Archive for the Social category
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom gets the point, over at San Francisco’s SFGate:
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that citywide wireless Internet access is slowly becoming a reality despite political infighting - and that 144,000 residents will be surfing the Web for free by the end of the year at no cost to the city.
He’s talking about the Meraki network of course:
Newsom is calling the idea Wi-Fi 2.0 - a nod to his high-profile but unsuccessful first attempt to bridge the “digital divide” between San Franciscans who take Internet access for granted and low-income people who can’t easily log on to e-mail, find job listings or surf news sites.
The mayor’s office is working to ensure that single-room-occupancy hotels and public housing projects are some of the first to receive the devices because residents there typically don’t have Internet access. Five public housing projects now have the technology, and 13 more are expected to have it by the end of the year, Newsom said.
As large-scale, for-profit projects falter, innovative new models emerge, as John Cox writes on NetworkWorld:
Strictly speaking, the community networking projects don’t require municipal involvement at all. They are self-organized, self-funded local movements that use a variety of technologies, both open source and modified commodity products, to share existing broadband services, such as DSL connections. And they use the unlicensed radio bands for wireless access.
“We need to get back to the original rationales [of] why we should be building these networks in the first place,” Sascha Meinrath, research director, Wireless Future Program, at the New America Foundation says. “Personally, I’m business model agnostic. I’m far more focused on how these models meet the social and economic justice
needs of the communities they serve.”
The article further covers 10 interesting muni wifi projects, including San Fran’s Meraki network, PTP, a wireless crime-fighting video network, and others.
Next Sydney Mobile Monday is about WiMAX and 3G/4G, euh, next Monday. There is a WiMAX demo and a panel discussion between Mobile and WiMAX operators.
There will also be an introduction to a UTS post-grad project: iWiFi:
Course director Linda Leung : “The goal of the iWiFi project is to create a business model and technical framework for a free wireless hotspot at Bondi Beach. In conjunction with the hotspot, the group has also developed a portal for information about Bondi Beach that is accessible via laptop and mobile devices.
“The group - Caroline Chung (Australia), Winnie Yang (China), Joy Huang (Taiwan), Urs Kemmann (Germany), Dave Kaplan (USA) and Ranjeet Elkunchwar (India) - believes that WIFI technology will soon become an integral part of our daily lives enabling systems based on internet-on-the-go to make spontaneous decisions.”
Come check it out if you can! See you there.
The city provides drinking fountains to quench our thirst.That still didn’t stop anyone from opening a cafe, bar, pub,… and make money out of it. The government provides (relatively) cheap public transport, and public roads.That didn’t stop anyone from providing a service of driving a car or a minibus and have people pay for that. So when will free, open Internet access be considered a part of the public service offered by (local) government? Well, it won’t be any time soon for Sydney and NSW unfortunately as the NSW Government decided to abandon any plans for a free wireless broadband network for the CBD areas in and around Sydney.
Eric Roozendaal said the Government had evaluated proposals from 15 providers keen to build the network but concluded it wasn’t practical based on technical and financial grounds.
From an SMH opinion piece:
This came almost a year after Mr Roozendaal said the Government was in the “final approval stage” of selecting a supplier to build the network, which would provide free internet access to anyone within range.
And apparently Unwired, which by the way has a business model of selling wireless broadband internet access, was happy to do it:
Unwired rejected Mr Roozendaal’s core justification that it would expose taxpayers to tens of millions of dollars in losses, saying its proposal would require next to no extra Government funding. Unwired’s chief executive, David Spence, said all the company required from the Government was access to building infrastructure such as rooftops.
Unwired already has more than 100 free wifi hot spots dotted across Sydney - running under the uConnect brand - and would use this existing infrastructure while funding it by advertising. The uConnect hotspots are only available between 5am and 7pm though. Another initiative similar to uConnect is CafeScreen, a wireless billboard system which also offers free wifi at independent cafes. As CafeScreen puts it:
Cafés are the new meeting rooms, living rooms, study spaces, and as such have become a natural point in which to expect WiFi Internet access outside the home and workplace.
