The Commotion Construction Kit is a set of documentation tools that the Open Technology Institute has used in trainings around the world and at home. It is a “do it ourselves” guide to building wireless mesh networks.
You will be able to use them on your own or to work with a group of people. There is no one right way to move through them. You will find tools to help you learn the software and build and mount the hardware, as well as tools to help you organize with others in your neighborhood to plan, build, and promote a network. The modules are designed to be used by individuals or groups for self-guided learning or to teach workshops or trainings. Start to explore anywhere and let us know how it goes for you.
Like the Commotion software, these materials are open source, which means development on them continues and community involvement is critical. This first wave of modules represents a work in progress. The current set of modules are briefly described below.
You can also download a .zip archive file of containing PDF versions of all current Commotion Construction Kit modules and supporting activities.
Planning
- Design your Network: Every Network Tells a Story: A game that helps communities think through network planning and the social networks upon which community wireless relies.
- Design your Network: Wireless Challenges: A simple guide to wireless challenges to help improve network planning and troubleshooting.
- Survey your Neighbors: Description of how to design a survey for your community, conduct it, analyze the results, and follow-up with the community.
- Get the Word Out: Flyer Design: Step-by-step suggestions for making a flyer for your wireless project, including examples.
- Identify Neighborhood Skills: Activities to help identify important organizing, tech, and handy-person skills for your wireless project.
- Inventory the Neighborhood: Guide to surveying your neighborhood for wireless assets and challenges.
- Design your Network: Construction Elements: Simple graphics for making flyers, planning diagrams, or other materials, using scissors and paper or a computer design program.
Installing and Configuring
- Install on a Ubiquiti Router: A step-by-step process for installing Commotion Wireless on Ubiquiti routers, which are amenable to changing operating systems.
- Configure Commotion: Instructions on configuring a Commotion wireless node through the Commotion Setup Wizard and through the administration interface.
- Common Configurations: How a node should be configured depends on how it needs to funtion on the mesh network. Learn about different ways to configure a Commotion node.
- Troubleshoot Your Wireless Node: Includes steps to identify and solve the most common problems that may arise with your Commotion router or wireless network.
- Install and Recover with TFTP: An alternate installation process if the regular approach does not work or there is a problem with installing Commotion Wireless.
Building and Mounting
- Gather Tools and Wireless Equipment: A list of suggested tools and equipment to use for installing wireless hardware.
- Learn Rooftop Basics: Tips for working on roofs.
- Learn About Rooftop Mounts: A guide to different mounting hardware and how to install it.
- Prep and Install Rooftop Nodes: Easy-to-follow guidelines for installing wireless hardware on roofs.
Networking
- Learn Networking Basics: An introductory guide to networking.
- Introduction to Mesh: An introduction to mesh and network properties.
Commotion Construction Kit is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Please share any derivative works with the Commotion community by emailing the Commotion-discuss list, or Tweeting with the hashtag #commotion.