We're going up at Valley Settlement House In West Orange, New Jersey!

The first Geeks FSO Campus is "officially" in the works. We're setting up at Valley Settlement House (VSH) in West Orange, New Jersey, where members of the core team have been involved with VSH's successful summer science program for several years. Hilding "Gus" Lindquist was the "founding" coordinator and passed the baton to Luis Grados who has filled the coordinator's role since 2011.

Jackie Fox, VSH's Executive Director, has given the green light to the Geeks' "proof of concept" testbed project. Dr. Barnet Schmidt, PhD  SM IEEE, managing partner in Kaplan/Schmidt Associates, LLC, West Orange, NJ, consulting communications engineers, is the project engineer and will do a site survey in the next few days.  He prepared the presentation for the proof of concept testbed for the Springfield Avenue Business District in Maplewood. (See http://geeksfso.blogspot.com/2013/12/introducing-geeks-fso-proof-of-concept.html) It will essentially remain the same except for a couple of pluses. VSH already has a computer lab and the buildings are all together in one area, so the logistics required will be that much more manageable for a testbed.

Here's the concept and team members behind the project:

The core team is dedicated to developing another significant program for educational outreach to target populations who are defined by (1.)being underrepresented in the STEM fields; and (2.)disadvantaged relative to customary access to modern educational resources. This program is significant because it fits President Barack Obama’s recently announced $200 million initiative, “My Brother’s Keeper,” that targets disadvantaged black and Latino young men[i].

We propose developing a “Geeks FSO Campus” (Free Space Optics) as a self-sustaining entrepreneurial incubator at Valley Settlement House[ii] (VSH) in West Orange, NJ, to provide the education, training, and mentoring for youth from the target populations in creating apps (applications) for smart phones, tablets, and other mobile computing devices plus content for the internet. The FSO component is to give the participants access to a high speed, high bandwidth development system without the high cost of fiber optics. In addition, the surrounding neighborhood is part of the Valley Arts District[iii] into which we could in all likelihood extend our FSO-based Campus Area Network

If you are at all familiar with the rapidly expanding market for apps for smart phones and tablets and the revenue generated by that market, you will need no explanation of our claim to becoming financially self-sustaining over the course of a three year startup program as well as become a replicable model for communities with similar demographics that includes the target populations .  Part of the proposal is to partner with a “for profit” business to market the apps and content and provide funding for the program.

We have assembled a superior team of key participants for creating the Proof of Concept testbed at VSH using a FSO communications link and are now taking the initial step of preparing a proposal to seek funding. We have the commitment of the team members and are going ahead with the project at VSH recognizing that the funding requirements are minimal to develop the proof of concept test bed there. We anticipate that the “return on investment” will be significant both in financial returns through the entrepreneurial component and the broader recognition relative to conforming to President Obama’s  “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative.

The team includes:

Site Management
Marcina “Jackie” Fox

Executive Director

Valley Settlement House

West Orange, NJ

Please note: Jackie has been involved with worked with core team members in the educational outreach program at VHS since 2007. She is an experienced program manager/administrator and is committed to the project. VSH has the facilities and computer lab to jump start the program on Saturdays and evenings at minimum cost.

Education and training (including intern mentoring program)
Nadia Lvov
Assistant Professor/ECC LSAMP Project Director
Division of Mathematics and Physics
Essex County College
Newark, NJ
Please note: Nadia has been a the lead person from Essex County College in the Essex Stevens Model program since 2007. It has expanded under her leadership to several other area universities with research labs and provides a base for recruiting interns for mentoring the program participants.

Luis Grados

BS, Computer  Science, NJIT

Please note: Luis started in the Essex County College research experience program with Stevens in 2009 when he also began assisting Hilding Lindquist with the Summer Science Program at VHS , becoming the coordinator for the program in 2011. He is young Latino who connects well with the target populations and is expected to take a leadership role in developing the entrepreneurial aspects of the program that will make it self-sustaining.

