
> configuration by NOC and no special quality of service for core
> signalling.
>
>
> > 7) The provision of wifi and a hardphone was popular again.
>
> I would even go so far as to say that that single hardphone was our
> primary contribution this year - but that was plenty for those who used it!
>
> Hermione made an interview with one guy, I hope it is published soon.
>
> It also made me very happy that people came to us because they had
> learned from others that we might help them communicate.
>
>
> > 8) group sms
>
> I'm sure that the group SMS functionality was solid in the core, but
> the fact that my phone was never registered when I looked at it (it
> was powered on for the duration of the entire event), that I couldn't
> register manually more than a few times in four days, and that I at
> one point had received the same SMS 8 times all in all meant that I
> perceived group SMS as completely unusable.
>
>
> > Overall, I'm doubtful I'll do this again, it will be difficult to
> > justify the time spent for the results unless we make significant
> > changes in our approach.
>
> I feel similarly. For me it's critical that each iteration brings
> significant progress along some axis - doing better, smarter, more
> robust, simpler, easier, more efficient, faster or in some other
> way constantly improving. Anything less is just a waste of life.
>
> Finally, communication is the foundation of all team work, which
> is what I believe accelerates progress the most.
>
> That's also why our gift of communication is so valuable.
>
>
> //Peter
>
>
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