Hi CN global community,
For the past few years my colleague Dr. Michael Lithgow (at Athabasca U.) and I have been collaborating on the following document about the process of building community networks, based on past research and many conversations with Nicolás Pace, Dr. Philip Garrison, and others. With the help of designers Shraddha Kumbhar and Dr. Katherine Gillieson, we have finally come out with a version that looks good in print. 
smallRoadmap.pdf (2.0 MB)
We wanted to post it here for the community; please feel free to post public comments here or email private comments to the author contact listed in the document or webpage.
In addition to the attached PDF, here is a website where we will keep download links and a link to a commentable version in Google Drive. We are working on a more “living” format than a PDF which will be easier to keep updated going forward. Please note the call-out on page 12 to add your CN to our living list.
Thanks all 
-Esther
4 Likes
Wow, this is very neat.
I was envisioning something like this, but very very practical with:
- Detailed and exact steps to follow for:
- Organization
- Budgeting
- Hardware and Software choices
- Financing and pricing if needed to sustain
This guide is great for asking the right questions, but it still leaves finding the answers up to the reader and community in question.
In my experience, most people want the answers, as gathering those can take months or years, if an experienced person does not provide it.
That said, it is kind-of hard to supply answers like that, because there are often strong differences of opinion - most of these are however easily resolved by simply reviewing large enough surveys of what people actually use.
I’m happy to work with anybody on such a “Concrete Steps” or “Answers for Community Networks” guide. For Free! The value in this comes from the connectivity provided, not the act of providing it!!!
Might I ask for your comments on this: Community Networks Ecosystem - toward simple terms and overview?
Also, it might be more useful to rename this topic to “Free Community Network Building Guide” as that will make it immediately obvious what is discussed here!
Edit: Oh you did! … I actually love your idea of the “game”… let’s brainstorm it!! Games are amazing vehicles for teaching intuition and routine - what would be relevant there is making the “diagnostic approach” relevant - eg. Develop the intuition for what the problem is, based on the symptoms.
If there are constant network problems, then it’s a technical issue. But if the technical people don’t have what they need, it’s an administrative issue. Etc…