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January 8, 2007 • 9:33 am 0

Podcast: Community Wireless Roundtable (Nov. 5, 2006)

h2. Agenda

* WSFII/AirJaldi Summary
* CUWiN Summit Overview
* COMMONS Project Announcement
* FCC Logan Airport Ruling Overview
* Community Wireless Survey & Interviews
* Updates from Community Wireless Groups Worldwide

h2. Participants

* Benoit Gregoire, Ile Sans Fils
* Dan Adelman, Director of New Media, KDHX FM 88.1 / KDHX TV 21+2
* Dana Spiegel, NYCwireless
* Ermanno Pietrosemoli
* Gabe Sawhney, Toronto Wireless
* Gregers Petersen, Denmark
* John Kibuuka, FADECO IT team
* Joseph Sekiku, FADECO
* Joy Tang, OneVillage
* Laura Forlano, NYCwireless
* Malcolm Matson, OPLAN
* Matthew Asham, British Columbia Wireless Network Society
* Michael Maranda, CTCNet Chicago
* Michael Mee, SoCalFreenet
* Mike Lenczner, Ile Sans Fils
* Sascha Meinrath, CUWIN
* Thubten Samdup (Sam), Tibetan living in Montreal Canada
* Vickram Crishna

“Community Wireless Roundtable — Nov. 5, 2006″:1

[1]http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queenszoo3.pngwp-content/uploads/2007/01/community_wireless_roundtable_20061105.mp3

Filed under: Community Wireless, Community Wireless Roundtable, International, NYCwireless

January 8, 2007 • 9:31 am 0

Podcast: Community Wireless Roundtable (Sept. 28, 2006)

On September 28, a number of community wireless leaders from North America held an inaugural Community Wireless Roundtable via Skype in order to discuss the latest developments in community wireless organizations in New York, Champaign-Urbana and Montreal. The lively discussion demonstrated the benefits of more regular networking across community wireless groups nationwide and worldwide. This networking across organizations is especially important over the next six months in the lead up to the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks, which is from May 18-20, 2007 at Loyola College in Columbia, Maryland.

h2. Participants

* Laura Forlano, NYCwireless
* Michael Lenczner, Île Sans Fil
* Sascha Meinrath, CUWiN
* Dana Spiegel, NYCwireless

“Community Wireless Roundtable — Sept. 28, 2006″:1

[1]http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queenszoo3.pngwp-content/uploads/2007/01/community_wireless_roundtable_20060928.mp3

Filed under: Community Wireless, Community Wireless Roundtable, International, NYCwireless

December 27, 2006 • 11:29 am 0

NYCwireless 2006: A Year in Review

Wow! What a year 2006 has been. Wireless networks are growing at an enormous rate, and municipal and community wireless networks have had a breakout year. NYCwireless was no exception.

This year we accomplished many things. Most notably, we outpaced NYC’s Parks Department in building free, public Wi-Fi networks in city parks. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Tonight I’m giving a presentation at our monthly NYCwireless meeting about all of the things that we’ve accomplished over the year, and also some of the things that happened around us in the wireless world.

We’ve got a great 2007 planned, and it promises to be an even bigger year for NYCwireless.

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/335212304_ca4bf54d77.jpg!

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/335212334_385a0bc98f.jpg!

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/142/335212401_be3a5cd2b7.jpg!

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/130/335212451_5b2b4a5f80.jpg!

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/162/335212481_f25a7a9d37.jpg!

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/151/335212529_83452730e8.jpg!

!http://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/335212557_4b7d2cd5f3.jpg!