So businesses do see value in providing free wifi. The New York Times has a nice article on the business of free/paid wifi.
Some people though don’t “see” it just yet, probably the same people who didn’t see a use for mobile phones either. It certainly is debatable if any and how much taxpayers money should be spend on free internet access. But pointing to overseas failed projects, which often were too ambitious or where bureaucracy made anything impossible, and then decide to quite the whole project, not even trial in a single CBD? That displays an obvious lack of vision. A vision of a modern, interconnected city which has to compete with not only world cities like New York and London, but also closer with Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai for business, tourism and innovation.
And with the US as an example, for failed projects according to the NSW government, Wired has a nice overview:
Dozens of lower-profile locales are launching government-sponsored networks. Most are smaller cities and counties, where bureaucracies are less onerous and costs are lower.
Do check out the map, or download the pdf from the print article! They are not all free, sometimes requiring a small monthly fee.
Anyway, we’ll keep on going grassroots style, promoting the bottom-up approach (”Share your wifi!”), from the outside in, from suburb to CBD. At one point in time government might catch up, business might jump on board (even more) and we all meet up.
Again, can you imagine your world without the Internet? I can’t. I wouldn’t be in Sydney if it wasn’t for the Internet. It changed so much, touching everyone every day, in ways you probably don’t even know. I won’t iterate what it means to me, but just imagine what it could mean to have Internet access everywhere, for free. But we don’t know what we don’t know. Innovation happens in the strangest places. But it might not be Sydney (for now).
(edit) More success stories…
Free WiFi in Estonia :
And the whole effort has been and still is driven largely by just one man: Veljo Haamer, a technology geek who conceived this dream of wiring - or rather unwiring — his country about 6 years ago. “I realized way back in 2002 that, for Estonia, the Internet could be just like electricity,” says Haamer, who along with a group of volunteers, created a non-profit association WiFi.ee. He started being a technology evangelist and started promoting free access to the Internet as a human right. “I took upon myself the task of convincing everyone I could that the benefits of Internet are enormous.”
Or BBC’s Tiny Estonia leads Internet revolution.
Boston launches Wi-Fi pilot; at least they launch a project.
And Boston Banks on Non-profit Model
While many in the muni Wi-Fi world are skeptical about a non-profit model, Boston is soldiering on in its attempt to “bridge the digital divide” by offering free or low-cost Wi-Fi to its residents using donated funds and equipment.
Singapore’s Wireless@SG:
Wireless@SG is a wireless broadband programme developed by IDA as part of its NextGeneration National Infocomm Infrastructure initiative. It will be run and developed in the next two years by three local wireless operators who will deploy a wireless broadband network in Singapore. Users can enjoy free, both in-door and outdoor seamless wireless broadband access with speeds of up to 512kbps at most public areas.
Closer to home, myKP:
at myKP we recognise that our local communities are our future and we are using the internet to stimulate economic and social growth in these communities. myKP are working with local governments and businesses to improve the general climate of our local communities with economic growth and create a positive environment for users.
myKP provides free wireless internet access in community centres, with a focus on providing users an opportunity to conveniently access the internet free of charge in their local community hotspots. in addition this provides local businesses the opportunity to take advantage of inexpensive online advertising that will help attract new customers to their business.
Lane Cove ALIVE signs with myKP to provide the Lane Cove Village area free wi-fi.
Pittwater Council signs with myKP to provide the Newport Village area free wi-fi.
Gilgandra Shire Council signs with myKP to provide Gilgandra’s Central Business District free wi-fi.
Another free Wifi project to keep an eye on, Hong Kong:
Government Wi-Fi Programme (GovWiFi) is one of the major initiatives under the 2008 Digital 21 Strategy to build Hong Kong into a wireless city. The Programme aims to provide free wireless Internet access services to all citizens by installing Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g) facilities at designated government premises.
