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On Wednesday January 9th 2002 the then loosley knit (and still loosley knit) group calling themselves TAWNAG (now TWCN) came together for an off-line meeting. These are the notes of the meeting. Which can also be found here and here. It should be noted, minor modifications where made to protect the innocent.
Wednesday 9 January 2002
C'est What? (visit their website)
67 Front St E, Toronto
In attendance were (clockwise from Jason H):
Jason Hammerschmidt
David Grossman
John Southern
Ray Wallani
Chris Chin
Hugh Reilly
Brian
Dave Millier
Ken K
Emir Alikadic
Geoff ('evrcurious')
Robert Erlich
Dave Chant
Wilf Lauzon RSVP'd but had car trouble on the QEW and missed the festivities -- hope everything is running smoothly now, Wilf!
We had a GREAT turn-out to our very first offline get-together, held at the C'est What? pub downtown. Thanks to everyone who showed up and participated in the lively conversation. We had a wide range of opinions and a lot of good discussion and it seems we have some great momentum going forward for TAWNAG.
The next TAWNAG meeting will be Wednesday 6 February, again at C'est What?, located at 67 Front St E (SE corner of Front & Church streets; use the Front St. entrance) at 7pm. An agenda, to be determined between now and the date of the meeting, will be in effect. As usual, beers will be plentiful
JASON is our erstwhile illustrious leader, and the man who got the wireless ball rolling in Toronto. A tireless wireless evangelizer, Jason is TAWNAG's first node. He envisions a co-operative, three-tier system of wireless access to nodes throughout our great city, and the furthering of wireless community everywhere.
DAVID (not Dave, ever!) is a partner with DAVE M in Dexagon, a local IT networking consortium. A twenty-year veteran of the networking industry, he's passionate about wireless and sees synergies between Dexagon and TAWNAG.
JOHN comes from a background in electronics, and brings an informed end-user's perspective to TAWNAG.
RAY is an entrepreneur with a track record in tech-related event production and management. He has an interest in implementing wireless in developing and third-world countries, and the social implications therof.
CHRIS (that's me!) is a freelance graphic designer who enjoys talking in the third person, and basically got involved with TAWNAG because he misses the ubiquity of wireless access he enjoyed in the Bay Area.
HUGH comes to us from the field of business communications. He runs LinuxLab and a technical volunteer corps that ministers to non-profit organizations. He brings an economist's sharp eye for business models and organizational structure to TAWNAG.
BRIAN came for the beer. Actually, Brian attended as a tag-along with DAVE M, and his day job is an MS-based IT consultant. He's a wireless hobbyist and brings the perspective of someone working within the Microsoft paradigm to TAWNAG.
DAVE M is a partner with DAVID in Dexagon, a local IT networking consortium. His specialty is in IP and WAP security issues. An inveterate wireless booster, he touts Dexagon's hosting and rooftop wide-cast facilities as potential benefits for TAWNAG.
KEN is a headhunter for accountancy professionals who also misses the Bay Area's ready-to-eat wireless access. He helps keep the end-user perspective in TAWNAG's sights and does technical writing.
EMIR comes to us from Bosnia by way of the UAE and the UK. This world-tripping java programmer and Linux hobbyist is TAWNAG's second node (JASON is the first). A hands-on engineer, he's eager to work with ROBERT in TAWNAG's burgeoning hardware team.
GEOFF joined us late in the evening, but he comes to us from the perspective of a non-tech end user. A self-described 'non-tech person', Geoff represents what will surely be the majority of TAWNAG's consumers. He provides insight to the 'ground level access' TAWNAG must recognize.
ROBERT works in OS networking and low level topologies, with a background in ISPs. He stands at the nexus of the technology and the arts communities, with an interest in bringing wireless access points to those groups. TAWNAG's resident engineering guru, he and EMIR are shaping up to be the core of a future TAWNAG hardware deployment team.
DAVE C works for an ad agency and is interested in how people use and are affected by technology. Both end user and future node provider, he brings a enthusiasm in the maxim of wireless access for all and helps bolster the core values of TAWNAG's philosophy.