Filed under: Community Wireless, New York City, NYCwireless

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 12, 2006 • 1:56 pm 0

International Icon for Wireless Internet Access

A couple of months ago I was asked by “WIRED”:2 magazine to judge a contest as part of “NextFest”:1 they were holding to create a Universal Wi-Fi Icon. In speaking with them about why they were holding the contest, the Drew Schutte, “WIRED’s”:2 publisher, told me that he and his staff saw how Wi-Fi networks, especially free, community-based ones like “NYCwireless”:3 were using their prevalence and success to cause social change. He said he believed that through Community Wireless Networks and Municipal Networks, the dream of universal, affordable internet access was finally making progress. Drew thought that with all of their organizational vision, the one thing that lots of these networks lacked was visibility. And what better way to bring some visibility to their work but to create an an icon that can be used by all of those communities to indicate the availability of free Wi-Fi.

Barbara Bloemink, Curatorial Director, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and Colleen Macklin, Design Department Chair, Parsons The New School for Design, the other judges for the icon contest, sat and discussed the many creative submissions for hours on end. The choice was difficult. We thought about lots of different directions, from showcasing the “free” part to of community wireless networks, to the internet connectivity that such networks usually provide, to the community engagement and development that generally lives at the core of such groups, to the ubiquitous nature of most municipal wireless efforts. We even had discussions about the nature of the design language that we wanted to promote with the icon choice so that when given to the community, the icon can be developed and take on a number of descriptive roles.

!http://static.flickr.com/144/320591936_cefda250a6_t.jpg!:6 !http://static.flickr.com/132/320591927_9f39f45481_t.jpg!:7 !http://static.flickr.com/131/320591920_9ebde88f6a_t.jpg!:8 !http://static.flickr.com/135/320591913_703eb1db9f_t.jpg!:9
!http://static.flickr.com/141/320591905_099ab24390_t.jpg!:10 !http://static.flickr.com/138/320591896_938c17dc0d_t.jpg!:11 !http://static.flickr.com/129/320591890_05b8af528e_t.jpg!:12 !http://static.flickr.com/133/320591884_180fa19ef2_t.jpg!:13
!http://static.flickr.com/138/320591878_a949e07781_t.jpg!:14 !http://static.flickr.com/129/320591867_72c1def1e9_t.jpg!:15 !http://static.flickr.com/123/320591862_230383c858_t.jpg!:16 !http://static.flickr.com/131/320591854_42e7798fe3_t.jpg!:17
!http://static.flickr.com/126/320591847_a369e15364_t.jpg!:18 !http://static.flickr.com/135/320591839_93c7efdd62_t.jpg!:19 !http://static.flickr.com/129/320591830_bebf9bf415_t.jpg!:20 !http://static.flickr.com/123/320591825_98cfde7e4d_t.jpg!:21
!http://static.flickr.com/130/320591819_d4372aff37_t.jpg!:22 !http://static.flickr.com/139/320591812_e78106646b_t.jpg!:23

In the end, because of how such community and municipal networks are expanding across the world, especially in developing countries, and because we didn’t want to constrain the iconography to a single language (English), we chose a simple globe with the ubiquitous radiating signal lines. The design is both easy to understand (these networks connect us to each other throughout the world) and universal (at least, we believe that a “globe” is mostly understood as representing the Earth), and should be able to be used across the myriad community and municipal networks around the world.

The winning design was submitted by Val Frixione from Los Angeles, CA:

!http://static.flickr.com/127/320635794_598c6856ac.jpg!:24

Val says, “A wireless hot spot is like a digital oasis that enables us to connect to the world. This is the main concept behind the proposed design: the depiction of planet earth offering a wireless connection to those who need one.”

One of the interesting extensions that we finished our day discussing was the concept of locality that is a basis of most community networks. Though people understand that the internet a universal and world-wide tool, community networks are local creations, reflecting the needs and structures of local communities. For example, in New York City, our community wireless networks are based in parks and public spaces, since that’s where so many residents and visitors spend their time. Compare that to Montreal (home of “Ile Sans Fil”:5), where the culture (and weather in the winter) drive many indoors to cafes, or to Champaign-Urbana (home of “CUWiN”:4), where lack of choice and affordability of internet access has driven a suburban and rural community to develop a mesh network that grows from house to house.

