This year, the Summit is truly going international: its moved to Vienna, Austraia! NYCwireless will be there, and so should all of you. Check out the press release:

The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, Tech Gate Vienna, the CUWiN Foundation, and the Acorn Active Media Foundation are pleased announce that the annual International Summit for Community Wireless Networks will take place in Vienna, Austria from August 12-15, 2010.

Internet access is increasingly important to all facets of civil society. Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, tens of thousands of community and municipal broadband initiatives have been deployed around the globe, but many communities are being left out of this communications revolution. “The global coalition of developers, communities, industry, and advocates working together over the past decade has created one of the most disruptive and far-reaching technological innovations of our generation, yet few know about it and fewer still have taken advantage of this opportunity,” says Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Initiative and the Summit’s founder. “The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks is the nexus around which this movement swaps notes, strategizes, and organizes its agenda for development and implementation of ubiquitous, affordable broadband networks.”

2010 marks the first year that this group of technologists, entrepreneurs, government officials, academics and engaged citizens will convene outside the United States, a critical step to broaden and deepen international involvement in what truly is a global movement. Participants will learn from each other’s examples, exchange strategies and anecdotes, and build partnerships that strengthen alliances among projects.

Vienna possesses a rich and diverse mix of established technology companies and start ups, new media organizations, researchers and cultural producers as well as a remarkable number of institutions of higher learning. Not only is Vienna well positioned among the top international leaders in the information economy, the city is also home to FunkFeuer, one of the most advanced community wireless networks in the world. FunkFeuer is highly respected internationally for its technical and social innovations, its many collaborations with university researchers and artists, and the scale and scope of its network. The Summit will provide an opportunity to expand upon FunkFeuer’s successes and spread best-methods for developing sustainable metro-scale wireless mesh networks.

The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks 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.

More information on the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks, including a call for proposals, registration, and other logistical information, will be available in the coming weeks at www.wirelesssummit.org.

We look forward to seeing you in August!

Of particular note was the significant forward progress that is being made to create a simple, unified mesh router (built on OpenWRT, OLSR, and Wifidog). We’ve got a bunch of test units and will be trying it out soon.

Steven Mansour has posted a great slideshow of the conference, and there are plenty of Flickr photos and Twitter posts.

Learning the right lessons and emulating the right policies here will enable the United States to improve our broadband performance faster than in the absence of proactive policies. The report analyzes the extent to which policy and non-policy factors drive broadband performance, and how broadband policies related to national leadership, incentives, competition, rural access, and consumer demand affect national broadband performance. Based on these findings the report makes a number of recommendations to boost U.S. broadband performance.

Executive Summary (pdf)
Full Report (pdf)

The report is extensive, and has some very good policy recommendations that should be heeded by all levels of government.

Overall, at the broadest level, nations with robust national broadband strategies–that is, those that make broadband a priority, coordinate across agencies, put real resources behind the strategy, and promote both supply and demand–fare better than those without.

IS4CWN is pleased to announce our opening plenary session will feature Amir A. Dossal, Executive Director of the UN Fund for International Partnerships and Agnes Callamard, Executive Director of Article 19.

Amir A. Dossal, guides the development of strategic alliances for the United Nations with corporations, foundations and philanthropists aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals. He also oversees the management of the UN Democracy Fund (www.un.org/democracyfund) which aims to strengthen democratic institutions and enhance democratic governance in new or restored democracies. Amir has developed numerous partnerships for the United Nations, including with the Commonwealth Business Council, the European Foundation Centre, Google.org, the LTB Foundation, the Synergos Institute, the US Chamber of Commerce, and others. He has also spearheaded the UN’s engagement in new areas including the technology sector working with Cisco Systems, Ericsson, Microsoft and Vodafone.

Dr. Agnès Callamard is the executive director of ARTICLE XIX, an international human rights organization specializing on freedom of expression and freedom of information. Agnès Callamard has evolved a distinguished career in human rights and humanitarian work. She is a former Chef de Cabinet for the Secretary General of Amnesty International, and as the organization’s Research Policy Coordinator, she led Amnesty’s work on women’s human rights. Agnès has conducted human rights investigations, including on violence against women, in a large number of countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She has founded and led HAP International (the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership) where she oversaw field trials in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Sierra Leone and created the first international self-regulatory body for humanitarian agencies committed to strengthening accountability to disaster-affected populations

More information at: www.wirelesssummit.org

The New America Foundation, CUWiN Foundation, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, and the Acorn Active Media Foundation will be hosting the annual International Summit for Community Wireless Networks in Washington, DC on May 28-30, 2008. More information will be forthcoming at wirelesssummit.org in coming weeks.

Hosted by the world’s largest general scientific society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), this year’s summit will continue its tradition of featuring wireless leaders, innovators, activists, and community networking visionaries from around the globe. “With large-scale network implementations demonstrating the viability of open source wireless technologies, and corporate franchise business model faltering, the movement is at a critical juncture in its development” states Sascha Meinrath, Summit Director. “This year’s International Summit for Community Wireless Networks will explore issues of global integration and local control over these vital communications media.”

