[wsfii-discuss] Field Notes on Nepal Wireless Networking Project

[mahabir at himanchal.org]

Hello Allison and Sascha and all;

I am too busy with several project for more than two months. Therefore I
will not be able to write the Field Notes you are looking for. I have
written a case study report for World Bank on Nepal Wireless Networking
Project. If you would like to read it, please send me your personal
e-mail. I will send that report. You can write the field note by yourself
if you like.

I am writing it because I can't send the big file to this discussion list.
The moderator will not approve for that. I tried it and the moderator
won't allow to send big file.

Thanks.

Mahabir

> Hi everyone,
>
> Sascha Meinrath from CuWin and I are putting together a special issue of
> the
> Journal of Community Informatics (
> http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej)
> on Community Wi-Fi.  We are especially looking for 500 to 1000 word "Field
> Notes" that describe community Wi-Fi projects in different contexts. I
> hope
> people on this list will contribute to help share their projects with a
> wider audience, and exchange best practices.  We would love to see short
> summaries by around April 15 and final writing by June 1. More details
> below.
>
> Alison Powell
> Île Sans Fil, Montreal
>
> _________
>
> Wireless Networking and Social Justice: CALL FOR PAPERS - Journal of
> Community Informatics.
>
> New wireless networking breakthroughs have inspired communities to build
> their own communications infrastructures and develop innovative
> applications
> and services. Around the world, these projects have developed,
> appropriated,
> and integrated emerging wireless technologies to provide access to local
> media, promote digital inclusion, solve communication problems, and
> promote
> civic engagement. In India community-based wireless projects are
> "leapfrogging" over expensive wired communication infrastructure. In the
> United States, community wireless networking (CWN) projects have
> demonstrated that local telecommunications networks can be produced and
> provisioned inexpensively at the local level. These success stories are
> contributing to the global explosion in the number of municipal WiFi
> projects and are having important impacts on the social fabric of civil
> society.
>
> Yet these local projects are rarely discussed in their wider context. This
> special issue of the Journal of Community Informatics
> (http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej) takes a global perspective on
> Community Wireless projects, aiming to broaden our understanding of the
> technologies, organizational structures, and policy implications of
> projects
> developed by communities around the world. This issue assembles
> reflections,
> works in progress, and analysis of CWN projects. In addition to academic
> articles that describe and analyze the political and social implications
> of
> community wireless, we welcome "Field Notes" from practitioners that
> introduce local projects to a new and interested audience.
>
> This special issue broadens the discussion of Community Wireless in two
> ways: first, by opening a space to exchange "best practices" and
> "instructive failures" between practitioners; and, second, by soliciting
> academic articles that empirically or theoretically discuss the cultural,
> social, economic, and policy impacts of Community Wireless projects.
> Academic discussion of these projects has evolved over the past several
> years, along with the projects themselves, and Community Wireless
> Networking
> has arguably become accepted as a form of community networking. Yet what
> are
> the long-term impacts of community wireless projects? How do they fit into
> the wireless industry now that governments at various levels are investing
> in connectivity via WiFi? What is the relationship between community
> wireless networks and wireless markets in different locations? Where do
> CWNs
> contribute to the policy-making process? What are the policy decisions
> that
> effect them -- and how do policies differ?
>
> 500 word abstracts of submissions to this special issue (both academic
> papers and field notes) should be sent to joci at saschameinrath.com by April
> 15, 2007 and include the author's affiliation and contact information.
> Full
> paper submissions are due by June 1, 2007.
>
> Full Paper Details:
>
> Field notes should be between 500 and 1500 words, written for a
> non-technical audience and describing community wireless projects in
> progress.
>
> Academic papers should be no longer than 8000 words, and include a 100
> word
> abstract and a 25-word biography of the author including affiliation and
> e-mail address. They should treat a social, cultural, or economic aspect
> of
> Community Wireless Networking. The Journal of Community Informatics uses
> the
> APA reference style.
>
> Alison Powell Department of Communications Concordia University Montreal,
> Canada
>
> Sascha Meinrath Institute for Communications Research University of
> Illinois
> Urbana-Champaign, USA
>
>
>
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