<div dir="ltr">There's a lot going on with what you're asking for here. <br><br>"I would love to have a more guided discussion with people in<br>our community about the future of amateur radio and digital<br>communications, so that ARDC can best strategize around meeting goals<br>that meet a more collective vision. We've done some of that with our<br>survey, but this would be a more selected group of major players in the<br>space.<br><br>I would love it if you and/or others at ORI would be interested in<br>participating in such a visioning session, and curious whether you would<br>be open to doing it online vs. in-person. (Consider it may be a 5-hour<br>event, or a couple 2-3 hour events.)"<br><br>This needs a phone call to talk about. <br><br clear="all"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">-Michelle W5NYV<br><br><div dir="ltr"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Tue, Apr 27, 2021 at 6:29 PM Rosy Wolfe <<a href="mailto:rosy@ampr.org">rosy@ampr.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Hi all,<br>
<br>
Michelle, thanks for including me on this mail. I agree with many of the <br>
ideas that you've put forth - particularly that it's a TON of work to <br>
put on a conference (much less one that happens multiple times a year), <br>
that it would be helpful to gauge the interest of our grantees before <br>
inviting them to such a thing, and that there could be a power <br>
differential at play for the grantees. Additionally, I think we can <br>
consider using Zulip (an open source version of Slack) for <br>
communications with the community. There is already discussion of <br>
setting one up.<br>
<br>
re: Phil's email, ARDC is in the *really* early stages of thinking about <br>
gatherings of any sort, given that we have a ways to go before we are <br>
truly out of Pandemic Land (TM). One thing is we definitely need to do <br>
an internal offsite. Additionally, and perhaps in conjunction with the <br>
offsite, I would love to have a more guided discussion with people in <br>
our community about the future of amateur radio and digital <br>
communications, so that ARDC can best strategize around meeting goals <br>
that meet a more collective vision. We've done some of that with our <br>
survey, but this would be a more selected group of major players in the <br>
space.<br>
<br>
I would love it if you and/or others at ORI would be interested in <br>
participating in such a visioning session, and curious whether you would <br>
be open to doing it online vs. in-person. (Consider it may be a 5-hour <br>
event, or a couple 2-3 hour events.)<br>
<br>
In terms of a networking event like the one Phil is describing, I could <br>
see doing something like that in conjunction with an existing <br>
conference, such as TAPR DCC or similar. I've organized similar events <br>
when I was in the open source mapping world, holding Maptime gatherings <br>
and karaoke along with State of the Map, for example. PS - one of my <br>
favorite things is to get a bunch of nerds together for karaoke. You've <br>
all been warned! And for when it happens - you're welcome ;)<br>
<br>
In any case, as this mail indicates, we have some thinking (and hiring!) <br>
to do before putting together any events. In the meantime, please do let <br>
me know if you'd have interest in participating in a visioning session, <br>
online or IRL. Your insight there would be, as always, greatly appreciated.<br>
<br>
All the best and 73,<br>
Rosy<br>
<br>
Rosy Wolfe - KJ7RYV<br>
Executive Director<br>
Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)<br>
<a href="http://ampr.org" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">ampr.org</a><br>
<br>
On 4/26/21 1:51 PM, Michelle Thompson wrote:<br>
> Phil,<br>
> <br>
> I agree that putting grantees in contact with each other is a great <br>
> idea, but I think that there are ways to do this which are much more <br>
> frictionless than a conference.<br>
> <br>
> Conferences are generally organized around a shared topic, and <br>
> networking is a secondary effect. It sounds like you want networking to <br>
> be the primary reason that people attend, and this leaves me wondering <br>
> what the common interest is in presentations. What is the <br>
> motivation/reward for people putting work into presentations? What is <br>
> the likely outcome?<br>
> <br>
> There's a similar ecosystem we can look to for guidance here on <br>
> networking, and that's the venture capital (VC) community. VCs like Y <br>
> Combinator (and others) have set up mailing lists and forums (using <br>
> discord, slack, and other tools) to allow free networking between their <br>
> 'alumni'. This is a much lower barrier for participation, and allows <br>