Additional summit topics include:

• The role of community wireless networks in supporting human rights
• The current state of US and international telecommunications policies
• Exploration of state-of-the-art FOSS wireless technologies
• Social networking and other WLAN services and applications
• Community wireless updates from Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia
• White space devices, “device as infrastructure” networks, & disruptive tech
• Legal issues in community wireless networking
• Alternative business models and sustainable networking

Bway.net
568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner
Suite 404
New York, NY 10012
(lobby sign-in required)

Agenda:

Presentation by Michael Hallinan and Tejpaul Bhatia, GlobeCo2020

Company Description
GlobeCo2020? is sharing the internet with the developing world. We are a media services company that delivers digital content into emerging markets. We aim to develop sustainable business models for broadband networks. We are focused on bridging the global digital divide due to poor infrastructure and unsustainable business models in the developing world.

Join us at NYCWireless to help answer how wireless technologies can be used to bridge the global digital divide.

Topics covered

• Wireless infrastructure in the developing world
• Content delivery as a business model
• A “franchise model” for wireless networks
• Emphasis on brainstorming, questions and feedback

Michael Rourk Hallinan

As a Captain in the Marine Corps, Michael has six years of experience planning, installing, operating and maintaining over 20 wireless and satellite voice, video and data systems in Australia, Kenya, Kuwait, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Iraq and Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of the US.

Michael received the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal for leading 50 Marines with “inexhaustible energy” during the final combat offensive in Fallujah, Iraq. He also received a Navy Commendation Medal for leading 50 engineers in deploying wireless networks throughout Asia and the Middle East. He is an active member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association and founder of Semper Fi House, a community support initiative for Marines.

Prior to the Marine Corps, Michael founded Student Media Group, which distributed student media nationally for companies such as AT&T and Citibank. Michael has also held various positions at Merrill Lynch, the US Senate and the US Department of Justice.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from Georgetown University. He is a board member of The Way of Grace Development Corporation, which is developing social and physical infrastructure in the war torn country of Liberia. Michael has worked with the SoCal? FreeNet project, which brings free wireless access to lower-economic neighborhoods in San Diego.

Tejpaul Bhatia

Tejpaul Bhatia is the founder of Tej Media Networks, a consulting company that provides digital technology and strategy services to global media companies including ESPN, NBC, SONY, ABC, Brightcove and Corpus.

Tejpaul was most recently senior manager of international business strategy for ESPN, where he planned and launched new media businesses in Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Australia and Europe. He joined ESPN in 2002 to build the underlying infrastructure for acquiring, distributing and tracking video on multiple digital platforms and was responsible for conceiving, developing and distributing ESPN360, the company’s customizable global broadband service.

Program

The Third International Conference on Ultrabroadband Networks

June 22, 2007
New York, New York, USA

With broadband penetration progressing rapidly, one must think ahead to the next stage, where broadband transmission rates of over 1Gbps on the consumer level will likely be the driver of major changes in ICT, mass media, and consumer electronics. To advance the understanding of the issues, the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information will host an international conference, with the participation of academics, industry, and users.

The conference will bring together researchers to address the various aspects of ultrabroadband network technologies, strategies, trials, applications, and policies.

For special rates, please email Elias Aravantinos at
earavant AT stevens DOT edu

Sincerely,
Elias Aravantinos
Organizing Committee

Bway.net
568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner
Suite 404
New York, NY 10012
(lobby sign-in required)

Agenda:

1. 802.11n: Everything you want to know (so far) but were afraid to ask! by Brian Walden

   Brian gives us an overview of this new standard, which is still not finalized. Brian, long-time NYCwireless member, is famous for his in-depth presentations (i.e. HDTV). This is not to be missed!!

2. Wireless in Estonia: John Heywood on his own research, gives us yet another international perspective.

]]> http://nycwireless.net/2007/02/27/wed-feb28th7pm-february-meeting-80211n-estonia/feed/ 0 danaspiegel http://nycwireless.net/2007/01/23/jan-31-7pm-january-meeting-magical-mirrors/ http://nycwireless.net/2007/01/23/jan-31-7pm-january-meeting-magical-mirrors/#comments Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:41:25 +0000 Dana http://web1.nycwireless.net/index.php/2007/01/23/jan-31-7pm-january-meeting-magical-mirrors/ Continue reading →]]> Wed, January 31, 2007 at 7:00pm
Please note earlier starting time for meeting.

Bway.net
568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner
Suite 404
New York, NY 10012
(lobby sign-in required)

Agenda:

1. Daniel Michelis, a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Media and Communications Management at the University of St. Gallen, will present his Berlin-based interactive urban screen project, “Magical Mirrors“.

]]> http://nycwireless.net/2007/01/23/jan-31-7pm-january-meeting-magical-mirrors/feed/ 0 danaspiegel http://nycwireless.net/2006/11/21/november-meeting-wed-nov-29th-7pm/ http://nycwireless.net/2006/11/21/november-meeting-wed-nov-29th-7pm/#comments Wed, 22 Nov 2006 03:37:36 +0000 Dana http://web1.nycwireless.net/index.php/2006/11/21/november-meeting-wed-nov-29th-7pm/ Continue reading →]]> Wednesday, November 29th, 2006 at 7:00pm

Bway.net
568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner
Suite 404
New York, NY 10012
(lobby sign-in required)

Agenda:

1. Alex Toland and Ulf Kypke from Berlin’s Freifunk and wlanhain 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.
2. Marc Baizman, a Project Manager at the technology assistance provider NPower , 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.


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