[CWN-Summit] Blogs Be Damned,
Newsletter Article on National Community Wireless Summit
Dharma Dailey
dharma at prometheusradio.org
Mon May 1 16:50:26 CDT 2006
Here is the unedited article on the Summit that's going in the
Prometheus newsletter:
Imagine and Implement Community Wireless Summit 2006
Shows Community Wireless at a "Critical Juncture"
-by Dharma Dailey
People from far flung Community Wireless projects - Seattle to New
Orleans- San Diego to New York- joined Developers, Policy Wonks, and
Community organizers for a weekend in early April in St. Charles, MO to
kvetch, cabal, and connoiter on the future of Community Wireless.
Plugged as the National Wireless Summit, of the 200 participants there
was a strong international representation with several participants
hailing from Canada, Ghana, India and Europe. Together under one roof
strategizing for “Digital Inclusion,” the Summit was a confluence for
people who swim in the Media Reform movement and those who work in
Community Technology circles.
Noting that the Whole U.S. is in Danger of Being on the Wrong Side of
Digital Divide-our communications systems are increasingly surpassed by
country after country- the summit was awash with still even more
stories of communities taking their communication futures into their
own hands.
Wireless internet is still a rapidly growing technology. Our techie
friends are still working hard to make it more reliable, easier to use
and maintain, and more flexible for all sorts of applications and
terrains. While some developers on the ground are working on goodies
like developing better antennas, several participants are involved in
projects that promote local, site-specific content geared toward
community use such as interactive descriptions of murals and altars in
San Diego’s historic and radical Chicano Park. “WIFI Dog” is one such
tool that generated a lot of excitement in the crowd because it make it
easy to develop and maintain local content.
Sustainability - Community Wireless Moves Closer to Municipal Wireless.
Gone are the days when Community Wireless meant exclusively a bunch of
friends throwing up a network in their backyard. Much of Summit
discussion was devoted to Muni-Wireless. Cities big and small, urban
and rural areas, state-side and outside are finding that they can build
their own state-of-the-art communications systems that are “revenue
neutral”- meaning the money spent on building and maintaining their
network is made up for by what they save in better communication. The
bonus is that municipal systems can become the backbone for other
communication projects in the community. This makes muni-wireless “a
no-brainer.”
One speaker, Jonathan Baltin, gave an example of what it would cost for
Atlanta, GA to put in a muni-wireless network. It would cost
$25,000,000 for the city to hook up every citizen in Atlanta with
wireless. Today, those with internet service in Atlanta pay
$125,000,000 for it, but, Baltin says, every dollar spent locally can
roll over 7 times. So putting in muni-network is like investing
$750,000,000 in the local economy of Atlanta.
The role of community in determining their communication destiny
today, may mean building their own networks, or creating greater
accountability for corporate endeavors, or getting involved in the
development of a municipal project.
Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane FEMA
Several people who are working on or worked on communication systems
in the Gulf region post-Hurricane-were in the house. Lots of
discussion is taking place in the Wireless community on ways that a
rapid response “neighbors helping neighbors” emergency service for
community wireless could be developed that builds on the work that is
taking place and has taken place in the Gulf.
Political Action -- “a critical juncture within a critical juncture
within a critical juncture.”
In the opening plenary, Robert McChesney described his view that right
now we are at a critical juncture when radical change of communications
is possible because:
1. We are in a deep political crisis in our democracy.
2. Our media system is in a “deep severe crisis” Professional
journalism has collapsed.
3. The underlying technology of communication has changed.
A critical juncture within a critical juncture the future of the
internet.
Much on everyone’s minds is “net neutrality” - that is will the
Internet eventually be wheedled down to become something like
Television before there was cable- when those who owned the network got
to decide what the content was that went over the network.
A critical juncture within a critical juncture within a critical
juncture.
Time Warner, Cox, and the Baby Bells tried unsuccessfully to kill muni
and community wireless by getting laws passed in several states that
made it difficult or illegal for people to put the “comm” in their
communities. Now they’re changing their tune. The same companies who
tried to outlaw community wireless are bidding on municipal contracts.
Community and municipal wireless could be co-opted and enveloped by the
big guys. who will try hard to get their foot in the door and slam it
shut behind them. Long before the potential for high-quality low-cost
communication becomes within everyone’s reach, the promise of wireless
could fade away. Thus many groups within the media reform and
community technology worlds are coming together to fight aggressively
on behalf of community and municipal wireless. We activists need to
articulate exactly what we want from our communications systems
irrespective of who builds them. We need to be prepared to create
accountability to community under a variety of ownership-control
schemes. State by state campaigns are being planned right now, along
with an active plan for DC. As always, methinks the best plan of
action is getting out their and building your own damn community
network.
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