We are progressively installing Wi-Fi facilities starting from early 2008 to mid 2009 at about 350 government premises in different districts. These premises include public libraries, Public Enquiry Service Centres, sports centres, cultural and recreational centres, job centres, community halls, large parks and Government joint-user buildings.
BarCamp Sydney v3 has passed again. We set up a wireless network for attendees to use. With the Internet connection handled by UNSW, so plenty of bandwidth, we set up two gateway nodes and one repeater (one Outdoor and two Mini’s). Of course, we could easily manage the splashpage with a BarCamp welcome, as well as have BarCamp and Free Australia Wireless text banners.
The Meraki’s handled traffic pretty good, with people playing WoW, watching youTube, surfing, demoing,… with the Meraki’s handling about 50 users and transferring 1.8 Gb over each day.
You can clearly see when lunch was on…
We talked to lots of people, mostly in the hallway, and in our presentation on Saturday we focused on the Meraki Dashboard and its settings. We also had a group discussion on developing meshing software for mobile devices or laptops. And then there was even a presentation on how, with the help of a couple of Merakis, a student circumvented his school’s net censorship… Some people signed up for a group buy (we’ll get back to you soon!).
Sunday afternoon, we had a Meraki Mini to give away to the attendees.
Come say hi at booth 65 of the Wireless World 2008 expo in Darling Harbour this week Wednesday and Thursday. The expo is free to attend, though you do need to register at entry. Heckle us with your questions, get touchy-feely with a Meraki up-close (oooh), or just say hi!
“Now into its fifth year and still experiencing unprecedented growth, Wireless World has become the region’s biggest dedicated end-user, solutions-focused event.
The event brings together mobile workers and wireless enterprises and provides them with an effective way to research the industry and then choose the best fit technologies, solutions and suppliers for their organisations.
In short, Wireless World is all about the integration and convergence of wireless, mobile, RF and IP solutions and how this can be applied to improve the way we all communicate and do business.”
I know most of us need to work during the week, so meet us next weekend Saturday and Sunday at BarCamp Sydney v3! Free again!
NO SPECTATORS, ONLY PARTICIPANTS
BarCamp Sydney April 5 & 6, a whole weekend!
When you come, be prepared to share with BarCampers.
When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.
BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment.
It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.
Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to participate.
What’s Next?
Sign up on the wiki, check out the blog, tell all your friends, prepare your presentation, ask your company if they’re interested in sponsoring…
Go!: http://barcamp.org/BarCampSydney
Starbucks (US) has set up a social networking site where customers can sign up and share their Starbucks experience, fire off new idea’s and have people vote on them. Current number one is “All stores free wifi”. As some customers comment:
“I purposely go to a cafe in my home town that offers free wi-fi. I drive by 3 Starbucks on the way there and pay 50 cents more for the mocha for the free wi-fi.”
As an added bonus, the coffee may probably be better too… Read more over at Computer World.
If I think of all the small, independent coffee shops around town, you could form a really big mesh of free wifi in the CBD.
One webdesigners journey with his Merakis:
“Now I am not a radio-wireless geek so I am only guessing, but I would expect that in order for this to work, every 10th house in a street would need to share their paid internet connection, and every 5th house would need a repeater. Not a big ask, but it remains a challenge. I think it can be done, we just need to spread the word.”
“It’s time for a cheaper, free internet. And to adapt a phrase from the Treasurer of the last Federal Government: Get a Meraki for yourself, one for your husband and one for the country.”
Read more about the Pro edition dashboard at NetLife.
Monday, Feb 11th, 2008
Categories: Social
Another fine example of empowering communities by providing access to technology and the internet, as provided by ZeroDivide (SanFran, US):
“Booker T. Washington’s partnership with Meraki to provide an affordable and easy to use technology for its community is an integral part of its success. Using Meraki’s tools enabled them to provide free Internet access to an entire square block.”
