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Community Networks Adapt to New Realities Under COVID: A DWeb Meetup Recap

Read

  • benhylau
  • ushnish
  • tim
  • pedro
  • yurko

Notes

  • Zenzeleni non-profit org
  • two co-operative ISPs
  • private / gov-funded -> dysfunctional, and no context (device, skill, etc.) doesn't bridge the divide
  • "low internet relevance" -> internet is itself designed largely for middle income, english speakers
  • passive vs. active user of technology
  • CNs adapt to their context
  • first legal CN in South Africa, and co-operatively owned
  • Zenzeleni non-profit seeds the orgs: technical, business & regulatory support, etc.
    • How can the governance systems and resources that we develop in this working Group become a "service" to the other entities approaching the Toronto Community Network?
  • Rural Eastern Cape: 1 USD daily, 93% unemployed, 25% of monthly income spent on telecoms
  • fiber backhaul partnered with ISP, Tik/Ubi hardware, solar panel (no reliable power)
  • access models: hotspot vouchers (pre-paid), dedicated APs (contract)
    • Can we apply these ideas creatively?
  • zero-rated many websites for health info and ed
  • emphasis contextualize information, ppl and the internet, help filter what's useful to ppl
  • "community owned business"
  • local ppl influence the content of the internet
  • "Our Stories, Our Internet"
  • pilot for local digital marketplace
  • looks at what ppl are needing right now
    • "technology for what? internet for what?"
  • ppl can take on governance, design, value (human part of the tech) but low tech literacy means development of local apps usually don't end well

Discussions

  • over time they tried different tech
  • neat idea, incubator
  • wonder which parts are owned by non-profit, which for the co-op
    • who has the exits, etc.
  • vouchers, how to make it economoical and sustainable?
  • ownership, in the co-ops
    • in canada:
      • worker co-ops: workers own it e.g. Hypha
      • consumer co-ops: e.g. MEC (former)
      • multi-stakeholder: mixed e.g. Mondragon
      • co-operative of businesses
  • like how they framed their governance like a service
    • expand what this WG can produce (e.g. "governance as a service")
  • Altermundi also has tiers of tech support (local help first, but higher levels of tech support available)
  • incubator model
    • e.g. ontario co-op association
    • if we want to be the incubator, we are a long long way from that
    • we have more in common with internation CNs, than local coops being able to support tech
  • grounded in demand, local need
    • tomesh is more supply-based, not demand-based
    • guifi seems more grounded in local need as well
    • we, at tomesh, haven't established a local need yet
    • asset based community development (ABCD)
    • aspiration to ask ourselves how to be grounded
  • they are different from a corporation, want to maximize social value
    • business, clear how to measure value
    • community-based approach, how to measure value?
      • non-profits need a mission, and make metrics on delivering on that mission
      • e.g. have X number of
      • targets we are accountable to
    • measurables, e.g. X number of users connected
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