[gaia] Re: IETF 126 Vienna Call for Speakers

[Kurtis Heimerl <[e-mail]>]

Excellent, glad to hear you'll be in town and you seem like a great fit for
a GAIA talk. Send me along some bio and abstract information and we'll get
you on the docket

On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 12:03 AM Marcelo Anderson Batista Dos Santos <
[e-mail]> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Thank you so much for the warm reception and the very valuable pointers.
>
> First, to answer the practical question: I am actually planning to attend
> IETF 126 in Vienna in person, so I would be happy to present there if it
> works for the agenda.
>
> Leandro, thank you for sharing Roger Baig's PhD work. Building on Ostrom's
> commons framework is exactly the kind of theoretical grounding that this
> space needs, and I will study it carefully. I think there may be
> interesting complementarities.
>
> Dan, this is a really helpful list, thank you. I am familiar with some of
> these resources (especially the APC manual and the ISOC toolkit), and I
> think they are excellent references. Let me try to clarify where I see the
> proposed work sitting relative to them, because it is a fair question.
>
> The resources you mention are essentially practical guides and toolkits
> (all of them great materials). They answer the question "how do I build a
> community network?" with step-by-step instructions, checklists, and advice.
> They are invaluable for practitioners getting started.
>
> What I have in mind is a different kind of document: a maturity framework
> that answers a complementary question: "how can we assess where a community
> network initiative stands in its development, and what organizational
> capabilities should it strengthen next?"
>
> The distinction is similar to the difference between a cookbook and a
> quality management system. A cookbook tells you how to make a dish. A
> maturity model helps a restaurant assess whether it has the processes in
> place to consistently deliver quality across its entire operation and what
> to improve first.
>
> In more concrete terms, the idea is to define:
>
> - Progressive maturity levels (e.g., from initial connectivity to
> organizational sustainability to ecosystem integration)
> - Key processes at each level (governance, capacity building, financial
> sustainability, technical operations, etc.)
> - Observable practices within each process, with stages of evolution (from
> ad-hoc to systematized)
> - A self-assessment structure that allows initiatives at different stages
> and in different contexts to identify gaps and prioritize efforts
>
> This kind of process-oriented framework has been used successfully in
> other domains, for instance, in business incubation processes, to reduce
> variability in outcomes and create a shared reference across very diverse
> contexts. The existing toolkits you mentioned could actually map quite well
> onto specific practices within such a framework.
>
> I believe this could be a useful complement to the practical resources
> already available, and that GAIA would be a good place to discuss whether
> the community sees value in it. I would love to bring this to Vienna as a
> starting point for conversation and collaboration (or reach a consensus,
> which is a terrible idea).
>
> Thank you again for the references and the encouragement.
>
> Best regards,
> Marcelo Santos
> Instituto Federal do Sertão Pernambucano (IFSertãoPE)
> Campus Salgueiro, Pernambuco, Brazil
>
>
> Em qua., 1 de abr. de 2026 às 16:50, Dan York <[e-mail]>
> escreveu:
>
>> Marcelo,
>>
>> I think this is a great idea for a presentation. The more information out
>> there to help with forming community networks the better. I did have a
>> couple of comments below:
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 4:22 PM Marcelo Anderson Batista Dos Santos
>> <marcelo.santos=[e-mail]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> But from my experience working with underserved communities, one
>>> recurring challenge is the lack of a shared, process-oriented reference
>>> that helps practitioners navigate the full journey of deploying and
>>> sustaining a community network — from early community engagement through
>>> governance, operations, and long-term sustainability.
>>>
>>
>> I am aware of several resources available within the technical community
>> that may provide something along the lines of what you are seeking.
>>
>> At the GAIA meeting just now at IETF 125, Jonathan Bower offered an
>> application that walks people through the steps:
>> - Community Network Builder: https://locnet.io/
>>
>> We at the Internet Society offer a couple of resources:
>>  - Community Networks Do-It-Yourself Toolkit:
>> https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/community-network-diy-toolkit/
>>  - Community Network Readiness Assessment Handbook:
>> https://www.internetsociety.org/resources/doc/2022/community-network-readiness-assessment-handbook/
>>  (and a related online training class
>> <https://www.internetsociety.org/learning/community-network-readiness/>)
>>
>> The American Association for Public Broadband and the Benton Institute
>> released this one (which is US-centric but does have general info):
>>  - Own Your Own Internet: How to Build a Public Broadband Network -
>> https://publicbroadbandhandbook.com/
>>
>> The Association for Progressive Computing (APC) offers a Community
>> Networks Manual in Portuguese:
>> - https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/community-networks-manual
>>
>> It's a little bit older (2018) but the IGF Dynamic Coalition on Community
>> Connectivity (DC3) published this:
>> - The community network manual: how to build the Internet yourself -
>> https://comconnectivity.org/the-community-network-manual-how-to-build-the-internet-yourself/
>>
>> I don't know if any of those come close to what you are seeking, or if
>> you are looking for something more, but they are the ones I know of.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Dan
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> [Employed by the Internet Society, but writing here as an individual.]
>> --
>> *Dan York*, Senior Director, Online Trust & Safety  |  Internet Society
>> [e-mail] | [phone] | https://mastodon.social/@danyork
>> internetsociety.org <https://www.internetsociety.org/> | @internetsociety
>> <https://twitter.com/internetsociety>
>>
>