International Summit for Community Wireless Networks

Join Rich MacKinnon and Michael Lenczner in a lively discussion on the state of social networking applications within WiFi and whether these
applications are fulfilling the promise of building community beyond basic connectivity. Are Meetro, Whisher, Plazes, Less Networks, FON, and Île Sans Fil innovating the building blocks of internet-enabled nomadic communities? Or is it yesterday's technology dressed up as Web 2.0? Or are these more examples of today's cool yet unsustainable tech in search of a business model?

• Richard MacKinnon (Panel Coordinator), Austin Wireless/Less Networks)
• Michael Lenczner, Île Sans Fil
• Francois Proulx, Île Sans Fil

We will present and discuss current trends - technological as well as social and political - in community networks in Europe. People from FunkFeuer/Freifunk will be present, as well as from one of the bigger networks in the EU - guifi.net (Spain). Reports on how to create a self sustaining infrastructure model and mesh routing advances will be presented. Lastly, we will discuss and compare our solutions and approaches to common problems in establishing community wireless networks.

• Aaron Kaplan (Panel Coordinator), FunkFeuer
• Nemanja Topovic (Panel Coordinator), BGWireless
• Ramon Roca, guifi.net
• Wolfgang Nagele, FunkFeuer
• Matthias Uferer , Freifunk Leipzig
• Andreas Marksteiner, FunkFeuer

The successful deployment of community wireless networks in low-income communities depends in large part on the availability of low cost computing devices that can be easily integrated into the network infrastructure. There are several projects promoting the deployment of large numbers of low-cost computing devices to address the digital divide in developing countries. While these projects may address the provision of wireless connectivity in their hardware and software architectures, their proposed deployments are not always linked to the creation of a citizen-centric community wireless network. The panelists will include providers of low-cost computing devices, developers of community wireless networks, government agents and community activists. The technologists will present their views on how their proposed solutions address the overall challenge to promote digital inclusion in a context where the complimentary technology is utilized, i.e., low-cost computers creating community wireless networks and/or wireless networks enabling the use of low-cost computers. The government and community representatives will present their business models for the integration of both technologies.

• Marco Figueiredo (Panel Coordinator), Center for Community Informatics
• Andrew Greig, Koolu
• Lee Thorn, Jhai Foundation
• Satish Jha, James Martin & Co, Digital Partners India
• Sanjit Biswas, Meraki

Presentations:

2007-05-19-ErmannoPietrosemol-WirelessSummit.odp 22.3M
2007-05-19-ErmannoPietrosemol-WirelessSummit.pdf 14.2M
2007-05-19-PabloOsuna-WirelessSummit.odp 23.2M
2007-05-19-PabloOsuna-WirelessSummit.pdf 12.5M
2007-05-19-SoneshSuranaTIER-WirelessSummit.odp 10.7M
2007-05-19-SoneshSuranaTIER-WirelessSummit.pdf 3.7M
2007-05-19-SylviaCadenaWiLAC-WirelessSummit.odp 22k
2007-05-19-SylviaCadenaWiLAC-WirelessSummit.pdf 92k

Community wireless technologies utilize a dispersed development model in order to provide software that is more flexible to diverse situations on the ground. This session will discuss the opportunities and challenges of implementing these technologies and the impacts on Community Wireless Implementations around the globe.

• Matt Westervelt (Panel Coordinator), Seattle Wireless
• Kristijan Fabina, Croatian Wireless Association & HRFreeNet
• Bogdan Tancic, Serbia Wireless and BGWireless
• Daniel Meredith, CUWiN Foundation

With the combination of the growth of the MuniWireless market and the growing emphasis on policy, what is the place of citizen hackers and builders in the Community Wireless Networking movement? Join us for a group debate and discussion on our changing roles.

• Michael Lenczner (Panel Coordinator), Île Sans Fil
• Anthony Townsend, NYCwireless
• Francois Proulx, Île Sans Fil
• Jon "Maddog" Hall, Linux International
• Aaron Kaplan, FunkFeuer.at

Notes from Citizen Hacker's Session (in .pdf)

How would you develop the domain wi.fi? What if the community wifi folks developed it collaboratively? What could we do with it? Come join our discussion to give your two cents, but be warned that doing so might result in your direct involvement in the development of the domain!

• Dave Chakrabarti (Panel Coordinator), Grassroots.org
• Josh King, Acorn Active Media Foundation
• Dharma Daily, The Ethos Group

This panel will focus on the innovative wireless projects in South America, particularly in the development of community wireless networking for rural and economically marginalized communities. Ms. Cadena will present on TRICALCAR, a project which helps develop community wireless networks in Latin America and the Caribbean. Similarly, Mr. Zoltner will present on his work on legal and regulatory reform to empower communities in Chile.

• John Zoltner (Panel Coordinator), ???
• Sylvia Cadena, WiLAC

When considering how to create a wireless network, it isn't enough to just put together a plan for the installation of access points. A successful network plan must also consider issues of computer availability, training, and supporting applications. Especially for municipal networks, the only way to (almost) guarantee success is to ensure that the community doesn't have to just subsidize universal wireless access. If your network has primary uses that are NOT just providing free or affordable internet, such as meter reading, municipal employee mobility, or emergency services, your network would be able to survive--both economically and politically--even if you have no paying end users. This panel will look at a few good examples of existent or proposed wireless networks, and investigate how a holistic plan can help ensure success.

