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

## Read

- [x] benhylau
- [x] ushnish
- [X] tim
- [x] 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