Association For Community Networking - Broadband

Community Media Summit - 2007

Tropology — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 12:57:37 -0400

Friday, June 15, 2007 was a very special day for community in Chicago and for Chicago community media. The Benton Foundation and the Community Media Workshop convened a Community Media Summit with the launch of the Benton Media Scan - What's Going on in Community Media a report by Fred Johnson of the University of Massachusetts, Boston with Karen Menichelli, Benton Foundation.

Julia Stasch, Chair of Mayor Daley's Advisory Council on Closing the Digital Divide released it's official report at the summit - the Chicago Report on Digital Excellence.

Silicon Valley community panel calls for public input on equal access to municipal broadband

admin — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:15:54 -0400

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Oct. 18 2006. A community panel organized by Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology, and Society and the Broadband Institute of California urged greater public participation in planning broadband networks that are being commissioned by local governments around the country. The panel also asserted that truly equal access to municipal broadband can only be achieved by providing underserved groups -- seniors, low-income, rural residents, the disabled, and non-English speakers -- a free or discounted tier of service with the same speed, privacy, and security available to households that pay full price.

COPE Act (HR 5252) Moving Forward without Anti-Discrimination Provisions

Tropology — Fri, 05 May 2006 03:23:40 -0400

As most of you are aware, the COPE Act (HR 5252) emerged from committee without the hoped for Network Neutrality language proposed by Rep. Markey.

I highly recommend that you review materials at Save Access, and take the actions requested on their top node, today. Please also reach out through your networks, asking others to take action. Unless the legislation is significantly modified, fundamental Internet principles such as Anti-Discrimination or Network Neutrality will be cast aside. Community Access networks are likewise at stake. Local governments, where the public has the greatest hope for accountability will no longer be able assure full service coverage in their communities. Read up on the materials at Save Access Readings and other sources such as the Benton Foundation, Common Cause or Save the Internet Coalition.

Illinois Community Technology Conference: November 16-17

Tropology — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 09:48:59 -0400

Start: 11/16/2005 - 09:00

End: 11/17/2005 - 15:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-6

description:

Join us in Springfield, November 16-17 for the Second Annual Illinois Community Technology Conference and show your stuff at the Midwest Share Fair!

Location:
Springfield, Illinois

THINK BIG when you THINK BROADBAND: www.FirstMile.US

Tropology — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 16:56:50 -0400

"www.FirstMile.US is a volunteer-based, nonprofit organization, created to fill the need for collaboration

let us now deploy community networks...

Tropology — Sat, 04 Jun 2005 01:59:50 -0400

From the www.CommunityInternet.us site:

Imagine a community networking system that any municipality, company, or group of neighbors could easily set up themselves. No need for expensive, proprietary equipment; no need to pay for incredibly expensive "experts"; no black-box technologies no one understands (except the company you bought the system from).

We hold that community networking should be easy-to-understand, user-friendly, low-cost, and available to all -- it should be liberating and empowering.

This website is a resource trove for people who want to learn more about community internet technologies, who are interested in setting up their own networks, who want to understand their options, and who want information from a source that isn't trying to sell you anything. Contributors to this website include experts from across the community networking field -- we're providing these resources because we believe that technologies should maximize the public good, not just profit-margins. This website is an open forum -- if you want to help build this resource, contact the site's maintainers.

Lone Eagle Report on Open Space Austin

frank — Thu, 05 May 2005 00:47:46 -0400

Lone Eagle Report on Open Space Austin

In short, the event was successful and certainly reinforces everyone

Broadband Information

acohill — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 22:25:06 -0500

Broadband Clearinghouse

Books on broadband

Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits (2002) -- Published by the National Research Council, this report (320 pages) does an excellent job of covering both technology and policy issues related to broadband. An excellent reference and very readable. Highly recommended.
Building Wireless Community Networks, By Rob Flickenger. ISBN 0-596-00204-1, 125 pages, $24.95 http://www.oreilly.com
Community Networks: Lessons Learned from Blacksburg, Virginia (2000, 2nd edition, ISBN 1-58053-030-3, Artech House).
This book has a long chapter (almost 100 pages) that provides an overview of various broadband technologies in plain English--written especially for non-technical readers.
A Broadband World: The Promise of Advanced Services (Benton Foundation and the Alliance for Public Technology)
Offers 12 case studies of innovative uses of broadband services in U.S. communities, including strong cases for community networking.

Links and references on broadband

thou shalt not invest in thy own community

Tropology — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:18:00 -0500

On Jan. 6. 2005 legislation was introduced in Indiana that mimics the SBC, COMCAST and Verizon statements promoted elsewhere, to ill effect.

As I began to read the Indiana proposed legislation, the word "prohibits" was repeated a little too often for my taste.

The best summary seems to be "all political subdivisions are prohibited from taking their economic development into their own hands: political unit, thou shalt not invest in thy own community".

The burden is placed upon the political subdivision to prove through research and through public hearings that their investment in communications infrastructure is necessary and demonstrate that it is well planned, that no one will be subsidized, and no one will pay that does not subscribe.

Muniwireless: reports on municipal wireless and broadband

Tropology — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 22:16:39 -0500

Esme Vos' site is devoted to municipal wireless broadband projects worldwide that are funded or supported by cities and towns. These range from downtown hotzones to city-wide wireless broadband networks. Rural municipalities receive equal coverage because they are leading the fight for affordable, fast, universal access to the Internet. Especially useful: http://www.muniwireless.com/archives/cat_reports.html