• Michael Maranda (Panel Coordinator), Chicago Digital Access Alliance
• Dana Spiegel (Panel Coordinator), NYCwireless
• Peter Fleck, Minneapolis Digital Inclusion Fund Advisory Board
• Michael Lewis, Wireless Harlem
• Robin Chase, GoLoco

CALEA imposes compliance obligations on virtually all providers of wireless broadband services to the public. Who must comply and what should have been done under the law by the recently-passed May 14, 2007 deadline? Should you be worried?

• Casey Lide (Panel Coordinator), Baller-Herbst Law Group
• Harold Feld, Media Access Project
• Martha Huizenga, DC Access
• Andrew Afflerbach , Columbia Telecommunications Corp.

This panel will focus on the impact of wireless technologies in the developing world. From empowering communities by bringing access to information to tackling problems concerning regulation and administration, the panelists will present on their current projects from around the world.

• Laura Forlano (Panel Coordinator), NYCwireless
• Dillip Pattanaik, Information Resource Management-India
• Kristijan Fabina, Croatian Wireless Association & HRFreeNet.
• Jon "Maddog" Hall, Linux International

This panel will discuss several initiatives designed to improve the Media Access Layer and enhance performance by using high gain antennas to extend range. An especially relevant topic for rural areas where interference, the Achilles' Heel of WiFi, is less pronounced and the lack of traditional infrastructure prevalent, this panel will focus on how initiatives have been implemented and networks established in countries of South America, Africa and India.

• Ermanno Pietrosemoli (Panel Coordinator), EsLaRed
• Steve Okay, Inveneo
• Sonesh Surana, University of California - Berkeley
• Pablo Osuna, EHAS (Enlace Hispanoamericano de Salud)

Wireless networks and other low-cost technologies that are co-related have already begun to unseat classic telecom and information hegemonies world wide. In particular, these technologies have introduced a threat to monopolies and have brought new services to the formerly un-served base of the pyramid population. These disruptive technologies have also played a pivotal role in creating a more sustainable and socially just world by improving communications, access and increasing the role of people in taking a more active role in the design of their communications architectures and infrastructures. This panel will discuss the economics of community wireless in emerging markets– with particular emphasis on the development of innovative business models that are designed to sustain community networks but also stimulate local economic development.

• Ian Howard (Panel Coordinator) Adapted Consulting Inc.
• Jeff Buderer, One Village Foundation
• Peter Baldwin, Digital Opportunity Trust
• Toby Morning, Urban Technology Ventures
• Joy Tang, oneVillage Foundation

Session Notes

The National Policy & Regulatory panel brings together three experts in telecommunications policy that come from different perspectives. The topics covered in this discussion will include: municipal broadband authority, spectrum auctions and unlicensed spectrum, local franchising, network neutrality, open platforms, and the future of technology in community broadband. Expect to hear insights from the panel on law, technical research and analysis, as well as lobbying and politics. If you have an interest in why policy matters for community wireless, this is for you.

• Ben Scott (Panel Coordinator), FreePress
• Jim Baller, Baller Herbst Law Group
• Joanne Hovis, CTC Columbia Telecommunications Corp.

A short presentation of the current status and the near future of the WiFiDog project (20 minutes) followed by a hands-on workshop on flashing routers to run WiFiDog. If time permits, there will be demonstration on how to install a wifidog auth server and general question period. Note: The goal is for everyone to leave with a functional WiFiDog router to test. A very limited number of Linksys WRT54GL will be on hand to buy at the conference, so it is recommended you bring your own.

• Benoit Grégoire (Panel Coordinator), Île Sans Fil
• Francois Proulx, Île Sans Fil

The COMMONS Project began as an idea to peer community, municipal, regional, state, and enterprise networks using national (US) fiber infrastructure. The phenomenal growth of interest in this initiative begs the question, can we build a global network research testbed that provides scientists with the data they need and communities with the bandwidth they desire? Following up on the pre-Summit COMMONS Strategy Workshop, "Taking COMMONS Global" investigates how to build an alternative global Internet that's cooperatively run and meets the needs of researchers and communities.

• Sascha Meinrath (Panel Coordinator), CAIDA
• Dewayne Hendricks, Dandin Group
• kc claffy, CAIDA

This panel and roundtable discussion will explore the ways in which researchers can work to better inform policy debates around municipal and community wireless networks and spectrum policy. Panelists will present (very) brief summaries of their ongoing research projects as background to the discussion. What research exists and what is needed to make effective policy arguments on these issues? How can the research community connect better to existing municipal and community wireless projects? How can municipal and community wireless projects better serve the public interest and what is the role of a coordinated research agenda in holding such projects accountable?

• Laura Forlano (Panel Coordinator), NYCwireless
• Eddan Katz, Yale Information Society Project
• Naveen Lakshmipathy, New America Foundation
• Alison Powell, Île Sans Fil/Concordia University
• Anthony Townsend, Institute for the Future