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May 17, 2007 • 10:20 pm 0

NYC Broadband Advisory Committee Meeting on May 22 in Brooklyn

The second NYC Broadband Advisory Committee meeting is being held next week at Brooklyn Borough Hall. NYCwireless was at the first meeting in The Bronx, and while it was mostly attended by the usual suspects, there were a few new people who testified, including both high school and college students from the area.

The Advisory Committee “has a blog”:4 and “email address”:mailto:nycbroadband@gmail.com.

bq. On Tuesday, May 22nd from Noon to 3 pm, in the Courtroom hearing room, on the 2nd floor of Brooklyn Borough Hall, the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee will convene its second public hearing to hear testimony from Brooklyn residents, nonprofit organizations and businesses. The Committtee would like to get feedback on the following questions:
* Why is a fast affordable Internet connection important to you?
* What do you consider an “affordable” fee to pay for an high-speed connection to the Internet?
* If you have a broadband connection, what do you use it for (e.g., help your child do his/her homework)?
* If don’t have broadband or if you had a faster connection to the Internet, what would you use it for (e.g., market your business on-line or look for a job)?

bq. Gale and I would like to thank the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz for their help in securing this beautiful space. Brooklyn Borough Hall is located at “209 Joralemon Street in downtown Brooklyn”:1. Here is a link to a Google map of where the hearing location, including where the closest subway stops are:

bq. *WITNESSES*: If you or anyone you know would like to testify at this hearing (and put on the official witness list), please contact “Jeff Baker”:mailto:jeffrey.baker@council.nyc.ny.us (212-788-9193), Counsel to the Committee on Technology in Government. Brooklyn parents of schoolchildren, schoolchildren, nonprofit leaders, small business owners and senior citizens are particularly encouraged to testify. Anyone who attends the hearing is also free and encouraged to testify with no advance notice required.

bq. *RATIONALE FOR THE BROADBAND ADVISORY COMMITTEE*: I recently published a “blog post in the Huffington Post”:3 regarding our championing of the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee and the issue of universal, affordable access to broadband in New York City.

bq. *COMMITTEE MEMBERS*: Here’s a list of the “members of the Advisory Committee”:4 along with their bios.

bq. *RECAP OF THE MARCH 30TH BRONX BROADBAND HEARING*: On Friday, March 30th, more than 200 people joined us on at Bronx Community College for the first-ever public hearing on broadband in New York City. Over 30 members of the public testified, including Bronx residents, public school students, leaders of nonprofit organizations and small business owners.

bq. The following are links to articles about the hearing in the Bronx on March 30th:
* “NY Daily News”:5
* “Newsday”:6
* “Metro”:7
* “NY1″:8
* “InformationWeek”:9
* “Norwood News”:10
* “Chelsea Now”:11
* “Civil Defense”:12

bq. A really good “audio 3 minute recap”:13 (or podcast) of the Bronx hearing is available. (Thanks Kat Aaron of WBAI!)

bq. The “entire video”:14 of the entire Bronx hearing is available. (Thank you BronxNet!)

bq. *BROADBAND BRIEFING PAPER*: Here’s a “briefing paper”:15 (by the Committee on Technology in Government, not the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee) on the subject of broadband. (Thank you Colleen Pagter, Policy Analyst of the Committee on Technology in Government!)

[1]http://www.google.com/maps?q=209+Joralemon+St,+Brooklyn,+New+York+11201,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title
[3]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-lai/the-future-of-digital-new_b_46221.html
[4]http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com/2007/03/list-of-members-of-committee.html
[5]http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/bronx/2007/03/27/20070327_air_your_views_at_wifi_public_hearing.html
[6]http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nybroa305151459mar30,0,4224312.story
[7]http://ny.metro.us/metro/local/article/Bridging_the_digital_divide/7717.html
[8]http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=68237&search_result=1&stid=12
[9]http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198100613&subSection=Breaking+News
[10]http://www.bronxmall.com/norwoodnews/news/N70419page3.html
[11]http://www.chelseanow.com/cn_27/chelseahighschool.html
[12]http://breitbart.wordpress.com/2007/04/03/bac-audio
[13]http://odeo.com/audio/11062793/view
[14]http://www.bronxnet.org/c_program/whats_new/whats_new.htm
[15]http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com/2007/04/broadband-briefing-paper-type-here-full.html

