[Commotion-discuss] A Business Model for Neighborhood Wireless

[Matt Richardson]

This is a long story, but I am putting out this outline of a business model
for community wireless in the hopes that we can actually implement this
somewhere at a scale, and replicate the model to really start making access
to global information an inherent right of all people.

I have been working on this for a while, and have not published it until
this point. But the model has come to a theoretical point where it won't
move without more help or more information. Thanks to all that have helped
on this: Nitin, my Milwaukee geek friends, and Georgia, Greta and Andy from
OTI

START!
I followed a Human-Centered Design process to figure out the details and
cost-recovery opportunity in response to a problem I found in my other
community work: Why do close to *50% of families* in Milwaukee have
computers/phones but *don't have access to the Internet*? Turns out some
families have to choose between food and Internet, so they turn it on and
off or just leave it off.

So I wanted to develop a model that created opportunity but wouldn't be
completely beholden to the whims of a single funding source or shut down by
politics. That means a self-sustaining cost-recovery model. So I got a few
folks together and we did a pilot in Milwaukee. I am proud to say that the
antennae has survived an entire summer and winter thanks to planning
efforts with the OTI technical staff. :)

Here it goes.

DETAILS!
*Position Statement: The best way to empower people is by making sure they
have the information they need and the know-how to use it to improve the
lives of their family and neighbors.*

*This is a validated model with a pilot in place, so we already have lots
of feedback that shows this can work and what is needed to make it work.*

TREND
In Milwaukee, many families struggle to get access to information that can
keep them informed. In addition, many families in the Milwaukee area have
access to technology but not regular access to local information and the
Internet.

PROBLEM
Lack of regular, affordable access to information and Internet technology
creates a huge digital divide for struggling families. This puts their
children at a disadvantage in an economy where technical education is key.
In addition, lack of regular access to updated information on the Internet
does not allow residents to take control of their block and neighborhoods,
which would be more possible to organize using technical tools.

SOLUTION
Provide neighborhood-level information technology infrastructure that
connects residents to the Internet and each another and gives them a
private information portal to organize. Support this infrastructure by
teaching neighborhood teens and adults to support those systems through a
training and internship program that provides technical training.

The icing on the cake is to incorporate a cost-recovery model that allows
the program to flourish without demanding ongoing operational money from
local and national foundations.

WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL IMPACT
With regular access to the Internet, families can save money. The
neighborhood information portal not only allows local community activists
to better organize people to increase public safety, it allows them to more
easily distribute information that helps residents be safer and smarter
about economic, political and social challenges in their neighborhood.

Training local residents to support their neighbors not only helps build
community, it provides essential technical training to areas where those
programs are not readily available.

HOW IT WORKS
We implement a neighborhood portal (using an open-source version of
nextdoor.com called Anahita) to build neighborhood level information
portals. These portals are private and only accessible to local residents
who have a login, allowing them to discuss public safety concerns without
fear of monitoring or scrutiny.

As many households lack regular access to the Internet but have computers
and mobile phones, we would place a wireless mesh network in the
neighborhood using the open-source Commotion platform. A local community
partner would be our access point to the Internet.

To help support and steward the technology, we will roll out a training and
internship program with our neighborhood community partners to train
neighborhood residents to be the Level 1 support team for the mesh and
information portal. In neighborhoods with block watch programs, we work
with those local block watch captains to populate and promote information
on the portal.

FINANCIAL NUMBERS
Here is a link to the proforma. It basically shows that this kind of effort
can sustain its cost, but can't afford to sustain the administrative cost
of someone to run the whole thing. That means (to me) we need to partner
with an organization which has that kind of people power (or wants it).
They provide the administrative persons, the model makes sure there is no
financial drain on the parent organization. My numbers are thought out, but
maybe not as easy to decipher, so please ask questions.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjfFZOKkzR4wdE9rcFFnN2VLenFyazFPYXByM2RrX2c&usp=sharing
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