[wsfii-discuss] Official Press Release - Booksprint

Fri Jan 27 10:37:52 UTC 2006

London, England-- Imagine trying to piece together a wireless network
with no manuals, sporadic and slow access to the Internet, inadequate
tools, a shortage of supplies, and in the most inclement weather. The
authors of a recently published book, "Wireless Networking in the
Developing World" don't need to imagine.  They have been doing so for
years.

In almost every village, town, or city in the developing world,
there are people who can build just about anything.  With the right
know-how, this can include wireless networks that connect their
community to the Internet. The book addresses what Rob Flickenger,
the book's editor and lead author, calls a chicken-and-egg problem:
"While much information about building wireless networks can be found
on-line, that presents a problem for people in areas with little or
no connectivity", said Flickenger from his workshop in Seattle. The
book covers topics from basic radio physics and network design to
equipment and troubleshooting. It is intended to be a comprehensive
resource for technologists in the developing world, providing the
critical information that they need to build networks.  This includes
specific examples, diagrams and calculations, which are intended to
help building wireless networks without requiring access to the
Internet.

In the developing world, one book can often be a library, and to a
techie this book may well be a bible. Access to books is difficult
where there are few libraries or book stores, and there is often
little money to pay for them. "Our book will be released under a
Creative Commons license, so everybody can copy and distribute it
free of charge. That doesn't mean it is a 'cheap' book. I think it is
a great book," stated Corinna 'Elektra' Aichele, one of the books co-
authors who was recently installing wireless networks in Bangladesh.

The book has been released under a Creative Commons license, meaning
that it is free to download, print and modify, even for a profit, as
long as proper credit is given and any modifications or copies made
are shared under the same terms. For Flickenger, who has already
published several successful books, publishing a book for free has
been an interesting endeavor. He explains, "the Book Sprint team felt
that the need for a freely available collection of practical
information greatly outweighed any short term profit."

For the authors, all of whom spend their time building networks in
the developing world, their pay-back will be having a resource to
hand to their beneficiaries. "I wasn't paid and I don't expect to
earn money with it, though that would be nice," stated Elektra.

The authors, all experts in the field of wireless community
networking, gathered in London for a "Book Sprint" last October. The
book sprint was the brain-child of Tomas Krag, one of the book's
authors, and was to be the kickstart of a 3-month effort culminating
in a finished book. The trans-continental team spent a week in the
aging Lime House Town Hall near the Thames for a week, fleshing out
the details of the book while sitting around a mix of old tables,
powering their notebooks over yards of extension cords and with
stacks of power adapters.  Flickenger explains, "the idea was to get
a hand picked, tightly focused team of experts together and
aggressively work on a book project." The team wrote, edited, and
have now released the 250 page manual in only three months. Though he
admits it was difficult to motivate a team who was not being paid,
especially over the holidays, Flickenger's quiet persistence prevailed.

The authors also hope that by releasing the book into the "Creative
Commons" that it can be improved, expanded, corrected and translated.
Efforts are underway to translate the book into other languages and
to provide it to those who need it most, the 5 to 6 billion who don't
yet have access to the Internet today.

The book is available in PDF form and for sale in print at the
book's website: http://wndw.net/

Ian Howard, co-Author, Limehouse BookSprint Team

For more information:

Web site: http://wndw.net/

Canada: Ian Howard <ihoward at adaptic.ca>  +1 647 722 5629 x1
Denmark: Tomas Krag  <t at wire.less.dk> +45 27115960
Germany: Corinna 'Elektra' Aichele <onelektra at gmx.net> +49-30-220 192 77
      Sebastian Büttrich <sebastian at wire.less.dk> +45 27 11 93 91
Italy: Marco Zennaro <mzennaro at ictp.it> +39 040 2240 406
United States: Rob Flickenger <rob at nocat.net> +1 206 202-3230