Technical oversight:

Dr. Barnet Schmidt, PhD, SM IEEE
Managing Partner
Kaplan/Schmidt Associates, LLC
Consulting Communication Engineers
West Orange, NJ,
Please note: Barnet doctorate defense was on FSO at PEP (Stevens) on November 19, 2013. He is an experienced communication engineer and prepared the presentation for theMaplewood proof of concept testbed which transfers directly to the VSH site with modifications for placement of the initial FSO link.

Participating Observers, Maplewood, NJ:  

Clarence Williams, III and Dione Williams, M.D.
Small business and professional services
Springfield Avenue Business District
Maplewood, NJ
Interested in replicating the program in the Springfield Avenue Business District of Maplewood, NJ.
Please note: Their proposed site is used in Barnet’s presentation re: Campus Area Network Project, 12/18/2013, included below. Clarence and Dione and have helped to guide the development of the program from its initial discussions over the past two years regarding educational outreach to local residents underrepresented in STEM.

 Participating Observers, Plainfield, NJ:  

Deborah Joyce Dowe
Community Activist
Plainfield, NJ
Interested in replicating the program in Plainfield, NJ
Please note: Ms. Dowe has been and advisor through Hilding Lindquist to LLLab’s educational  outreach program since it’s its earliest beginning in 2000 at Plainfield High School and brings with her the knowledge and experience to help replicate this program in Plainfield, whose residents are predominately underrepresented in STEM.

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[i] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304071004579407992832670628

President Wields 'Soft Power' to Help Minority Youth

Program Would Give Economic, Educational Opportunities to Disadvantaged Young Black, Latino Men

[ii] http://www.valleysettlementhouse.org/

[iii] http://www.valleyartsnj.com/

 

You don't have to have a $100,000,000 ...

     After reading through this, if you like the concept, we'll help you get started in your own community.  Of course, our direct involvement is fee-based, but as we explain below, we are dedicated to being an open source collaborative venture. We are primarily interested in working with other small-scale communities containing a small business retail district in  close proximity to a surrounding residential neighborhood.
     The greater the socioeconomic diversity of the residential neighborhood, the more we are interested because of the underrepresented populations groups in the STEM fields that reside in many of them. We theorize that a Geeks FSO campus can be a self-sustaining enterprise for conducting STEM educational outreach. Much as people throughout history have learned whatever new technology has come along to better the economic foundation of their lives, given the opportunity they will learn how to produce apps and content for the internet. It pays well.
     Small rural communities even if relatively homogeneous should work if they are of a scale that can obtain "critical mass" and be self-supporting. (Note: Having been raised on a small dairy farm in a rural community in Northern Minnesota, we know the need for local job opportunities for young people. -HL)
     Just remember, we are a small venture just getting started, so we can't help everyone at the same time or immediately. But we will get back to you.
Contact us at: info@geeksfso.com  

Let's connect some dots ...

First dot: there is an ongoing demand among people who are not earning a good living for the opportunity to do so.

Over time, lacking that opportunity, the pent-up demand builds and then ignites in a burst of energy when the appropriate opportunity presents itself. Look at immigration patterns throughout our history, especially the gold rushes of the 1800's here and from the southern states to the factories of the north for WWII and the automobile production following, or simply the huge numbers that would show up to apply for a limited number of jobs today.

The conclusion? Provide people with a fair opportunity to earn a good living when they are now living in poverty and they will show up to take advantage of it. And of course not all of them will. That goes without saying. Showing up is the first test of motivation.

Second dot: Producing apps or content for the internet are currently the best ways to jump start earning a good living in today's economic world, and most likely will be for the foreseeable future. Check out the story of "How homeless man Leo Grand learned to code and launched an app in 109 days." It is the discovery of the New World; the gold mine of the gold rush; the steel mills, shipyards and airplane factories of WWII; the "Big Three" of the golden age of American automobiles ... apps and content production are the wealth creating "factories" of today.