Filed under: Event, New York City, NYCwireless, Policy

March 24, 2007 • 2:28 pm 0

Updated: NYC Broadband Advisory Committee Meeting on March 30 in The Bronx

A few weeks ago, I “posted information about the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee Meeting”:1 taking place on March 30. Here’s more information about the location and directions to the hearing. Also, the Advisory Committee “has a blog”:4 and “email address”:mailto:nycbroadband@gmail.com.

bq. Sponsored by Office of Council Member Gale A. Brewer (CD 6 – Manhattan), the Office of the Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Bronx Community College and the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBRO), the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee will hold its first public hearing on Friday, March 30, from 10 am to Noon, in the Gould Memorial Library Auditorium, Bronx Community College, University Avenue at W. 181st Street. Below are directions.

bq. *Directions via Subway*

bq. Take the 4 train to Burnside Avenue. Go west on West Burnside Avenue for 4 blocks until you reach University Avenue. You should see the campus of Bronx Community College (BCC) in front of you. Turn right on University Avenue, walking alongside the BCC Campus until you reach the Front Gate at W. 181st Street. Take a left up the stairs to enter the college. Be prepared to present identification to the Public Safety Officer at the front gate. Go straight until you reach Language Hall and take a right. Immediately after Language Hall is Gould Memorial Library on your left. The auditorium is downstairs on the lower level of the Library.

bq. Here is a map of the Bronx Community College campus: “http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/tour/tour.htm”:2

bq. *Handicap Accessible Entrance to Gould Memorial Library*

bq. The handicap accessible entrance is at the rear of Gould Memorial Library. To get to that entrance, instead of turning right at Language Hall, go straight down the path. Then take the next right. Go straight down the hill until you reach the back of Gould Memorial Library. To your right will be double doors, which will lead you to the handicap accessible entrance to the Gould Memorial Library auditorium.

bq. *Directions via Car*

bq. The following is a link to directions to Bronx Community College if you are driving: “http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/directions/directions.htm”:3

bq. Public parking is located immediately after you enter the car entrance to Bronx Community College.

[1]http://www.wirelesscommunity.info/2007/03/05/nyc-broadband-advisory-committee-meeting-on-march-30-in-the-bronx/
[2]http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/tour/tour.htm
[3]http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/directions/directions.htm
[4]http://www.nycbroadband.blogspot.com/

Filed under: Event, New York City, NYCwireless, Policy

March 5, 2007 • 11:48 pm 0

NYC Broadband Advisory Committee Meeting on March 30 in The Bronx

On March 30, the “New York City Broadband Advisory Committee”:6 will meet in the Bronx for the “first of five public hearings to both educate the public on broadband and learn from the public about their experiences, or lack of, with broadband and Internet technology in New York City.” Over the past couple of years, NYC Council Member Gale A. Brewer, based on the testimony of a number of New Yorkers, “including NYCwireless”:2, helped “create the Broadband Advisory Committee”:3 to try to move New York City to the forefront of broadband accessibility and affordability.

NYCwireless will be there to help represent the interests of free public Wi-Fi, which hasn’t had as extensive distribution as midtown and downtown Manhattan. We’ve heard from a number of people and organizations in the Bronx that there’s a tremendous interest in free public Wi-Fi. “We’ve been working with Professor John McMullen”:5 and his students at Monroe College to build more free hotspots in local businesses.

*If you have any interest in helping New York City get affordable, universal, ubiquitous high-speed internet access, you should join us at this meeting.*

The public hearing will be on March 30, from 9am-11am in the rotunda of “Bronx Borough Hall at 851 Grand Concourse”:4. Council Member Brewer and Borough President Carrion invite all Bronx residents, nonprofit organizations and businesses to testify about the availability and affordability — or lack of — of broadband (that is, a high-speed connection to the Internet) in their neighborhoods.

Some questions that the Committee has are:

# Why is a fast affordable Internet connection important to you?
# What do you consider an “affordable” fee to pay for an high-speed connection to the Internet?
# If you have a broadband connection, what do you use it for (e.g., help your child do his/her homework)?
# If don’t have broadband or if you had a faster connection to the Internet, what would you use it for (e.g., market your business on-line or look for a job)?

