Personal Telco University OpenCourseWare

This is a place to plan and document the PTPU OpenCourseWare.

History

PersonalTelcoUniversity was a program started under DarrinEden's presidential term and had sessions in 2004 and 2005. The goal was to have a series of somewhat-formal classes that could be taken by anyone (for a small tuition fee) and would be taught by PersonalTelco members. Upon the completion of the class, students would be prepared to build wireless networks. Despite meager attendance, the program succeeded in it's overall goal to educate those who wanted to be educated.

What's This?

The PersonalTelcoUniversityOCW (orignally PersonalTelcoUniversityDVD, but changed to OCW since the general feeling is that DVDs suck and the real goal is digital content - it doesn't need to be on a DVD) is an attempt to take everything good about PersonalTelcoUniversity and distill it onto a digital medium so that classes can be seen by anyone, not just those with geographical or chronological proximity. Credit goes to Mr. TomHiggins who birthed the concept. Today, it is the primary project of CalebPhillips in his role of DirectorOfEducation, although, he is only making very slow progress.

Philosophy

Having given some thought to how to approach the project, I've come up with a few rules to follow:

  1. Have talks at all levels. Nothing is too complex or too simple. However, a given talk should target a specific audience and stick with it.
  2. Let the speakers direct their own videos. Ideally, we would have videos with all different presentation-styles and approaches.
  3. Let people talk about whatever they want to talk about (as long as it is related to wireless networking).
  4. Release (cuts) early and release often. Collect feedback and make changes.
  5. Keep things low-budget (and possibly campy) without being low-quality. There is a trade-off, be smart about it.
  6. Try to buy gear that is usable for other projects. Reserve at least half the total budget for distribution.

Schedule

Dates

To Do

Immediate ToDo:

A process of sorts:

Classes

An evolving list of classes which may be featured on the DVD. Ordered partially with those we intend to film first on top...

Topic

Teacher

Confirmed

Scheduled

Filmed

Edited

WiFi Hardware Introduction

RickLindahl

yes

yes

yes

no

WiFi Applications

RickLindahl, TylerBooth, ScottBrown, RussellSenior

no

no

Rick done, otherwise no

no

The Physical Layer

CalebPhillips

no

no

no

no

About PersonalTelco

DonPark

no

no

no

no

TCP/IP Networking

RussellSenior

no

no

no

no

History of Radio

TomHiggins and/or Marty

no

no

no

no

Basic Radio Physics

TroyJaqua

no

no

no

no

Site Survey

JasonMcArthur?

no

no

no

no

Introduction to Linux

AdrianDavis?

no

no

no

no

Installing and Maintaining Debian Linux

your name here

no

no

no

no

Hacking on Consumer Routers - OpenWRT/OpenWGT

RussellSenior

no

no

no

no

Network Maintenance

your name here

no

no

no

no

Operational Security

Coderman and Kyle

yes

yes

yes

no

Antennas

RickLindahl et al.

no

no

no

no

Beg, Borrow, Steal

MIT OpenCourseWare Overlap

MIT OpenCourseWare was a direct inspiration for this project. If at all possible, we would like to make use of thier content instead of overlapping it - no reason to reinvent the wheel, afterall. After looking, it appears that there isn't much overlap. Here are applicable classes, none of which contain audio or video, only (quite detailed) lecture notes:

Class

Overlaps/Complements

Media Available

Data Communication Networks

Overlaps with "TCP/IP Networking"

Lecture Notes, Problem Sets

Communications and Information Policy

Complements "About Personal Telco"

Lecture Notes, Readings List, Assignments

Communications Systems Engineering

Complements "802.11 PHY" and "Radio Physics"

Lecture Notes, Problem Sets

Other (Probably Free) Video That We Might Re-Use

Other (Unlikely Free) Video That We Might Ask to Use

Budget

The budget is simple. We have $1000. I want to spend $500 or less on gear, supplies, etc. Then spend the remaining $500 on distribution and promotion.

Income

LinuxFund gave us $1000 for this project.

Expenses

http://www.personaltelco.net/~caleb/receipts/fredmeyer_2007.02.10_ptpu_dv.png http://www.personaltelco.net/~caleb/receipts/thaipk_2007.02.25_ptpu_food.png http://www.personaltelco.net/~caleb/receipts/radioshack_2007.03.15_ptpu_mic.png http://www.personaltelco.net/~caleb/receipts/radioshack_2007.03.15_ptpu_cable.png http://www.personaltelco.net/~caleb/receipts/citzensphoto_2007.03.16_ptpu_lights.png

When

What

How Much

2007-02-10

DV Cassettes

19.99

2007-02-25

Food on First Day Filming

24.45

2007-03-15

Lavalier Mic and Cable

37.98

2007-03-16

Lights, Stands, Umbrellas

258.75

Total so far: $341.17

[CategoryEducation]

PersonalTelcoUniversityDVD (last edited 2007-11-23 18:02:12 by localhost)