The conclusion? The communities that create CANs ("campus" area networks) in support of the production of apps and content will provide their residents with an opportunity based on motivation, ability, and their work ethic to earn a good living and generate wealth for the community as new inventions have done throughout our history of market economies: "Build a better mousetrap."

Third dot: Take a community with a retail business district surrounded by a diverse residential neighborhood with mixed socioeconomic groups and a not enough good paying jobs. Put in a high speed, high bandwidth linked "campus" -- Campus Area Network or CAN -- like what Google is doing in Kansas City, MO; Austin, TX; and Provo, UT -- to support the collaborative production of apps and content with technical, financial, marketing, accounting, and legal resources and -- just like with Google -- the geeks will come out of the surrounding area and go to work.

What is more, by using Free Space Optics it doesn't cost what it is costing Google to test the idea. But it does take vision, the ability to connect the dots, and the willingness to take a risk ... in this case a very small risk. We're talking $10,000 to $15,000 for the testbed. And all the equipment is moveable, in other words, it won't be poured in concrete.

And we theorize that the opportunity to work with a high speed, high bandwidth communications link will set us apart from other incubators and attract the best and the brightest talent from the target populations who are defined by (1.)being underrepresented in the STEM fields; and (2.) disadvantaged relative to customary access to modern educational resources.

The outcomes are threefold:

1. Production of apps and content as revenue generators bringing wealth into the community.
2. Data analytics for the business district section of the Geeks FSO campus bringing state of the art global marketing to the small retail businesses of the district as well as other database functions allowing the voluntary synergistic sharing of information both internally and globally.
3. STEM educational outreach to the residential sections of the community.

Geeks FSO is the "organizing" name of the startup venture connecting these dots and being formed at the Valley Settlement House complex in West Orange, New Jersey, to set up a "proof of concept" testbed using Free Space Optics.

Dr. Barnet Schmidt, PhD  SM IEEE, managing partner in Kaplan/Schmidt Associates, LLC, West Orange, NJ, consulting communications engineers, is the project engineer for developing the Proof of Concept testbed.  He prepared the presentation for the Proof of Concept testbed found at: (See http://geeksfso.blogspot.com/2013/12/introducing-geeks-fso-proof-of-concept.html)

Hilding Lindquist, system design consultant, developed the concept in over a year-long consultation with community members, and currently coordinates the planning with Jackie Fox, Executive Driector, Valley Seettlement House, to bring the Geeks FSO campus testbed on line as a "proof of concept" demonstration .

Following Lindquist's lead, this will be an open source collaborative effort. This is what that means:

From wikipedia.com: In production and development, open source as a development model promotes a) universal access via free license to a product's design or blueprint, and b) universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.^[1] Before the phrase open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of terms for the concept; open source gained hold with the rise of the Internet, and the attendant need for massive retooling of the computing source code.^[2] Opening the source code enabled a self-enhancing diversity of production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.^[3] The open-source software movement arose to clarify the environment that the new copyright, licensing, domain, and consumer issues created.^{[citation needed]}
Generally, open source refers to a computer program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design. Open-source code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community. Open source sprouted in the technological community as a response to proprietary software owned by corporations.
The open-source model includes the concept of concurrent yet different agendas and differing approaches in production, in contrast with more centralized models of development such as those typically used in commercial software companies.^{[4][page needed]} A main principle and practice of open-source software development is peer production by bartering and collaboration, with the end-product, source-material, "blueprints", and documentation available at no cost to the public. This model is also used for the development of open-source-appropriate technologies,^[5] solar photovoltaic technology ^[6] and open-source drug discovery.^[7][8]

 Contact us at: info@geeksfso.com

Introducing the Geeks FSO "proof of concept" testbed project

Yesterday, newly minted PhD, Barnet Schmidt gave the following presentation to a small group gathered in the Springfield Avenue Business District of Maplewood, NJ. Free Space Optics is Barnet's area of expertise, having successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on the subject last month--November 19th--in the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ.

Stay tuned ... there is more to come.