Interim Report of the Broadband Bridge to the Internet Society DC Chapter

Transcription

1 Interim Report of the Broadband Bridge to the Internet Society DC Chapter June 2011 Introduction The Broadband Bridge is a collaborative initiative of residents, community organizations, local businesses, and the city government. We are working to bridge the digital divide in our communities by facilitating the sharing of technology and skills. Our pilot initiative is to build an open community wireless mesh network in DC's Bloomingdale and Eckington neighborhoods and beyond. With ISOC-DC s help, the Broadband Bridge has taken concrete steps towards this goal by augmenting a fledgling network of mesh wireless routers hosted in private residences, small businesses, and public spaces. The Broadband Bridge has also provided neighbors without access to a computer with refurbished units and all equipment needed to access the Internet. Activities undertaken during the reporting period Since ISOC disbursed the first round of funding, the Broadband Bridge has used the funds to add five new routers to the community mesh wireless network and to provide five families with one refurbished computer each. We consolidated coverage along a five-block stretch of 1st Street NW, and received consent to install a high-powered router in a new neighborhood anchor institution, Mt. Bethel Church, which will expand the network across a major road and into a new community. The proof of concept established in Bloomingdale is seeding community wireless networks in other neighborhoods across the city. Most importantly, the Broadband Bridge established a partnership with Bread for the City, one of DC s largest service providers. Bread for the City is committed to identifying and connecting with low-income residents of the Bloomingdale/Eckington area and across the city. Broadband Bridge volunteers are not merely administering the technical components of this project. Participants presented about wireless mesh networking at the ByteBack Community Computer Day (organized by the largest computer literacy organization in the city), and tabled at the Bloomindgale Community Day and DC LEARN s Opportunities Fair. The New America Foundation s Open Technology Initiative, directed by ISOC DC member Sascha Meinrath and a partner in the Broadband Bridge, convened a documentation and code sprint summit featuring leading international open source developers for the Commotion project on June 2-3 at its DC office. The open source code that the Commotion project produces will include enhancements that will be committed upstream to the code base of OpenWRT and OLSRd, key firmware that powers mesh wireless routers in the Broadband Bridge network and around the world. 1

2 The work of the Broadband Bridge was also the subject of a video blog by ISOC DC member David Vyorst and a DC City Paper article by Lydia DePillis. Broadband Bridge members from two supporting organizations attended the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, where they exchanged lessons learned and ideas for the future with other community wireless projects from across the country. Broadband Bridge project member Greg Bloom from Bread for the City exhibits a network map based on the Bloomingdale neighborhood network at the Allied Media Conference 2011 community wireless session. Participants learned about the different ways that routers can talk, listen and connect to each other, and used them to tell a story about a community. Photo CC-BY-SA by Preston Rhea. The Broadband Bridge s collective capacity empowers us to capitalize on bold new opportunities in DC. The DC Office of the Chief Technology Officer received federal stimulus funds from a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program infrastructure grant to expand its government fiber network, DC-NET, and launch a municipal open-access network called DC- CAN (Community Access Network). The funds provide qualifying local non-profits with free municipal fiber installation, while the Broadband Bridge develops a strategic plan to engage these community anchor institutions to educate them about broadband and wireless mesh opportunities. This development foreshadows a new, unprecedented scale for the project. 2

3 Performance to date against the goals of the project This was a period of capacity building and internal deliberation, during which project members tabled and presented at the events previously mentioned. The timelines we set forth in the grant application have been met in some places, exceeded in others, and adjusted otherwise. Following is the timeline according to the grant application, and status of each milestone: Milestone Goal date Status Offer presentations at community meetings and feedback. Canvass the neighborhood to determine needs, demand and provide information Complete Phase 1 wireless network that covers the main commercial arteries in Bloomingdale and Eckington. Complete distribution of donated personal computers. Train recipients of personal computers. Hold at least one Techno Rodeo where attendees can enrich their online skills. October 2010 October 2010 November 2010 November January 2011 January May 2011 January / February 2011 COMPLETED: This has been ongoing, and continues. COMPLETED: This has been ongoing, and continues. NEAR-COMPLETED: There is a significant network of 23 nodes, and the two major areas along the 1st Street NW corridor are one node away from being connected. COMPLETED: This is an ongoing process - see numbers section. COMPLETED: This occurs with each installation. NOT COMPLETE: We plan to hold a Discotech (a rebranded Techno Rodeo) in the fall. The broader goals of the project are free wireless Internet in Bloomingdale and Eckington, the distribution of 25 computers to families without them, and the organizing of a Discotech event for technology skill-sharing (a Discotech is a re-branded Techno Rodeo). These goals are well on their way to completion, with two sizable wireless access clouds over the major intersections in Bloomingdale along 1st St. NW. The computer rollouts continue, and planning is underway for a fall Discotech. 3