> information exchange outside of a formal process (conferences) that not <br>
> everyone will have the time or inclination to participate in.<br>
> <br>
> Putting on a conference is a lot of work, as is answering the questions <br>
> in your email. I don't have time to address those for ARDC. You should <br>
> look to your own board members, who collectively have much more <br>
> experience than I do.<br>
> <br>
> I'd suggest gauging interest among your grantees before planning any <br>
> conferences. It's their interest that will make a successful <br>
> conference. Since the power differential between ARDC and grant <br>
> recipients is so large, any request from ARDC will probably be <br>
> interpreted as a requirement, and that will complicate the answers. That <br>
> is one reason why VC firms do the things they do, in terms of alumni <br>
> support.<br>
> <br>
> -Michelle W5NYV<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 1:18 AM Phil Karn <<a href="mailto:karn@ka9q.net" target="_blank">karn@ka9q.net</a> <br>
> <mailto:<a href="mailto:karn@ka9q.net" target="_blank">karn@ka9q.net</a>>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> Hi Michelle, we haven't chatted in quite some time. How are you?<br>
> <br>
> At recent ARDC board meetings I've been talking up the idea of a<br>
> periodic conference to which all our grantees would be invited. This<br>
> would not only help bring the ARDC Board and Grant Advisory Committees<br>
> up to speed on what they've been doing, but let ARDC grantees meet each<br>
> other. I personally think this is very important given our focus on a<br>
> diverse set of projects and groups.<br>
> <br>
> I will strongly insist on not overloading the schedule with too much<br>
> formal time. I have always thought that ad-hoc dinners and late nights<br>
> in hotel bars are often the most productive parts of any technical<br>
> conference. You can always watch a video of a talk or read a formal<br>
> paper at home whenever you want, and ask questions by email. I want<br>
> people to come to do the things that are best done in person. After a<br>
> whole year on Zoom I think we now have a better idea of what those<br>
> things are.<br>
> <br>
> There's solid support on the Board for this idea, but it's still at a<br>
> VERY early stage of discussion. We have no idea where or even when we<br>
> could hold such an event given Covid. (The first would probably be in<br>
> the US but we'd definitely want to hold some elsewhere, probably<br>
> starting in Europe.) But since ORI is one of ARDC's biggest grantees<br>
> (and you have a lot of personal experience in organizing conferences)<br>
> I'd like your opinions.<br>
> <br>
> How how big a block of time would ORI need to give *capsule* overviews<br>
> of all its various projects? Note the emphasis on "capsule". My thinking<br>
> here is to present in the general style of an article for QST,<br>
> Communications of the ACM or IEEE Spectrum, i.e., assume a general<br>
> technical background in computers, space, electrical engineering and/or<br>
> radio communications but NOT specialist knowledge in a particular<br>
> subfield, e.g., speech compression or digital satellite communications.<br>
> <br>
> I also don't think we'd have time for detailed formal tutorials. The<br>
> talks should focus on YOUR work -- the specific problem you're trying to<br>
> solve, what approaches you took, what you've done so far, work yet to be<br>
> done, etc. What worked? More importantly, what did NOT work, technically<br>
> or organizationally? Again, focus on what YOU have done or plan to do,<br>
> as opposed to general overviews of a field. (Do provide links to<br>
> overviews, tutorials, deep technical details, etc, for those<br>
> interested.)<br>
> <br>
> How many speakers from ORI would be involved? How many more would come<br>
> who wouldn't give formal presentations but could benefit from attending?<br>
> I'm thinking mainly of younger volunteers (especially students) without<br>
> a lot of experience who could be motivated by an in-person event like<br>
> this. ARDC could probably be persuaded to provide financial assistance<br>
> for travel as needed. As you know, ARDC's very first grant was for<br>
> travel scholarships to the 2019 ARRL/TAPR DCC in Detroit that brought<br>
> some students with the HamSci project from Case Western. Having talked<br>
> with many of them, I think it was money very well spent. (I'd forgotten<br>
> how much energy I had at that age.)<br>
> <br>
> Please forward this to anybody you know who could also provide some<br>
> advice here.<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> --Phil<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> <br>
</blockquote></div>