In order to reflect the different types of local structures and venues, one of the first iconographic extensions I’d like to see is the creation of supplemental icons, like coffee cups, buildings, trees, houses, and so on that can be used to indicate the type of nodes that are available on the network. Such icons can appear on the node profiles and maps.

Continuing in this local context, additional icons that reflect the capabilities and content of each local node should also be developed. For example, for the urban style hotspots in New York, Montreal, and many other cities, we can have supplemental icons that indicate there’s local content, music, art, and commerce that is available at that location through the hotspot.

There are lots of other ideas that are possible. We’ll be starting to develop some of them, and others should make use of the icons and come up with other ideas as well.

[1]http://www.nextfest.net
[2]http://www.wiredmag.com
[3]http://www.nycwireless.net
[4]http://www.cuwireless.net
[5]http://www.ilesansfil.org
[6]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591936/
[7]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591927/
[8]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591920/
[9]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591913/
[10]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591905/
[11]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591896/
[12]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591890/
[13]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591884/
[14]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591878/
[15]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591867/
[16]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591862/
[17]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591854/
[18]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591847/
[19]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591839/
[20]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591830/
[21]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591825/
[22]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591819/
[23]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320591812/
[24]http://www.flickr.com/photos/danaspiegel/320635794/

Filed under: Community Wireless, International, Muniwireless, NYCwireless

December 10, 2006 • 10:38 pm 0

Wi-Fi in Flushing Meadows Corona Park

One of WiFiSalon’s unannounced, Nokia-sponsored hotspots is at the “Queens Zoo”:1 in “Flushing Meadows Corona Park”:2. An NYCwireless member recently took a trip out there to test out the wireless signal, and sent back a report with some photos. As best as we can tell, the hotspot is located in the building called the Wild Room, and the signal reaches about 100+ yards from that location.

Why the New York City Parks Department still refuses to announce or publicize Wi-Fi in the parks — WiFiSalon built “or otherwise”:3 — is beyond me.

Non-scientifically created coverage map based on basic signal availability testing:

!http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queens_zoo_map1.png!

There’s no signal at the entrance:

!http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queenszoo01.png!

There’s barely a signal at the bridge over the waterfront marsh:

!http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queenszoo21.png!

There good signal at the Wild Room:

!http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queenszoo11.png!

There’s also reasonable signal behind the zoo, but our correspondent fails to see the use of getting Wi-Fi along the road:

!http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/queenszoo31.png!

[1]http://nyzoosandaquarium.com/5719193
[2]http://maps.google.com/?q=53-51%20111th%20St,%20Queens,%20NY%20(Queens%20Zoo)
[3]http://auth.nycwireless.net/hotspots_map.php

Filed under: Community Wireless, New York City, NYCwireless

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 30, 2006 • 11:30 am 0

PodCast: Michael Lewis on the Wireless Harlem Initiative

At our last “NYCwireless”:2 meeting, Michael Lewis, Executive Director of “Wireless Harlem”:1 gave a talk about the work he and his team have been doing to bring a form of community developed and supported ubiquitous wireless to Harlem.

His talk was fascinating, and we spoke at length afterwards in our Q&A about some of the more interesting details, especially about how New Yorkers really need to talk things into their own hands and build affordable, ubiquitous wireless themselves, since our administration doesn’t seem to be doing much to pursue this idea.

NYCwireless and Wireless Harlem are working together–we’re going to be helping bring both public space (read parks) Wi-Fi, and help with some of the community outreach. Its very exciting seeing how energized this part of New York City has become about wireless!

“Michael Lewis on the Wireless Harlem Initiative PodCast”:4 (m4a, 23MB)

“Michael’s presentation”:3 is also available (PDF).

[1]http://www.wirelessharlem.org
[2]http://www.nycwireless.net
[3]http://www.nycwireless.net/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=51
[4]http://wirelesscommunity.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/top.jpgwp-content/uploads/2006/10/20061025_wireless_harlem_nycwireless_presentation.m4a

Filed under: Community Wireless, Muniwireless, New York City, NYCwireless, Urban Wireless

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

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