Decentralized Control for Decentralized Networks

Community wireless mesh networks need a local group of enthusiasts and sometimes experts to build, maintain, and expand their local infrastructure. But klatches of technologists capable of (and interested in) building a wireless mesh network are rare in most communities throughout the world, especially in marginalized communities and communities of color in the United States. Yet, many of these communities are highly organized, home to strong affinity groups based on mutual interest and a neighborhood focus. These groups can benefit greatly from a local wireless communication infrastructure if they have local technologists to drive deployment, or if they have the interest to become one themselves.

To that end, I am designing a class to teach wireless networking skills to potential technologists. Two assumptions go into planning a tech curriculum: (1) students should be encouraged to break things and, (2) good students will enjoy breaking things. Becoming a wireless mesh networking technologist means gaining experience with the GNU/Linux command line and network configuration. These are the fundamental interfaces to computer networks, the operating systems that implement networking and the Internet itself.

Educators from the Broadband Bridge, a DC-based community technology organization, proved to be an excellent resource for discussing how to teach networking skills. We discussed methods to engage people in the community, especially youth. The educators said that incorporating play and challenges were critical components to technical learning environments. In retrospect, this strategy is very similar to the way I taught myself GNU/Linux and networking as a late teenager.

Right now, I am writing lesson plans that incorporate a series of discussion, play, and challenge cycles that will teach useful core networking concepts. Students who complete the class will at least be able to discover points of failure within mesh networks, but each session will teach a fundamental concept of modern networking.

The first session, for example, will open with a discussion of networks as a series of agreements between communicators, how that works between face-to-face humans, and how it works between computers. Then students will pair up, connect their laptops with an Ethernet cable, discuss the terms of their computer network, and implement those agreements on their computers.  After they verify that they can use their computers to communicate, one student will break the network parameters on their computer and challenge the other student to figure out what’s wrong. Later sessions will engage students in learning about network hardware, basic Wi-Fi, routing, and network inspection and testing tools. As the terms of network agreement grow more complicated, the students will challenge the facilitator to troubleshoot what they break. The play and challenge portions of the class are designed to continuously integrate the reason that most people get involved in this field: fun.

This environment will not attract everyone. Understanding networking at this level is simply not everyone’s idea of a good time. Rapid, engaged learners should be able to visualize virtual and physical structures, troubleshoot intuitively, feel emboldened to break things, and experiment naturally. A number of archetypes common in any community boast these characteristics. Class facilitators should look for people who build things, fix things, sew, cook, and work on HVAC systems and cars. These people employ many of the skills needed to troubleshoot a network. They can visualize abstract concepts, experiment on complex systems, and creatively solve problems. Some of them are already established leaders, facilitators or go-to problem solvers within their communities, making them ideal drivers and maintainers of community-controlled infrastructure.

I will lead the first sessions of this class on June 4 at 6:30 PM. The classes will continue every Monday in June. Knowledge Commons DC, a free school organizing group, has secured space for the class at Honfleur, a community art space in Anacostia.