Community networks on the web

Critical civil society organizations fight inequality, protect the public, and partner with the public sector to serve its citizens. In the era of ubiquitous technology, it’s paramount that civil society also work to address societal issues, as they converge with the digital world. Building capacity at the intersection of technology and society will help ensure the relevance and sustainability of these institutions.

Nupef has done several interviews to community members from the community networks they support: https://nupef.org.br/taxonomy/term/6

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The Internet Society held a session on How Internet Access Can Preserve Native Cultures.

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How the Decentralized Web Camp managed to build a mesh for 450 attendants.

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Understanding community networks through comics
https://www.apc.org/en/pubs/understanding-community-networks-through-comics

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Connecting Isolated Communities: Quantitative Evidence on the Adoption of Community Cellular Networks in the Philippines, the work undertaken by the University of the Philipines and the University of Washington.

WebRecorder has released their desktop version, webrecorder-desktop, that greatly enhances the usability.
With WebRecorder you can take a cache a browsing session and bring it with you, so not only you but all your Community Network can make use of it.

Brazil acknowledges community networks as viable option for connectivity

When telecommunications services are available in remote areas, the cost is often exorbitant, or the quality of the internet is poor. As such, when Brazil’s telecommunications regulatory body, Anatel, announced community networks as a viable option for internet service in the country on 15 January 2020, it meant that there was finally a regulated third option for Brazilians to reach connectivity. Read more on Brazilian interviews on their feedback about the new regulation:

https://www.apc.org/en/node/36197/

Article in Portuguese about Community Networks, partnered with Nupef in Penalva and Marrecas, Brazil titled ‘INTERNET DAS PESSOAS: Como excluídos digitais brasileiros cansaram de esperar e criaram a própria rede’
by HELTON SIMÕES GOMES

https://www.uol.com.br/tilt/reportagens-especiais/uma-internet-para-chamar-de-nossa/index.htm#internet-das-pessoas

Asia CN funding from ISIF Asia.
https://isif.asia/2020-netops/

Internet Society Postel Service Award to outstanding contributions to the development of the internet.

UNHCR Innovation Service has just published as part of our Connectivity for Refugees work – “Community-led Connectivity”, which looks at the application of community-network approaches in refugee / forced displacement settings. The report was authored by the Association of Progressive Communications, who have been engaging with community organisations delivering community networks around the globe, and has been reviewed by the Web Foundation and ISOC.

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MetaMesh is working with Carnegie Mellon University to aid remote learning.
https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2020/may/meta-mesh.html

Junto con @rroca, cofundador de guifi.net, hablan sobre los procesos y aprendizajes sobre las redes comunitarias de internet.

Grants for Open Source projects, which Community Networks could run.

Nic Bidwell writes on community networks research she conducted with APC in 2018 where she shares her observations and specifically recommends a re-think of the way activists and technologists think of what is emphasised as value within community networks:
http://peerproduction.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bidwell_Tragedies-in-Translation-Fostering-Community-Networks-in-the-Global-South.pdf

The COVID-19 Response Statement from the G20 Virtual Ministerial Meeting on April 30, 2020 mentions community networks as one of the means to expand connectivity “Furthermore, digital capacities should be expanded, in particular by increasing broadband connectivity using fixed, mobile, and satellite technologies and by exploring non-traditional means of connectivity, such as community networks.”

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The ITU has launched a new study paper on broadband and connectivity solutions for rural and remote areas where it recommends regulators, among other things to “Ease regulatory requirements for community network operators.”

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