The hearing in the Bronx will kick-off a series of five public hearings that will be convened in every borough of New York City. Based on these hearings and with the help of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Advisory Committee will report their findings and recommendations to the Mayor and City Council.

[1]http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com/
[2]http://www.wirelesscommunity.info/2005/05/05/testimony-to-the-new-york-city-council’s-technology-in-government-committee/
[3]http://nyccouncil.info/issues/intros_act.cfm?intro=Int%200625%2D2005
[4]http://maps.google.com/?q=851%2BGrand%2BConcourse,%2BThe%2BBronx,%2BNY%2B(Bronx%2BBorough%2BHall)
[5]http://www.wirelesscommunity.info/2006/09/14/thank-you-letter-from-monroe-college/
[6]http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com/

Filed under: Event, New York City, Policy, Urban Wireless

December 14, 2006 • 5:45 pm 0

Photos from CAIDA COMMONS workshop

The “CAIDA COMMONS workshop”:3 is over and there were a lot of great things accomplished. I’m always impressed by how dedicated all of the people involved in community networking are.

Here’s a great photo of our side trip to see “SoCalFreeNet’s”:1 network installation. Mike Mee took us up onto the roof of one of the buildings his group lit up.

!http://static.flickr.com/123/322056632_38d71da2de.jpg!:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattw/sets/72157594419100937/

You can find “more photos on flickr”:2, thanks to “Matt Westervelt”:4.

[1]http://socalfreenet.org/
[2]http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattw/sets/72157594419100937/
[3]http://www.caida.org/projects/commons/
[4]http://www.seattlewireless.net/~mattw/

Filed under: CAIDA COMMONS, Community Wireless, Event, Muniwireless, NYCwireless

December 10, 2006 • 5:56 pm 0

CAIDA COMMONS workshop, Dec 12-13

Laura Forlano and I have been invited to attend and participate in the CAIDA COMMONS workshop in San Diego on December 12-13. “CAIDA”:3, the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis, is holding the “COMMONS (Cooperative Measurement and Modeling of Open Networked Systems) workshop”:1 as a means to figure out how community network organizations — builders, policy analysts, researchers, and supporters — can work together to push forward the science and practice of community networks.

bq. CAIDA proposes a collaboration to simultaneously solve three acute and growing problems facing the Internet: a self-reported financial crisis in the Internet infrastructure provider industry; a data acquisition crisis which has severely stunted the field of network science; and a struggle for survival within emerging community and municipal networks, who are in an ideal position to address the first two problems but often lack resources and experience to make informed operational decisions, and are also continually threatened by incumbent-driven legislation.

bq. We propose an experiment to build a cooperative national backbone to connect select community and municipal networks to each other, and to the global Internet. Peering would be conditionally available to county, state, and federal government entities, academic institutions, and community wireless initiatives. The conditions are two-fold: (1) the attached networks must make select operational data available to Internet technology and policy researchers under appropriate legal data sharing frameworks; (2) the attached networks must agree to cooperatively develop and abide by policies based on confirmed results of empirical data analyses.

Laura and I are going as representatives of NYCwireless (builders) and as researchers (especially on Laura’s part). While we won’t be blogging directly from the conference, I expect there will be lots of projects and collaborations that will come out of the workshop.

[1]http://www.caida.org/workshops/commons/0612/
[3]http://www.caida.org

Filed under: CAIDA COMMONS, Community Wireless, Event

November 27, 2006 • 3:55 pm 0

NYCwireless November Meeting: Nov 29th at 7:00pm

All are invited – please re-post everywhere!

_Please note earlier starting time for meeting_

h2. Location and Time

*Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 7:00pm*
*”Bway.net”:http://maps.google.com/?q=568%20Broadway,%20New%20York,%20NY*
568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner
Suite 404
New York, NY 10012
(lobby sign-in required)

h2. Agenda

# Berlin Wireless: Alex Toland and Ulf Kypke from “Berlin’s Freifunk”:1 and “wlanhain”:2 community wireless groups will talk about a new project for an all-in-one wind and solar-powered hotspot/panoramic camera sculpture for a community-planned park in Berlin’s Friedrichshain neighborhood.
# Connecting non-profits: Marc Baizman, a Project Manager at the technology assistance provider “NPower”:4, will speak about the technology needs of the non-profit sector.

