[Board] ARDC conference?
Rosy Wolfe
rosy at ampr.org
Wed May 12 10:14:07 PDT 2021
Would you be up for 30 mins at 2pm PT?
Rosy Wolfe - KJ7RYV
Executive Director
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)
ampr.org
On 5/12/21 10:12 AM, Michelle Thompson wrote:
> How about today?
>
> I have noon Pacific to 4:30pm.
>
> -Michelle W5NYV
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 3, 2021 at 12:50 PM Rosy Wolfe <rosy at ampr.org
> <mailto:rosy at ampr.org>> wrote:
>
> Cool! Let's talk sometime soon. Please let me know when you have
> availability.
>
> On my end, today is a bit nutty, I have availability, though,
> Tues-Thurs
> this week.
>
> Looking forward,
> Rosy
>
> Rosy Wolfe - KJ7RYV
> Executive Director
> Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)
> ampr.org <http://ampr.org>
>
> On 5/3/21 8:56 AM, Michelle Thompson wrote:
> > There's a lot going on with what you're asking for here.
> >
> > "I would love to have a more guided discussion with people in
> > our community about the future of amateur radio and digital
> > communications, so that ARDC can best strategize around meeting goals
> > that meet a more collective vision. We've done some of that with our
> > survey, but this would be a more selected group of major players
> in the
> > space.
> >
> > I would love it if you and/or others at ORI would be interested in
> > participating in such a visioning session, and curious whether
> you would
> > be open to doing it online vs. in-person. (Consider it may be a
> 5-hour
> > event, or a couple 2-3 hour events.)"
> >
> > This needs a phone call to talk about.
> >
> > -Michelle W5NYV
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 6:29 PM Rosy Wolfe <rosy at ampr.org
> <mailto:rosy at ampr.org>
> > <mailto:rosy at ampr.org <mailto:rosy at ampr.org>>> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Michelle, thanks for including me on this mail. I agree with
> many of
> > the
> > ideas that you've put forth - particularly that it's a TON of
> work to
> > put on a conference (much less one that happens multiple
> times a year),
> > that it would be helpful to gauge the interest of our
> grantees before
> > inviting them to such a thing, and that there could be a power
> > differential at play for the grantees. Additionally, I think
> we can
> > consider using Zulip (an open source version of Slack) for
> > communications with the community. There is already discussion of
> > setting one up.
> >
> > re: Phil's email, ARDC is in the *really* early stages of
> thinking
> > about
> > gatherings of any sort, given that we have a ways to go
> before we are
> > truly out of Pandemic Land (TM). One thing is we definitely
> need to do
> > an internal offsite. Additionally, and perhaps in conjunction
> with the
> > offsite, I would love to have a more guided discussion with
> people in
> > our community about the future of amateur radio and digital
> > communications, so that ARDC can best strategize around
> meeting goals
> > that meet a more collective vision. We've done some of that
> with our
> > survey, but this would be a more selected group of major
> players in the
> > space.
> >
> > I would love it if you and/or others at ORI would be
> interested in
> > participating in such a visioning session, and curious
> whether you
> > would
> > be open to doing it online vs. in-person. (Consider it may be
> a 5-hour
> > event, or a couple 2-3 hour events.)
> >
> > In terms of a networking event like the one Phil is
> describing, I could
> > see doing something like that in conjunction with an existing
> > conference, such as TAPR DCC or similar. I've organized
> similar events
> > when I was in the open source mapping world, holding Maptime
> gatherings
> > and karaoke along with State of the Map, for example. PS -
> one of my
> > favorite things is to get a bunch of nerds together for
> karaoke. You've
> > all been warned! And for when it happens - you're welcome ;)
> >
> > In any case, as this mail indicates, we have some thinking (and
> > hiring!)
> > to do before putting together any events. In the meantime,
> please do
> > let
> > me know if you'd have interest in participating in a
> visioning session,
> > online or IRL. Your insight there would be, as always, greatly
> > appreciated.
> >
> > All the best and 73,
> > Rosy
> >
> > Rosy Wolfe - KJ7RYV
> > Executive Director
> > Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)
> > ampr.org <http://ampr.org> <http://ampr.org <http://ampr.org>>
> >
> > On 4/26/21 1:51 PM, Michelle Thompson wrote:
> > > Phil,
> > >
> > > I agree that putting grantees in contact with each other
> is a great
> > > idea, but I think that there are ways to do this which are
> much more
> > > frictionless than a conference.
> > >
> > > Conferences are generally organized around a shared topic, and
> > > networking is a secondary effect. It sounds like you want
> > networking to
> > > be the primary reason that people attend, and this leaves me
> > wondering
> > > what the common interest is in presentations. What is the
> > > motivation/reward for people putting work into presentations?
> > What is
> > > the likely outcome?
