[CWN-Summit] Text of "Building an International Coalition on Progressive Use of the Airwaves" Document:

[Sascha Meinrath]

Here's the text of the document I'll be handing out in Denmark.

--Sascha

***

Building an International Coalition on Progressive Use of the Airwaves:

A call for partners.

Draft for Circulation September 3, 2004*

Background:
Participants at the 2004 U.S. National Summit for Community Wireless 
Networks on August 20-22 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois recognized the need 
to build a coalition on progressive use of the airwaves.  The Freifunk 
convention on September 3-5 in Djursland, Denmark presents an opportunity 
to expand this group and build an international coalition on this issue 
that focuses on community wireless groups around the globe and, 
importantly, to numerous groups in the developing world.  In order to 
ensure the progressive use of the airwaves around the world, the 
participation of as many community wireless organizations as possible is 
necessary.  This strategy may increase the potential to gain group funding 
for such an initiative based around a few hub organizations.  In addition, 
it should be noted that while community wireless groups will serve as the 
core of the coalition, it is imperative that the international coalition 
conduct outreach and secure the support of groups working on media reform, 
low-power FM, public access TV as well as non-governmental organizations 
involved in a wide range of activities not necessarily related to media, 
communications and technology.

Research Needs:
There are two main types of research that are needed in order to build the 
case for progressive use of the airwaves internationally:

Technical Research

Spectrum incumbents have used claims about technical interference as a 
successful strategy to limit the public.s use of the airwaves.  Similar to 
low-power FM, the fight for public access to the airwaves is couched in 
arcane technical arguments that are difficult for advocates, decision 
makers, and the public to follow.  Thus, there is a vital need for a 
rigorous, large-scale study to demonstrate how much spectrum can be 
unlicensed and used progressively in the public interest without causing 
interference problems.  Such a study will be difficult for incumbents to 
refute.

Social Research

Public policy advocates for the progressive use of the airwaves cannot 
make the case without rigorous, well-documented case studies about how 
community wireless groups are using unlicensed spectrum to promote key 
social benefits such as education, job creation and healthcare. 
Therefore, social research is needed to evaluate community wireless 
projects and demonstrate.both qualitatively and quantitatively.the value 
of these projects to society as a whole.  First and foremost, a literature 
review documenting the experiences of previous groups working on media 
reform, low-power FM, public access TV and other related topics is 
required to ensure that new research strives to identify and fill gaps in 
understanding.  Second, research methods including surveys, in-depth 
interviews and case studies should be employed to document the successes 
and failures of community wireless organizations.  Such research is also 
necessary to generate good will and funding for community wireless 
organizations.

Contact Information for Interested Partners:

 	Laura Forlano, New York City Wireless, laura at nycwireless.net
 	Sascha Meinrath, Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network 
(CUWiN), sascha at cuwireless.net


*Thanks to Dharma Dailey (Prometheus Radio Networks) for drafting an 
earlier version of this statement.

-- 
Sascha Meinrath
Project Manager & Pres.  *  Project Coordinator  *  Project Manager
Acorn Worker Collective *** CU Wireless Network *** Eggplant Active Media
www.acorncollective.com  *  www.cuwireless.net   *  www.eggplantmedia.com