asterisk users - Nov 2010 - Asterisk in the third world - Astricon 2010 keynote follow-up

Friends,
After listening to Mark Summer's keynote at Astricon (hopefully soon on the
Astricon web site) I think we should come back to the discussion he started.
Mark talked about using Open Source in general and Asterisk in particular in
third world projects as well as in emergencies in other countries. He and
Inveneo help groups of people to get a better understanding of how to build
network, IP and voice infrastructures. One part is of course learning and
managing Asterisk.

I do believe many of us wants to help his efforts, but lack the understanding
and channels to reach out. I had a very brief discussion with Mark after the
keynote and promised to get back to him.

My thoughts are that if anyone from these countries try to reach us, we fail to
listen and help. Could be language, could be attitude or something else. We
can't expect them to have full understanding of net etiquette, the rules of
Open Source project management or how to find information themselves (in a
language they might not understand fully). The climate in our mailing lists and
chat rooms are not always one of understanding, especially if someone copies
their english language and attitude from Miami Vice ;-)

Do you have any ideas of what could be done from our community? Can we create
special forums where we have a different climate, more languages and better
understanding?

I also think we should copy ISOCs efforts and have a pre-astricon
training/workshop for people that Inveneo locate and then invite them to
Astricon, funded by grants form community or from somewhere else (since we lack
an "Asterisk foundation" that could help here). I'm sure we can
find resources to get them to Astricon and that we can find teachers in the
community that are willing to help with this project. I would not hesitate in
donating a few days myself.

We have enormous powers in our community. If we can gather a small part of that
and point it towards these people, we can change the situation for many more,
just by doing what we do each day - enjoy building voice solutions and sharing
our knowledge.


Let's brainstorm for a while!  The floor is open.

/O

I have done an OpenBTS research and try project. OpenBTS is an open  
source and open hardware based private GSM network solution that uses  
Asterisk as one of the lego blocks.  (see http://openbts.sourceforge.net/ 
  ) This really is a great solution when communication has to be set  
up in case of a disaster or an emergency in an area where nothing is  
working anymore.   With a small investment (solar system, battery  
pack, OpenBTS/Asterisk server, USRP hardware, Nokia 3320 phones/Sonim  
phones)  you can have an easy to set up ready to go solution available  
in short time that can save lifes.  The OpenBTS community is a small  
group of GSM experts for whom Asterisk is just one of the Lego blocks.  
If we reach out to them to help them out with the Asterisk issues the  
OpenBTS/Asterisk based solution will do great as a tool to safe lifes.

btw: An Asterisk foundation as the legal vehicle for third world  
efforts isn't such a bad idea.

/Erik


On 5 nov 2010, at 15:52, Olle E. Johansson wrote:
> Friends,
> After listening to Mark Summer's keynote at Astricon (hopefully soon  
> on the Astricon web site) I think we should come back to the  
> discussion he started. Mark talked about using Open Source in  
> general and Asterisk in particular in third world projects as well  
> as in emergencies in other countries. He and Inveneo help groups of  
> people to get a better understanding of how to build network, IP and  
> voice infrastructures. One part is of course learning and managing  
> Asterisk.
>
> I do believe many of us wants to help his efforts, but lack the  
> understanding and channels to reach out. I had a very brief  
> discussion with Mark after the keynote and promised to get back to  
> him.
>
> My thoughts are that if anyone from these countries try to reach us,  
> we fail to listen and help. Could be language, could be attitude or  
> something else. We can't expect them to have full understanding of  
> net etiquette, the rules of Open Source project management or how to  
> find information themselves (in a language they might not understand  
> fully). The climate in our mailing lists and chat rooms are not  
> always one of understanding, especially if someone copies their  
> english language and attitude from Miami Vice ;-)
>
> Do you have any ideas of what could be done from our community? Can  
> we create special forums where we have a different climate, more  
> languages and better understanding?
>
> I also think we should copy ISOCs efforts and have a pre-astricon  
> training/workshop for people that Inveneo locate and then invite  
> them to Astricon, funded by grants form community or from somewhere  
> else (since we lack an "Asterisk foundation" that could help
here).
> I'm sure we can find resources to get them to Astricon and that we  
> can find teachers in the community that are willing to help with  
> this project. I would not hesitate in donating a few days myself.
>
> We have enormous powers in our community. If we can gather a small  
> part of that and point it towards these people, we can change the  
> situation for many more, just by doing what we do each day - enjoy  
> building voice solutions and sharing our knowledge.
>
>
> Let's brainstorm for a while!  The floor is open.
>
> /O
> -- 
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