mtl3p

I never imagined that this many other people would have bought-in to this idea that wifi should be used to bring people closer together. I always saw ISF as a far-out experiment. It’s neat to see it turn into something else.

We had the ISF AGM on sunday. I didn’t put myself forward for the board this time. They’re are great people on the board and exciting times ahead for ISF. I’m excited to be part of it - but in a different role now. I’m less important in many ways and that’s wonderful - for me, but more importantly for ISF. It’s wonderful to know that ISF doesn’t need me to survive and to thrive.

Link to article.

Lancement du nouvel organisme « Le Réseau Sans Fil de la Montérégie »

C’est devant un groupe d’une quarantaine d’invités du monde municipal et communautaire que Raymond Quintal, président du Réseau Internet de Brossard, a officiellement lancé la semaine dernière le nouvel organisme à but non lucratif Montérégie Sans Fil.

Cet organisme aura pour mission de fournir aux utilisateurs d’ordinateurs portables munis d’une connexion sans fil (WiFi) un accès Internet gratuit dans les commerces et les lieux publics de la Montérégie.

Selon M. Quintal, la technologie de points d’accès WiFi peut être utilisée dans le but d’amener les gens à entrer en contact entre eux, à contribuer entre autre à briser l’isolement des personnes et à favoriser l’émergence de nouvelles communautés.

Ainsi, Montérégie Sans Fil entend utiliser ses points d’accès pour promouvoir l’interaction entre ses usagers, présenter des oeuvres artistiques originales utilisant des médiums inusités et enfin fournir de l’information qui soit pertinente localement.

Cette offre de services rejoint celles déjà fournies par plusieurs organisations au Québec telles « Île sans fil » à Montréal, « ZAP Québec » à Québec, « OG WiFi » à Ottawa-Gatineau et « Centre du Québec » à Drummondville.

Présentement trois points d’accès WiFi sont déjà opérationnels, soit le Centre communautaire George-Henri Brossard situé au 3205, boul. Rome à Brossard, le Centre communautaire Nathalie Croteau, au 2210, rue André à Brossard et la Maison Le Réveil
au 930, rue St-Jacques à Longueuil.

L’objectif est d’ajouter une vingtaine de nouveaux sites en 2007, surtout dans les cafés, les centres d’achats, les restaurants, les « hôtels de ville », les bibliothèques, les parcs, les centres pour personnes âgées, etc.

Grâce à l’équipement fourni par chaque établissement hébergeant un site d’accès WiFi et à l’expertise de l’équipe de Montérégie Sans Fil, il suffit désormais aux étudiants, aux intervenants sociaux, aux retraités, aux touristes, etc. d’avoir un ordinateur, ou tout autre appareil muni d’une connexion sans fil (WiFi), pour se brancher à Internet.

Les usagers doivent s’inscrire pour accéder au service et assurer la sécurité et l’intégrité du réseau. L’inscription étant gratuite elle peut être faite au moment de la première connexion ou en visitant le site web www.monteregiesansfil.org.

My American colleague Joshua Breitbart has a summary of the International CWN Summit written up in some gov magazine.

Sure he talked about the amazing projects from Croatia, Latin America, and the exciting developments in the US muni area. But he started off the article by talking about ISF’s exploits:

“Compared to the more professional attendees of other wireless conferences like MuniWireless and W2i, the people at the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks are a ragtag bunch. They do things like walk up to a McDonald’s drive-thru window at 2:30 in the morning impersonating a car in the hopes of scoring some late-night food.

But its folks like this that invented wireless networking and, judging by the Summit attendance, they have spread their innovation to every corner of the globe. Their gusto was on clear display at the three-day affair in Columbia, Maryland, May 18-20, but so was a sense that big challenges are on the horizon.”

Who led the charge to McDonalds after the bar when everyone else started walking back to the hotel? That’s right. ISF-ers. And I think it was our idea to trick the McDonalds’ intelligence system by pretending to be a car. Conception - 10. Execution - 2. Or vice versa.

Economics of Social Media

“The idea is to fight laziness and apathy and get people involved in building their own digital homes and identities.”

good entry via steven. His version has good excerpts, so maybe check it out before you decide to read the original post. ‘Cept I would say building thier own infrastructures, not homes or identities. Once you look at it as a problem of infrastructure, you realize the problem isn’t going to be solved with everyone having their own server. It’s about having the connections between us (bridges and roads) being free and open.

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I’ve written about this a lot. Building machines that can forget. And forgetting being a good thing as opposed to a bad thing. I saw this and then Tracey also sent it to me.