*The meeting will be streamed live to Berlin where they are hosting a simultaneous Freifunk community wireless meeting.*

“NYCwireless”:3 monthly meetings are held on the last Wednesday of every month. They are free, and open to all, RSVP not required.

“NYCwireless”:3 is a non-profit organization that advocates for, and enables the growth of free, public wireless networks.

[1]http://freifunk.net
[2]http://www.wlanhain.de
[3]http://www.nycwireless.net
[4]http://npower.org

Filed under: Community Wireless, Event, New York City, NYCwireless

November 15, 2006 • 12:56 am 0

Distinguished Speaker Series at Polytechnic University

On Saturday November 18, I will be speaking at the Distinguished Speaker Series at Polytechnic University’s Technology Management program from 12:45 to 2pm. Nina Ziv, a professor at the University, asked me to speak to the executive students about NYCwireless, municipal wireless, and what’s going on in New York City.

Filed under: Community Wireless, Event, Muniwireless, New York City, NYCwireless, Policy

October 22, 2006 • 1:22 pm 0

International Summit for Community Wireless Networks on May 18-20, 2007

NYCwireless regularly attends the NS4CWN event with lots of other community wireless networks the world over. This year promises to be even better, since we’ll be nearby Washington, D.C., and more of the policy wonks will be able to attend. I’ll be going down with some other NYCwireless members, so I hope to see you there!

bq. *NETWORK DEVELOPERS AND IMPLEMENTERS, POLICY EXPERTS, AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS WILL GATHER AT LOYOLA COLLEGE IN COLUMBIA, MARYLAND, MAY 18-20, 2007 TO EXPLORE THE FUTURE OF BROADBAND.*

bq. The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) and the Center for Community Informatics (CCI) will host the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks from May 18-20, 2007 at Loyola College in Columbia, Maryland.

bq. The summit is the largest gathering of wireless network developers, technology and policy experts, and community organizers working to build universal, low-cost broadband networks around the world. “We are proud to host an event that brings together technologists and activists committed to universal access to informatics,” said Marco Figueiredo, CCI Director.

bq. “The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks explores the opportunities and challenges facing the growing movement to build nonprofit, open-source, community and municipal broadband networks,” said Sascha Meinrath, co-founder and Executive Director of CUWiN. “This event showcases cutting-edge technologies and develops political strategies to increase digital inclusion.”

bq. Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, over 300 Community Internet and municipal broadband projects have sprung up in the United States alone. The summit will focus on how these networks can better serve their target populations, the policies needed to support broader deployment of community wireless systems, and the latest technological and software innovations.

bq. Presenters at previous summits have included Annie Collins of Fiber for Our Future, Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America, Harold Feld of Media Access Project, Robert W. McChesney of Free Press, Matt Rantanen of Tribal Digital Village, Greg Richardson of Civitium LLC, Paul Smith of the Center for Neighborhood Technologies, Jim Snider of the New America Foundation, Dana Spiegel of NYCwireless, Esme Vos of Muniwireless.com and many other luminaries.

bq. “High-speed broadband access is the electricity of the 21st century, yet many rural and poorer urban communities are being left off the grid,” said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, the DC-based policy think-tank. “The innovators and organizers at the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks are blazing the trail to make broadband affordable and available to everyone.”

bq. For more information on the summit will soon be available at: “www.WirelessSummit.org”:1

[1]http://www.wirelesssummit.org

Filed under: Community Wireless, Event, NS4CWN, NYCwireless

October 18, 2006 • 8:00 am 0

Wednesday, Oct 18 @ 9pm on PBS: Moyers on America "The Net at Risk"

_From NYCwireless board member Joe Plotkin:_

Net Neutrality has been discussed vehemently and extensively on this list, so I urge everyone to watch Bill Moyer’s in-depth examination of this subject. It airs on Channel 13 tomorrow night Wed Oct 18th 9pm. It repeats 1:30am Saturday, October 21st (aka late Fri. night) and 2:00pm Sunday, October 22nd. Set your Tivo’s accordingly.

