Tag Archives: WSFII

Board of Directors

Board Meeting Summaries (January – March)

Partnerships and Events
In January, Laura Forlano submitted a proposal to advise Open Planet, an organization that seeks to empower communities to create the next generation of broadband content and services.

On three Saturdays in January, Dana Spiegel, Rob Kelley and Laura Forlano each respectively presented to a class of students at Monroe College in the Bronx.

On February 11, Dana Spiegel was on the “Spectrum Spectacular: Community Wireless and Smashing Your Way into the Thrill Ride of the Century” panel at the Grassroots Media Conference. He and Laura Forlano met with Dharma Dailey and Hannah Sassaman from Prometheus Radio Project about potential future collaboration while participating in a cantenna-building workshop.

In February, Laura Forlano and Dana Spiegel completed a detailed online survey and provided additional background information for a case study on NYCwireless as part of the World Bank infoDev’s Local Open Access Networks project.

In February, Dana Spiegel and Laura Forlano met with representatives from Edinburgh’s community wireless organization.

On February 28, Laura Forlano presented at Wireless Day at Temple University in Philadelphia. Other panelists included: Derek Pew (Interim CEO, Wireless Philadelphia), Munir Mandviwalla (Executive Director, Irwin L. Gross E-Business Institute, Fox School of Business), Nathan Solomon (Principal and Co-Founder, GameFlood) and Steve Bull (CEO, Cutlass).

From March 31-April 2, Dana Spiegel and Laura Forlano will present at the Second Community Wireless Summit in St. Charles, MO.

NYCwireless has spoken with representatives from Fon, WBAI and Prometheus Radio Project.

New Projects
On March 4, in partnership with Solar One, New York City’s first solar powered “Green Energy, Arts, and Education Center”, Rob Kelley and Dana Spiegel conducted a site survey and installed a solar-powered wireless access point in Stuyvesant Cove Park with a team of volunteers from Monroe College.

NYCwireless continues to be in discussion on plans for five new potential park projects with local businesses and community organizations.

Technology Development
NYCwireless is actively marketing its SuperNode (a.k.a. WiFiDog) access points among members, local businesses and community organizations with assistance from volunteers from Monroe College. Members are encouraged to upgrade their access points to SuperNode (contact help@nycwireless.net).

Policy
In February, Dana Spiegel and Laura Forlano briefed California Senator Dean Florez on municipal wireless policy and projects.

Resources
Wireless Networking for the Developing World, a collaborative book to which Dana Spiegel contributed following the World Summit on Free Information Infrastructure (www.wsfii.org).

NYCwireless has added a wiki-page on Uses for Municipal Wireless Networks. We welcome ideas and brainstorming for all those who are interested.

Board of Directors

October – December 2005 Board Meeting Summary

A summary of partnerships and events, new projects, technology development and policy initiatives that have taken place in the past three months as reported at NYCwireless board meetings.

Partnerships and Events

On October 1-2, NYCwireless participated in the World Summit on Free Information Infrastructure, where Dana Spiegel and Laura Forlano presented on a community wireless panel. As a result, NYCwireless is working with Ile Sans Fil to develop WiFiDog captive-portal software, OPLAN Foundation on a community broadband survey and Open Planet on community engagement programs for municipal broadband projects

On November 28 from 9-10AM, NYCwireless held a live videoconference event between Tompkins Square Park and a park in Stockport, England as part of their “Broadband in the Park Day” in order to raise awareness of the benefits of community wireless projects. Laura Forlano took questions from public officials and community members in Stockport.

NYCwireless has spoken with representatives from BCT Partners, Earthlink, One Economy, Dunn Development, Mt. Hope Housing Company, Tropos on potential partnerships for future projects.

New Projects

NYCwireless is currently discussing plans for five new potential park projects with local businesses and community organizations.

NYCwireless is measuring the degree of interference its members are facing in their residential networks.

Technology Development

NYCwireless is rolling out its WiFiDog captive portal software among members, local businesses and community organizations. Members are invited to upgrade their access points to WiFiDog.

Policy Initiatives

NYCwireless has held ongoing meetings with local government officials, business leaders and activists on the possibility of organizing a conference on municipal wireless issues.

NYCwireless issued a Network Neutrality Broadband Challenge to Internet Service providers asking them to make a public statement supporting the network neutrality principles.

On November 18, Laura Forlano represented NYCwireless at the second meeting of the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee. NYCwireless is serving on the Rural and Under-served Communities and Advanced Technologies working groups of this committee.

On December 7, Dana Spiegel briefed the New York City Council in preparation for the 12/12 hearing on legislation to create a Broadband Advisory Committee for NYC government.

On December 12, Laura Forlano testified before the New York City Council in support of legislation to create a Broadband Advisory Committee for NYC government, which as passed into law on 12/21.

Events

NYCwireless October Meeting, Wednesday Oct. 26th!

This Wednesday, October 26th, 2005 at 7:15pm

Bway.net – in new home (finally!):
568 Broadway at Prince St, NE corner
Suite 404
New York, NY 10012

(Please note: Bway.net’s offices are still under construction — we apologize in advance for our appearance. Also, everybody will need to sign-in in the lobby.)

Agenda:

  1. Cybermoor: Community Wireless Broadband Network from Rural Northern England; presentation by Daniel Heery
  2. Laura Forlano will brief us on World Summit for a Free Information Infrastructure conference held earlier this month in London.
  3. WifiDog: Rob Kelley will distribute WifiDogs to anyone who brings us a Linksys WRT54G — version 4 or earlier — (please let Rob know ahead of time if you’re bringing one rob at nycwireless.net)

Cybermoor: presentation by Daniel Heery, Project Manager for Cybermoor.

Cybermoor is run as a Community Co-operative and is a non-profit making community enterprise. Daniel Heery will discuss how this was accomplished. More (Moor?) details:
http://www.cybermoor.org/
http://www.seeonline2.net/broadband/CommunitySelfHelp/CaseStudies/AlstonCybermoor/