[gaia] Re: IETF 126 Vienna Call for Speakers

[Marcelo Anderson Batista Dos Santos <[e-mail]>]

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
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>