Additionally, some on this list have challenged the efficacy of the substantial work Bruce Kushnick and TeleTruth have done over the years. Bill Moyer’s team apparently disagrees, as they have made the editorial decision to feature Kushnick’s views and research.

Although I have not yet seen this episode, I believe this show will begin a long overdue, serious journalistic examination of the issues of network access and market power.

*Moyers on America Presents “The Net at Risk”.*
*PBS, (check local listings) Wednesday, October 18, 2006, 9PM, EDT*

Teletruth’s Bruce Kushnick and Tom Allibone are featured in “The New Digital Divide” segment.

Moyers on America presents a new, serious investigative analysis of the future of broadband, the Net and media–from municipalities trying to Wi-Fi or rewire their cities, to the large phone companies who claim that they ‘own the net’ or large media concerns who have the power to take control of the information and stories you see and hear.

The program has been divided into four segments.

h3. THE NET AT RISK

“http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/neutrality.html”:1

The debate is hot, the language heady, the metaphors many. Op-ed pages alternately bemoan “The End of the Internet” or curse “Net Neutrality Nonsense.”

h3. THE NEW DIGITAL DIVIDE

“http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/usworld.html”:2

Teletruth is featured. Check out the video–”In Korea and Japan customers are getting 100 Mbps services in both directions for about $40 bucks” – (That’s 100 times faster than America’s DSL services.)

“America’s screwed,” says Bruce Kushnick, a telecom analyst. “I mean, we basically are becoming technologically deficient. We’re close to the dinosaurs compared to what these other countries are going to be developing in the next couple years.”

Other sections include:

h3. COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

“http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/community.html”:3

“The Net @ Risk” takes viewers to Lafayette, Louisiana, where residents and officials took on their phone company, BellSouth, and their cable company, Cox Communications, and built their own high-speed fiber network after the firms refused to bring true broadband connections to their community.”

h3. BIG AND BIGGER MEDIA

“http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/bigger.html”:4

“In 1984 the number of companies owning a controlling interest in America’s media was 50 – today that number is six. Critics of media consolidation say it has led to fewer and fewer perspectives being presented–and a marked decrease in local news coverage.”

Teletruth believes America’s digital future is at stake, not to mention the future of the U.S. economy. We are pleased to be part of this important investigative report.

More: Read “Teletruth’s series for Harvard’s Nieman Watchdog project”:5 on telecommunications, the Internet, wireless and broadband.

For more about Teletruth, read “http://www.teletruth.org”:6

[1]http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/neutrality.html
[2]http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/usworld.html
[3]http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/community.html
[4]http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/bigger.html
[5]http://www.niemanwatchdog.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.viewContributor&bioid=130
[6]http://www.teletruth.org

Filed under: Event, Network Neutrality, News, Policy

October 17, 2006 • 10:57 am 0

NYCwireless October Meeting: Oct 25th at 7:00pm

All are invited – please re-post everywhere!

*Please note earlier starting time for meeting*

h2. Location and Time

*Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 7:00pm*
*”Bway.net”:http://maps.google.com/?q=568%20Broadway,%20New%20York,%20NY*
*568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner*
*Suite 404*
New York, NY 10012
(lobby sign-in required)

h2. Agenda

Michael Lewis, Executive Director of “*Wireless Harlem*”:2, will be speaking about the “*Wireless Harlem*”:2 initiative and the feasibility study the organization recently finished. “Wireless Harlem’s”:2 mission is to “close the digital divide in Harlem by making access to information ubiquitous for all of its residents.” Its objectives:
* Deploy scalable community-wide wireless broadband network
* Ensure everyone has access (residents, schools, business, visitors/tourists)
* Become innovation testing resource for new wireless broadband applications

“Wireless Harlem”:2 and “NYCwireless”:3 share many goals and objectives, and we are working together to help bring Wi-Fi to New York City.

“NYCwireless”:3 monthly meetings are held on the last Wednesday of every month. They are free, and open to all, RSVP not required.

“NYCwireless”:3 is a non-profit organization that advocates for, and enables the growth of free, public wireless networks.

[2]http://www.wirelessharlem.org
[3]http://www.nycwireless.net

Filed under: Community Wireless, Event, New York City, NYCwireless

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