“The WiFi project has empowered residents to take control of their own network and create content relevant to the housing community.”
Read on at ZeroDivide.
Does anyone know of similar projects around Australia?
Sascha Meinrath has posted a call for panels for the 2008 IS4CWN:
CALL FOR PANELS — Due March 31, 2008
International Summit for Community Wireless Networks
May 28-30, 2008, Washington, DC
Send panel proposals and questions to: summit@chambana.net
Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, hundreds of community Internet and municipal broadband initiatives have sprung up around the globe. Internet access is increasingly important to all facets of civil society, but many communities are being left out of this communications revolution. “High-speed broadband access is the electricity of the 21st century, yet many rural and poorer urban communities are being left off the grid,” says Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, a 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.”
The 2008 summit will be co-hosted by the world’s largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and continue its tradition of featuring wireless leaders, innovators, activists, and community networking visionaries from around the globe.
The Summit focuses on how wireless 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 in the field. “Wireless networking is about far more than Internet connectivity,” states Sascha Meinrath, Summit Director. “It’s about building next-generation multi-media services for communities, fostering social and economic justice, and facilitating a vibrant arts and cultural scene.”
We invite your panel proposals and participation in this year’s International Summit for Community Wireless Networks to discuss and exchange ideas on how to make universal broadband access a reality. More information will be available soon at: www.wirelesssummit.org.
Anyone any ideas? Call for papers.
What happens when a group of gadget loving web geeks get inspired? They start a quiet revolution in their backyard. That’s what happened after Mark Pesce’s “Mob rules” keynote presentation at Web Directions South late last year, where he described people as the network, and presented the little Meraki’s, allowing you to easily share your internet connection. These $US49 ($55) wireless devices offer the ability to create wi-fi mesh networks that link Meraki to Meraki (as a repeater) until the devices find a gateway with an internet connection. That’s what sets it apart from most other wireless routers. Meraki has its roots at MIT, and are as such the commercial implementation of the MIT Roofnet mesh routing protocol. They are cheap, offer reliable performance and are easy to use. They need very little end user configuration, which is handled through a back-end management/monitoring system hosted at Meraki.
Of course you could open up any regular wireless router too, but most of them miss the user management offered by Meraki. It provides basic system statistics, connected MAC addresses and computer names, and bandwidth usage. In its Standard edition it offers bandwidth throttling and you can block any abusive users. On the Pro edition you can set different tiers with different limits.
But why open your wireless network to begin with? Didn’t we all learn to use WEP at first (which was broken pretty quickly) and now WPA2? As security guru Bruce Schneier (CTO of BT Counterpane) wrote in the January edition of Wired, it’s basic politeness, it’s the neighbourly thing to do. In his “Steal This Wi-Fi / My Open Wireless Network” article he gives his thoughts on open and secured wi-fi and explains why his wireless network is open for everyone to use, and has since generated a lot of controversy. It comes down to the fact that your own pc needs to be secure to begin with. Of course the nay-sayers have valid points too, about leaching, illegal downloads, liability, and those are probably the biggest hurdles in setting up a community driven, free wireless network. Free for people to use occasionally, paid for by me, sharing my monthly bandwidth allowance.
But Meraki offers both options, so you have an open network section, and for yourself you can use the WPA2 enabled private section. It also has a feature to block all traffic going to the local LAN, to alleviate people’s concerns about “guests” being able to connect to the people’s private LANs.
In the end, Meraki’s are a means to an end. There are other options available (Fon, Open-Mesh), which miss some of Meraki’s features or are not mature enough. Meraki’s run on Linux and are pretty hackable (“We would like to encourage you to play with this platform and add your own features to it”). You can SSH into it and add iptables rules if required. And if you’re willing to void the warranty, you can replace it’s firmware with a more secure, more open version like ROBIN.
It’s early days. You don’t change things by doing nothing.
Bruce Schneier: My Open Network