> > >
> > > There's a similar ecosystem we can look to for guidance
> here on
> > > networking, and that's the venture capital (VC) community. VCs
> > like Y
> > > Combinator (and others) have set up mailing lists and
> forums (using
> > > discord, slack, and other tools) to allow free networking
> between
> > their
> > > 'alumni'. This is a much lower barrier for participation,
> and allows
> > > information exchange outside of a formal process (conferences)
> > that not
> > > everyone will have the time or inclination to participate in.
> > >
> > > Putting on a conference is a lot of work, as is answering the
> > questions
> > > in your email. I don't have time to address those for
> ARDC. You
> > should
> > > look to your own board members, who collectively have much
> more
> > > experience than I do.
> > >
> > > I'd suggest gauging interest among your grantees before
> planning any
> > > conferences. It's their interest that will make a successful
> > > conference. Since the power differential between ARDC and
> grant
> > > recipients is so large, any request from ARDC will probably be
> > > interpreted as a requirement, and that will complicate the
> > answers. That
> > > is one reason why VC firms do the things they do, in terms
> of alumni
> > > support.
> > >
> > > -Michelle W5NYV
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 1:18 AM Phil Karn <karn at ka9q.net
> <mailto:karn at ka9q.net>
> > <mailto:karn at ka9q.net <mailto:karn at ka9q.net>>
> > > <mailto:karn at ka9q.net <mailto:karn at ka9q.net>
> <mailto:karn at ka9q.net <mailto:karn at ka9q.net>>>> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Michelle, we haven't chatted in quite some time.
> How are you?
> > >
> > > At recent ARDC board meetings I've been talking up the
> idea of a
> > > periodic conference to which all our grantees would be
> > invited. This
> > > would not only help bring the ARDC Board and Grant
> Advisory
> > Committees
> > > up to speed on what they've been doing, but let ARDC
> grantees
> > meet each
> > > other. I personally think this is very important given our
> > focus on a
> > > diverse set of projects and groups.
> > >
> > > I will strongly insist on not overloading the schedule
> with
> > too much
> > > formal time. I have always thought that ad-hoc dinners and
> > late nights
> > > in hotel bars are often the most productive parts of any
> > technical
> > > conference. You can always watch a video of a talk or
> read a
> > formal
> > > paper at home whenever you want, and ask questions by
> email.
> > I want
> > > people to come to do the things that are best done in
> person.
> > After a
> > > whole year on Zoom I think we now have a better idea
> of what
> > those
> > > things are.
> > >
> > > There's solid support on the Board for this idea, but it's
> > still at a
> > > VERY early stage of discussion. We have no idea where
> or even
> > when we
> > > could hold such an event given Covid. (The first would
> > probably be in
> > > the US but we'd definitely want to hold some
> elsewhere, probably
> > > starting in Europe.) But since ORI is one of ARDC's
> biggest
> > grantees
> > > (and you have a lot of personal experience in organizing
> > conferences)
> > > I'd like your opinions.
> > >
> > > How how big a block of time would ORI need to give
> *capsule*
> > overviews
> > > of all its various projects? Note the emphasis on
> "capsule".
> > My thinking
> > > here is to present in the general style of an article
> for QST,
> > > Communications of the ACM or IEEE Spectrum, i.e., assume a
> > general
> > > technical background in computers, space, electrical
> > engineering and/or
> > > radio communications but NOT specialist knowledge in a
> particular
> > > subfield, e.g., speech compression or digital satellite
> > communications.
> > >
> > > I also don't think we'd have time for detailed formal
> > tutorials. The
> > > talks should focus on YOUR work -- the specific problem
> > you're trying to
> > > solve, what approaches you took, what you've done so far,
> > work yet to be
> > > done, etc. What worked? More importantly, what did NOT
> work,
> > technically
> > > or organizationally? Again, focus on what YOU have done or
> > plan to do,
> > > as opposed to general overviews of a field. (Do
> provide links to
> > > overviews, tutorials, deep technical details, etc, for
> those
> > > interested.)
> > >
> > > How many speakers from ORI would be involved? How many
> more
> > would come
> > > who wouldn't give formal presentations but could
> benefit from
> > attending?
> > > I'm thinking mainly of younger volunteers (especially
> > students) without
> > > a lot of experience who could be motivated by an in-person
> > event like
> > > this. ARDC could probably be persuaded to provide
> financial
> > assistance
> > > for travel as needed. As you know, ARDC's very first grant
> > was for
> > > travel scholarships to the 2019 ARRL/TAPR DCC in
> Detroit that
> > brought
> > > some students with the HamSci project from Case Western.
> > Having talked
> > > with many of them, I think it was money very well
> spent. (I'd
> > forgotten
> > > how much energy I had at that age.)
> > >
> > > Please forward this to anybody you know who could also
> > provide some
> > > advice here.
> > >
> > >
> > > --Phil
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
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