I’m done
Unless you need something specific. I’d say it looks really cool!
Push the berry 
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Big thanks!!
Big thanks to @trythis for all the help with the presentation 
(and also thanks to everyone else who contributed to the idea via this thread).
We’ll probably reuse our presentation tomorrow to explain to our UNDP contacts the Kafal Pi project … might double up as the dialogue platform they are looking for.
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we already pitched;) Fingers crossed, results coming briefly
Ouch, sorry!
I just added some comments, but looks like I was late… no matter, best of luck!
FYI, here is the presentation we used. If we get access to the presentation we gave, we will also publish it here.
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Human element
I think @alberto made a good point saying that we need to stress the human element more (also to get this thing off the ground). I would think that @Bembo_Davies is probably someone who can throw some advice and ideas at the situation, no? It is only a hunch but perhaps @alex-stef (not sure how I mention (nudge only) her correctly) would also enjoy mulling this over a little.
The thread is rather long, but perhaps the two most important bits are:
The outline document
and the pitch
The human element 2
I was not trying to promote an old “man vs. machine” or “human vs. technological”. All I’m saying is that the use of any artefact is only effective if humans embrace it. Dropping computers onto villages will have a wildly different impact according to whether you can find, or train, one or more “village hackers” to steward the machine and deploy it to its best.
I have no hard data, but I have the impression that this is the single most common point of failure of technology-based projects. Engineers build it and deliver it, people don’t come, and everyone has wasted time.
@Matthias, so what’s our next move? Are we dropping the idea? Or what?
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That is how I understood it
There is no versus. It is an integration question. I added some thoughts under “social feasibility” in the outline.
And I have data of n=2 on similar projects. It is horribly frustrating (for both sides) to teach the “customer” the same thing 3 times over within a year, because you never established it as a habit early on.
Updates: Pitch Results
For those who have not come across it on other channels: We did not get a prize of the HackTheQuake idea competition. (But everyone loved the little Raspberry Pi computer we passed around, and the presentation as well.)
It was an interesting experience however, and the benefit is that we go the idea pulled together, have a good presentation of it already, and can now proceed it together with other partners. UNDP will be next to be shown the presentation … next week!
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We have an idea where to go with this project next - UNDP mentioned matching us up with Microsoft on the last meeting, without even knowing we worked on this thing. we believe this could be a very good fit for them to fun and get their software/hardware promoted in Nepal.
We also have a well-connected new friend who would be interested in helping us out with making this happen. So, we are doing our best to push it forward;)
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SSD manufacturer?
Hmmm… I actually would have pointed to someone who manufactures the solid state memory in the USB pen drives or (micro-)SD cards first. They have an interest in our success, and they won’t object if our server lasts forever, because they are selling the consumables (that will get lost once in a while).
Bit more context
After the earthquake, Microsoft took part in the relief efforts by handing out a lot of handsets (which I assume are Windows Mobile smartphones) with a new app for damage assessment and clean-up / debris management. This fits into their strategy (and that of other big tech companies) to position their products in emerging markets early on, before they really take off. So we think that Microsoft could be interested to support the Kafal Local Knowledge Servers project by providing Microsoft Surface tablets, other Windows Mobile client devices, and associated funding Speculation for now though, we’ll have to try.
The Kafal Local Knowledge Servers will still be Raspberry Pi based, of course fully open hardware, contain only open source software and open content. I don’t care too much what client devices people use though, as long as they can work content in open standard formats …
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UN meeting
Did you already have the UN meeting? If not - is there something you still need to improve chances of success? And would it be possible to listen in on it if time and connection allow?
On Thursday. But not a big thing.
We had to postpone this agenda item from last week to this week Thursday. It’s not a funding decision at all, just an informal meeting to see if they like the basic idea and if it would make sense to work on the real application for next year. For this informal meeting, we have everything because we have a good presentation If it would be a “real” meeting with projector, big presentation and things, I’d try to set up an audio webcast, but for the small team meeting on Thursday it would be weird. Hope that’s ok.
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UN feedback
@Matthias You said at some point you wanted to bring this up at a small UN meeting - can you say what their reaction was? Where does it fall with their/your immediate or strategic considerations.
One more thing I found is: piratebox.cc – [funky]. I am in touch with a few people associated with this. Of course the label is problematic but the content/people network behind this may be very valuable …
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UN feedback!
Sure! – I just failed to update this thread in time. The UNDP team immediately associated with our project liked the idea quite a lot, and even set up another meeting with the recovery coordinator from UNDP Nepal. That was because the idea is so far framed as a contribution to reconstruction via better access to knowledge, not immediately fitting for the Conflict Prevention Program (CPP) unit (where our immediate contacts from UNDP come from). The recovery coordinator also liked the idea in a technical sense, but had no use for it in the recovery efforts (they need proven, hands-on solutions … the Kafal servers are too experimental and too idea-stage at the moment and would not make immediate contributions to the work on the ground … IMHO it’s also a “bandwidth problem” that innovations are hard to include into ongoing recovery efforts).
However, this means we are looking into several alternative options now:
- A citizen journalism / dialogue platform. Framed this way, the Kafal servers provide a solution to a hard-to-crack problem in our current Future Makers Nepal project: How to include the rural population into a national dialogue of "alternative leaders and other Edgeryders". This would allow to include the idea into a possible follow-up project by UNDP CPP, about which we are talking for next year.
- Microsoft, Google or Facebook. They all have interests to develop some sort of Internet connectivity in emerging markets, and the Kafal servers could provide the "high-latency high-bandwidth" connection in addition to the lower-bandwidth options that will arrive in the next years in rural Nepal.
Good find about the PirateBox, btw! Reminds me of the very first Edgeryders conference (LOTE, June 2012 in Strasbourg). Because, we had one PirateBox there, sitting on a table!
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Cool - sounds very reasonable
Makes a lot of sense from where I sit. Also dragging this into ongoing efforts will be difficult, risky, and in general a lot of work. I’d keep an eye out for some golden opportunity nonetheless. But generally it’d better to scale it up little by little and get the worst of the bugs out via the citizen journalism. There will be a lot of interfacing going on in that project, which will inform “normal mode” interface design very effectively. And that’s what will be going on 98% of the time. I could imagine a “relief/rebuild interface” would make some sense as well - and again, here the citizen journalists allow valuable insight which gets documented for later use as well. So in effect important parts of the ramp up to the larger solution would be covered if some of the journos would learn to interface a little (/keep it in mind) with the raspberry. Perhaps one should try to push kafal to the level that it becomes convenient to use in that project? Even if 9/10ths of the interface and all the other useful material is absent on this level. Just to get touchy feely with the berry.
The crisis prevention/mitigation core parts will probably be heavily influenced by organizations like the UN - but they’d understandably want an architecture that has clocked up some more user-time, so limitations and possibilities for integrating it in the flow of all the other stuff can be projected with higher confidence.
@Natalia Skoczylas, Have you moved on or are u still interested in realizing this project? I*m flying to Kathmandu in the end of October. I will be able to asses the situation myself and to inquire with Pernille, from the Human Practice Foundation, whether this project is in alignment with the Foundations view. I might be able to find funding, if you are still interested.