Final Proposal

Thanks to the help of Janet Wheelock of ANETIC and Isabel Medrano, the proposal of the Red Libre de Ometepe to PEMCE has been finalized and submitted. For real, this time. The final document is here (600KB PDF, 12 pages of Spanish text and figures). It says that in the second half of 2006, the Ometepe Freenet Project would like help to do the following things:

1. install small computer labs with new computers in two schools, and staff one teaching position,


2. improve the stability and speed, and reach of existing network infrastructure through taller towers, better equipment, and better battery backup,


3. extend the reach of the network with a new tower near Charco Verde / San José del Sur,


4. get someone to do a little PR work, such as a basic website and a brochure for prospective and existing users,


5. support two student interns to work on projects such as new services, extending the network, specializing systems, or localization and translation of documents to support wireless networking in Spanish-speaking countries, and


6. support two student interns to develop a business plan and platform for public access points in communities across the island.

That sounds like a lot, because it is, but we'll have a lot more people to help out. The project is developing links with universities on the mainland, and participating in national roundtables regarding many aspects ICT development.

To diverge from the subject at hand, the author would like to complain that his big toe was savagely stung just a moment ago by a large, red wasp. Said wasp was unadvisedly constructing a nest hanging from the far underside of the desk, which the author inadvertently nudged with the aforementioned big toe upon resting his feet on a bucket. No class of life form is so prevalent at the Finca Magdalena Network Operations Center these days as the wasp.

Back to business, one of the aforementioned roundtables is on regulation. We want to "liberalize" Nicaragua's ludicrously over-regulated communications industry, including de-licensing 2.4GHz, which this project uses. Telcor appears to be taking us seriously, which is encouraging.

It's Summer, and it's warm. I have a camera now, and will try to take some pictures to show you a little more of what my world looks like. This will be fed into my Flickr stream, and may not be noted upon here. Note that Flickr provides XML feeds for your convenience.

Also, I've started to try to clean up the office. I have a long way to go.

That is all.