The wireless roadshow

Wireless networking - an accepted option

Sebastian Biittrich Founder and Partner wire.less.dk / Information Denmark sebastian@less.dk

"The wireless roadshow aims at supporting civil society partners in building their connectivity in license-exempt spectrum, based on open technology and open knowledge."

Three simple examples

To illustrate the uses of 802.11 technology, here are three simple cases familiar to many development scenarios:

•   An Internet connection exists in one central place (a larger city maybe), but its neighbours (e.g. the next towns, schools, institutes) cannot benefit from it. Or, such a central connection is too expensive for one subscriber alone, but would be possible to finance if only 10, 20 or 100 partners could share it. Here, wireless networks can close the gaps and connect locations – without running costs for the actual local connectivity and traffic.

•   There is an office in location A and one in location B – and they need to talk, but telephone connections are either expensive, unstable or both.

Wireless point-to-point links can be established at low cost (one time setup) with no further traffic charges, up to distances of 15, 30, or even 70 km.

Voice-over-IP allow you to make phone calls over such a connection, free of any charge: Wireless connectivity at its best, not necessarily with a connection to the Internet.

•   Temporary connectivity might be needed, but hard to come by at reasonable prices, in disaster situations or just for special events, videoconferences to remote places, etc. - 802.11 wireless offers a valuable alternative in these scenarios.

What does the wireless roadshow add?

The wireless roadshow adds some specific angles to wireless networking:

•   Our target partner is the civil society – NGOs from the technical or non-technical field, human rights organizations, schools, libraries etc

•   We focus on free software / open source (sometimes tagged FLOSS). The open approach includes all parts of our project, from hardware to documentation: open technology.

•   We work with community models of network building – based on participation, distributed ownership and enthusiasm.

•   We explore new possibilities in wireless networking, like mesh networking, innovative use of voice-over-IP telephony, and synergetic combinations between networking and e.g. power supply installations.

While many technology-centric organisations have adopted and embraced wireless networking, very often the potential at hand is not yet seen by the broader civil society.

Connectivity barriers are often accepted as impossible to overcome, when in fact new technologies allow for more realistically priced connections.

Setting focus on open technology and digital independence is an important aspect of our work. While a certain technology
(like 802.11 wireless) might offer implicit advantages, the pure shift from one standard to the other, from cable to radio waves, will not make the difference, unless combined with new ways of looking at business and non-business paradigms. Single point dependencies and inappropriate structures would still be the result, unless we look towards new approaches, sustainability and participatory models.

Open technology and free software is best characterized by the ‘four freedoms’:

•   The freedom to run the program [or network], for any purpose.

•   The freedom to study how the program [or network] works, and adapt it to your needs.

•   The freedom to redistribute copies [of software and specifications] so you can help your neighbour.

•   The freedom to improve the program [or network design], and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

While there is an impressive knowledge base in the global
free and open source software community, this support base tends to be less accessible for the non-technology customer (e.g. a human rights NGO) than typical corporate support and post-sales
structures.

While vendors of proprietary software and hardware are capable of investing millions of dollars in marketing, education and lobbying initiatives, targeted at governments as well as development agencies, so far the free software community is clearly lacking in such financial power and incentives. Open source training camps like Tactical Technology’s Summer Source and Africa Source are important steps here, as is the work being done by free software organisations around the world, such as the Free Software Foundation.

There is an implicit promise of low cost in the use of free and open technology, and while low cost approaches are of course highly relevant and encouraged, it is important to keep a realistic eye on the stability requirements of network infrastructure, and on total cost of ownership.

The strength of free software might be most visible for low cost systems, but it is by no means limited to these – on the contrary, some of the most mission critical and expensive systems rely on it. We work with GNU/Linux based systems and other free software -not ignoring market realities and pragmatic needs, but opening new and free paths to compatibility. We look at the potential of mesh networking, use photovoltaic/solar and other renewable energy forms, and make voice-over-wireless-IP phone calls home from time to time... :)

How does the wireless roadshow work?

 The wireless roadshow offers expert help and enthusiastic stimulation – from creating awareness over capacity building to hands-on training. We would like to point out the possibilities and opportunities offered by wireless community approaches rather than import predetermined solutions that may or may not fit the purpose. The demands and vital interests of the local partners are the decisive factor.

Wherever it makes sense, practical workshops will be held, in which demonstration modules are built, configured and documented. These hopefully can become starting points for self-sustained networking activities, supported by the open documentation and knowledge base that the roadshow produces along its way.

And last but not the least, an important thing to remember:  The frequency bands used by 802.11 are free in principle, or, license-exempt following the recommendation of the ITU. But, local regulation and licensing realities may be different and must be taken into account. Therefore, a key part of the wireless roadshow work is policy surveys and frequency mapping.

First step

The wireless roadshow is a new initiative, starting in April 2004. The first stop will be in autumn 2004, very likely to be in West Africa and/or Central and South Asia. The project has received first round funding from the Open Society Institute and is actively seeking partners and project opportunities. People and organizations with an interest in our activities and the approach we stand for are encouraged to contact us.

Motivations and Skepticism

The question of the value of global connectivity is subject to many relevant discussions, especially when these values are balanced against other goods and achievements (like food, water, medicine). But in order to take part in a discussion and to make sure your viewpoints get heard, you first need to be connected to your discussion partner. And today, the Internet is without doubt one of the most important connection channels.

The (self-) educational aspects of Internet connectivity are central in our view. While no technology, wired or unwired, can ever promise ‘quantum leaps into the future’, it can stimulate and support education and initiative, creating a self-accelerating process: once connected to a global knowledge base, the learning and sharing process never has to end.

Team Backgrounds

The wireless roadshow is a joint project of UK-based non-profit Informal - a research and implementation group for collaborative research with a focus on social development and technology – and the Danish wireless expert team wire.less.dk. The backgrounds of the core team cover a wide and diverse range – spanning from many years of professional experience in the web consultancy world to experience in ICT volunteering for Geekcorps.org, UN volunteers, and many informal projects; from quantum physics and radio frequency spectroscopy to internet programming and all aspects of web media; and with a deep involvement in European community networking initiatives (e.g. Consume.net, freifunk.net) and gatherings (BerLon, the Copenhagen Interpolation, the Freifunk Summer Conventions).<

References

•     Consume, UK community network project:
http://www.consume.net

•     DakNet and First Mile Solutions in Cambodia:
http://www.firstmilesolutions.com/

•     Free Software Foundation: http://www.fsf.org

•     Freifunk, german community network project:
http://www.freifunk.net

•     Geekcorps, ICT volunteering: http://geekcorps.org

•     IDN and the Sava, Ghana: http://www.idngh.com/

•     Informal: http://informal.org.uk

•     Kofi Annan’s IT challenge to Silicon Valley, November 5, 2002: http://news.com.com/2010-1069-964507.html

•     NepalWireless: http://NepalWireless.net

•     Open Society Institute: http://soros.org/

•     Rebel Net /  The Peoples network in Indonesia:
http://sandbox.bellanet.org/~onno/some-articles/ppt-rebelnet-arch-04-2003.ppt

•     Satellife and WideRay in Uganda: http://www.healthnet.org/

•     SchoolNet Namibia: http://www.schoolnet.na/

•          TacticalTechnology, Africa Source, NGO-in-a-box and more: http://www.tacticaltech.org/

•     The Jhai Foundation’s Remote IT Village Project in Laos:
http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remoteIT.html

•     wire.less.dk, denmark: http://wire.less.dk