Discussion was lively and spirited, but respectful. Nobody walked out, and more importantly, no beer was spilled. A few major themes emerged, including:
Building a wireless community; share-and-share-alike; dynamics of give-and-take; ethos of personal responsibility; Jason's three tiers of access; bringing wireless to untechnologized groups; co-ordination outside of Toronto; effect of CRTC and/or other governmental or quasi-governmental bodies; dependance on ISPs; relationship to open-source communities; building critical node mass
Hardware discussion; antenna design; hardware workshop weekend; node range; node overlap; node proximity; Dexagon's rooftop facilities; running personal firewalls; IP security; WAP security; Apple's new AirPort2; Linksys; dealing with Rogers CableCo-stormtroopers; whether we violate ISP user agreements; access costing; node maintenance costing; administering within specific physical spaces (apartment, cubicle farm, cafe, office bldg); technologizing affinity groups
Option to incorporate; non-profit status potential; governance issues; relationship with other wireless groups; massive discussion on purpose and mission statement; audience; web presence; mailing list; coherence strategy; business plan/business model; three-thousand foot view from above; clearinghouse for all things wireless; educating the masses about wireless
After much discussion, we emerged after two hours with some talking points we will take forward into our next meeting:
To further wireless community.
The language here is not finalized; these are working models of a vision and mission. Last night, we talked about these points in terms of "mission statement" and "goals," but upon the sobering light of the morning after, it appears more appropriate to label them as shown above. Goals tend to be more specific and have a definably achievable endstate. What we were really talking about were mandates -- the mission of TAWNAG. Think of it this way, working down from the top:
There is the VISION, and it is A Good Thing.
There is a MISSION which supports the VISION.
The MISSION is made up of MANDATES which fulfill the MISSION.
There are GOALS that we achieve in order to carry out the MANDATES.
There are PLANS that we make in order to achieve the GOALS.
There are lots of PROJECTS that form a PLAN.
There are TASKS that must be done to complete a PROJECT.
Any organization that wants to achieve anything of record needs to flesh out these concepts. TAWNAG has made a tremendous start by beginning to tackle those heady questions of Who Are We And What Are We All About? within hours of our first meeting. GREAT WORK, everyone, and let's keep the momentum going!
It would be nice to see if we can tighten up the language of the Vision and Mission by the end of the next meeting. Everyone is asked to bring to the next meeting:
Finalizing -- or at least getting closer to finalizing -- the Vision and Mission will be the core of next meeting's agenda. Other agenda items so far are:
What are the actual dollar costs; what are the realworld node ranges; antennas and amplification; node-mapping; legal issues; geography; topography
who is TAWNAG for; what kind(s) of end user do we want to attract; what kind(s) are we getting; outreach
The diversity of our core group is such that it's very possible that different working groups or caucuses may form to develop specific parts of TAWNAG. Once we have the core TAWNAG philosophy nailed down, this should be encouraged so that we are all contributing to the best of our abilities in what we do best to achieve a common goal.
Emir suggested a weekend antenna-building workshop -- this could be something that a hardware/engineering working group could be formed around, for instance. Incoming TAWNAGers who show a distinctly tinkerist bent could be directed towards such a working group with other gearheads.
Robert, Hugh, and Ray are all involved with technologizing affinity groups -- perhaps this could be the beginning of an outreach task force, or (way in the future!) a TAWNAG Technologizing Deployment Team.
Geoff, John, and Ken all bring an end-user perspective to TAWNAG and might also form a working group that looks after the non-tech person's point of view. It's important that TAWNAG doesn't lose the layperson's input if we are to succeed.
Thirteen people attended TAWNAG's first gathering.
The discussion brought forth three major meme-streams:
Draft Vision: "To further wireless community."
Draft Mission:
Next meeting:
Wednesday 6 February 2002
C'est What?
67 Front St E, Toronto
7pm - 9pm
Agenda Items (so far; submit others to the list, tawnag@tap.net, for consideration)
Notes by Chris Chin, Thursday 10 January 2002 and submitted to the list.
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