[Noisebridge-discuss] Free Culture Conference in Berkeley this weekend (plug)

[Shannon Clark]

A few bits of advice (some learned the hard way and via observation).

1. Have a separate network for presenters (probably w/wired connections) so
network fluctuations of the broad wifi network for the conference don't
disrupt anyone's presentation which might require net access

2. Also try to avoid having the streaming video on the main network (and
also not on the wifi for the same reasons - evdo cards have sometimes been
used for video streaming - especially if you are then uploading to a service
like Qik which then in turn handles the streaming out to others (so all the
net access to your stream is not happening to machines onsite but rather to
servers offsite and w/more serious bandwidth)

3. Conference wifi is a black art. And one that has few real experts. Almost
no one does it very well - and it almost always takes more access points and
more complex configurations than initially are assumed. Often the issue and
sticking point is NOT the access points persay but rather how the DNS
servers and local network are configured - usually at conferences I see the
wifi network fine with a strong signal - but am unable to get a working DHCP
lease and thus can't get out to the network. This is solveable with the
right configurations - though as I said, the solution appears to be a bit of
a black art (I've only occasionaly seen conferences where this was not an
issue)

4. Have some backups for access. I've been to events at Berkeley where
access worked reasonably well (where temporary access for the event was
obtained to access to the campus network as guests - not sure if that would
be possible but investigate it - the campus wide wifi network is pretty
decent). But have a few folks with evdo type access - and definitely
encourage anyone who is intending to do their own streaming to use such
access instead of the shared network.

More broadly I would suggest thinking about what people may be inspired to
do as a group online during the conference and think about
backups/alternatives if net access becomes a bit wonky. Can you get content
people might be inspired to download (latest distrobutions for example or
applications speakers are going to be talking about) and have local copies
for people to share and get locally vs. over the Internet? A few USB keys
shared could reduce network traffic considerably.

Can you have a lightweight ways for people to interact and participate so
having fully functional network access from a laptop is not mandatory to
participate in a rich manner?

On the video side I'd definitely make sure you are capturing locally as well
as streaming out online - and you'll probably want to make sure that you
have the sound routed in and that people are using microphones (including
questioners) if you are recording live and more formal sessions.

Anyway a few observations from other events.

Unfortunately I'll be helping out with BarCampAfrica on Saturday (being held
at Google's Mountain View campus) so won't be able to make Saturday, might
be able to stop by on Sunday (if non-students are welcome?)

I do have space I could offer, though anyone staying here would have to
leave early on Saturday morning - and to get from my place to the Berkeley
campus takes about an hour via Muni & BART or about 30-40 mins via car
traffic permitting. So probably I'm not ideal for this event, but I do have
space if needed (w/beds for 5+ folks).

Shannon

On Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Asheesh Laroia <noisebridge at asheesh.org>wrote:

> On Tue, 7 Oct 2008, Asheesh Laroia wrote:
>
>  (Note: I am helping to organize this, as I've been involved in Students
>> for Free Culture before it had a name.)
>>
>
> Oh, actually - if anyone wants to let one of the ten out-of-town students
> still looking for housing stay at their place, do let me know!  That would
> be a huge help.
>
> I'm generally vaguely looking for help setting up the video streaming setup
> for the conference.  Currently I'm need of a laptop with firewire to connect
> to the cameras we're being lent.  I'm also looking for help providing wifi;
> I'm told that the room supports 75 people through load-balanced Cisco
> switches.  Do you think this is just a made-up number, or should I fear
> total network degradation when 300 people open up their laptops?
>
> What's a reasonable way to serve wifi to that many people?  A bunch of
> different access points sharing a big 10.x.y.z network with the same
> ESSID/security configuration?
>
> Anyway, thanks for listening. (-:
>
> -- Asheesh.
>
> --
> Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.
>                -- General Omar N. Bradley
>
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