4 Outcomes & Achievements This table lists key figures about the Broadband Bridge s assets. Except for active nodes in the network, all numbers indicate assets purchased with ISOC funds. Item Value Active nodes in the network 23 Routers purchased 32 Computers purchased 12 Routers deployed 5 Computers deployed 5 Funds received from ISOC to date $4, ISOC funds spent $3, ISOC funds remaining in account $1, Below is an image of the network in Bloomingdale and Eckington, as visible on the mesh dashboard. 4

5 Lessons Learned & Disappointments From November through March, Broadband Bridge members spent the majority of their energy deliberating the organizational structure of the budding initiative. Many project members believed that the Broadband Bridge should incorporate swiftly into a legal entity. There were three reasons for this belief: Concern about liability for participants who would host open nodes that could be used for illegal activity, Anticipated need for tax-deductible donations, and Desire for the respect and recognition that comes with formal legal status. These objectives had some tension with another set of shared objectives, specifically to ensure the project remained open, accountable, and community-owned. There were concerns that incorporating with a formal board would close off the project and detach it from the needs and participation of the community, and that the establishment of an elaborate membership structure would stifle participation. The discussions stalled, and still have not been fully resolved. Instead they have been sidelined to some extent, so that the work of building the network could resume, and more voices could participate. This complication is why the grant funds were not requested until the end of March. One Computer One Child, the organization that agreed to administer the grant funds on behalf of the Broadband Bridge, could have acted unilaterally during the gridlock and pushed forward with the grant funds, but they and other project members felt it was important to re-establish trust and buy-in from the project members. The project has since rebooted with a more representative and diverse set of community members. We take many lessons from this experience, the most prominent lesson being that the needs for accountability, sustainability, open-ness, and efficiency can be in tension with each other. We still seek the proper balance, and the challenge may never be fully resolved. One lesson that some participants claim to have learned is that the most important elements of such an initiative are trust, patience, and respect. Additionally, the challenges of building the social network prove far greater than the technological challenges of building a wireless network. Project leads must be mindful to establish clear roles, achievable tasks, accessible spaces, learning opportunities, and robust internal communication. It is also difficult to narrow down lists of potential qualifying hosts to specific addresses and recipients. Another challenge is the difficulty of explaining very technical aspects of a mesh community wireless network to those affected by the digital divide. These complex concepts are often difficult to grasp, even for the Internet-savvy. Project members and community members may think that it will cost nothing to share Internet access, or that it should be very easy to put up mesh wireless routers in many homes to form a robust community network. Hosts also are concerned about having an open or unsecured network. It can be challenging to allay these 5

6 fears and build understanding. The Broadband Bridge aspires to cultivate easy-to-use literature that will enable community members and node recipients to understand the positive implications of hosting a node and how to be safe while using these shared resources. To educate themselves in methods to educate others, a few Broadband Bridge project members attended the Allied Media Conference in Detroit in late June, where they participated in discussions and learning sessions with other community wireless organizers from Detroit, Philadelphia, Urbana-Champaign and elsewhere. Activists at the conference and at the Open Technology Initiative are actively developing documentation to explain these concepts to any community member, especially those affected by the digital divide. Broadband Bridge members even installed a mesh wireless router on a roof as part of an active and growing mesh wireless network in Detroit. This knowledge and skill brings into focus the real logistical, social and technical challenges we must face for every router installed, but also excites and empowers us with the experience we need to do the job in a sustainable and equitable way for Bloomingdale and Eckington. Changes in the design of the Project and implications for future work The development of DC-CAN presents the Broadband Bridge with an opportunity and a challenge. The installation of fast municipal fiber into local non-profit anchor institutions could unleash a transformative wave of Internet access. When combined with the communitycontrolled infrastructure of mesh hardware, and the community-building framework of the Bridge project, this could point the way to a truly scalable alternative to the traditional for-profit ISP model that dominates communications access in the US. The Broadband Bridge is excited to explore ways to bring this benefit to DC s communities. However, though a limited number of free installations of DC-CAN are available to local nonprofit organizations, the cost of DC-CAN service is not provided for in the BTOP funding, and feedback from nonprofits indicates it can be even more expensive than standard commercial solutions. Furthermore, it is an immense organizing challenge to describe new services and technologies to financially risk-averse organizations. If the effort is not well-planned and sustainably engaged, it could undermine the Broadband Bridge s work in organizing local residents to expand the network and provide needed technology education. 6