"We are pleased to be inviting applications for one full-time researcher to join CIS’ new project on studying telecom and internet infrastructure policy in India. The researcher would be expected to document the regulatory and technical affordances conducive or inhibiting the proliferation of small internet service operators and community networks in India. Due to restrictions on movement, this position would be a remote one until further notice. Please read the sections below for more details about the work involved, the timeline, and the application process for this call.
Please send the following documents to gurshabad [at] cis-india.org by March 5, 2021 to apply for the researcher position:
Brief CV with relevant academic and professional information
Two samples of academic/professional (published/unpublished) writing by the applicant
A brief statement of motivation in the body of the email (maximum 400 words)
All applicants will be informed of the details of the next round(s) of decisions by mid-March."
This piece is a group reflection of a project run in Bidar, India, to set up a community mesh network facilitated by Living Labs Network and Forum, and Janastu/Servelots.
Common Room created a wiki as Covid-19 response, gathering information about vaccination in the country in the local language (available in Bahasi Indonesian): http://s.id/infowikisehat
The Brazilian feminist org MariaLab launched two guides on feminist infrastructures, one focused on community networks and the other on servers. The publications reflect the content of courses promoted by MariaLab for women in Brazil and seek to share knowledge with more women (available in Portuguese):
Mike Jensen from APC speaks as a panellist in a webinar: “Catching Technological Waves: Innovation with Equity, the Role of Civil Activism” on Thursday, April 08, 2021”
where there is the launch of the “UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2021: The role of civil activism”
See his presentation at 1:14 -
Mike speaks about communities interest to self-provisioning of connectivity where they have given up waiting for affordable broadband to arrive in their rural or remote areas. He also speak to the need for affordable devices being built by open source communities such as the open hardware LibreRouter and how there is an explorations of how to take such devices to economies of scale.
This edition of Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) seeks to understand the constructive role that technology can play in confronting the crises. It disrupts the normative understanding of technology being an easy panacea to the planet’s environmental challenges and suggests that a nuanced and contextual use of technology is necessary for real sustainability to be achieved.
This thematic report highlights community networks as a people- and environment-centred approach to connectivity:
ISOC just published a piece highlighting the work of the Digital Empowerment Foundation in India, including how they are building CNs (150 of them and counting!) and training people in the country.