‘Outlines of a world coming into existence’: pervasive computing and the ethics of forgetting

Martin Dodge, Rob Kitchin

Received 18 February 2005; in revised form 26 July 2006; published online 9 March 2007

Abstract. In this paper we examine the potential of pervasive computing to create widespread sousveillance, which will complement surveillance, through the development of life-logs—sociospatial archives that document every action, every event, every conversation, and every material expression of an individual’s life. Reflecting on emerging technologies, life-log projects, and artistic critiques of sousveillance, we explore the potential social, political, and ethical implications of machines that never forget. We suggest, given that life-logs have the potential to convert exterior generated oligopticons to an interior panopticon, that an ethics of forgetting needs to be developed and built into the development of life-logging technologies. Rather than seeing forgetting as a weakness or a fallibility, we argue that it is an emancipatory process that will free pervasive computing from burdensome and pernicious disciplinary effects.

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PluginFreifunkWifidog Working on marrying friefunk and wifidog. Apparently it works, and has for a while, but I’ve never really heard much about them installed and used.

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La voix d’avenir du VoIP mobile
Interesting local (yulbiz) post on voip + wifi. Also there’s going to be a local wireless security event that might be interesting for some of my colleagues.

I helped out in drafting this. You can see my fingermarks on it. ;-) Before it was more centered on broadband accessibility.

I’m a co-organizer for this years summit. It hope that it means we get to have a panel related to community information ecosystems.

*** PLEASE FORWARD ***

CALL FOR PANELS — Due May 1, 2007
International Summit for Community Wireless Networks
May 18-20, 2007, Washington, DC
Register now online: http://www.cuwin.net/summit/registration

Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, hundreds of community Internet and municipal broadband projects have sprung up in the United States and around the globe. Broadband access is increasingly important to all facets of civil society, but many communities are being left out of this communications revolution. “High-speed broadband access is the electricity of the 21st century, yet many rural and poorer urban communities are
being left off the grid,” says Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, DC-based policy think-tank. “The innovators and organizers at the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks are blazing the trail to make broadband affordable and available to everyone.”

The Community Wireless Networking (CWN) movement has evolved since its beginnings in the 1990s. Although it has made impressive strides in the area of developing autonomous mesh networks, the larger success of the CWN movement has been the encouragement of citizens, small businesses, and local governments to get involved in local telecom infrastructure as important stakeholders. More than ever we are taking hands-on approaches to ensure that our communities have the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for an inclusive, dynamic and socially just future. Although there is still a focus on the “wireless”, CWN’s have served as rallying points for local movements for advocacy of the local public interest of telecom infrastructure. “Wireless networking is about far more than Internet connectivity,” states Sascha Meinrath, Summit Director. “It’s about building next-generation multi-media services for communities, fostering economic justice, and facilitating a vibrant arts and cultural scene.”

This year, Summit organizers are focused on the social and economic justice aspects of wireless technologies and the impacts of community broadband on civil societies worldwide. With this in mind, the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN) and the Center for Community Informatics (CCI) are hosting the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks from May 18-20, 2007 at Loyola College in Columbia, Maryland and are looking for panel ideas from throughout the wireless community to flesh out the Summit program.

The Summit 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. We invite your submission and participation in this year’s International Summit for Community Wireless Networks to discuss and exchange ideas on how to make universal broadband access a reality. More information is available at:
http://www.wirelesssummit.org

The Summit serves as a space were citizens, creators of technologies, businesspeople, policy advocates can gather to learn from one another and develop new ideas on how to support telecommunications infrastructures that serve the needs of communities. Please join us in Washington, DC, May 18-20, 2007. Register now at: http://www.cuwin.net/summit/registration

CALL FOR PANELS:

Interested presenters are encouraged to propose innovative panels focusing on the three themes for the Summit: technology, policy, and implementation. The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks distinguishes itself from typical technical and academic conferences by engaging all participants in an ongoing dialog that encourages a strategic approach to community wireless network development and telecommunications policy reform. Panelists will not simply present their own work and opinions — they will also serve as facilitators of a process that records lessons learned and help produce a comprehensive “to-do list” of action items for the coming months and years. While three days is not long enough to develop a truly comprehensive strategic plan, panels at the Summit represent a significant opportunity for thinkers, developers, and stakeholders to produce substantial recommendations to support the development of community wireless networks. The Summit is, in essence, a
gathering of leaders in the field and an opportunity to shape the future of this movement. Past panels can be reviewed at: http://www.cuwin.net/2006summit/2006schedule

Panel ideas will be accepted on a rolling basis and must be received no later than May 1, 2007. Please send panel proposals and questions to: summit@cuwin.net

Travel stipends are available for speakers with financial need.