In August 2004, over two hundred technology experts, policy analysts, university researchers, and on-the-ground specialists deploying state-of-the-art community broadband projects came together to discuss technology, policy and organizing issues as well as the practical solutions to problems facing community broadband. In addition to addressing best practices for both technologies, community organizing, and innovative business models, the National Summit for Community Wireless Networks supported the critical alliance between technologists, national policy advocates, and the communities and organizations implementing wireless networks around the country. Participatory meetings and workshops helped the leaders of community broadband initiatives build a strategic plan for expanding the deployment of networks and lobbying the federal government to create policies that expand broadband access, open more unlicensed spectrum, and break the duopoly market power of cable and DSL that stifles economic growth and social opportunity through technology.

The first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks was a seminal event that helped launch what we now call the Community Broadband Movement. It was a timely prelude to the explosion in technological development, local implementation, and policy debates over the future of broadband.

Since this initial gathering, community wireless networking has become a national phenomenon. Over 300 communities around the country are planning or building local networks. Headlines over flagship projects in Philadelphia and San Francisco are backed up by a hundred success stories in rural America. City planners and consumer advocates have linked forces with high tech companies and ISPs. The market for community broadband solutions has grown exponentially. Recent market analysis expects over $750,000,000 to be spent on new municipal wireless networks over just the next three years. Including community fiber and hybrid systems, this is a multi-billion dollar market. It is generating enormous economic growth, challenging the market control of incumbents, and bridging the digital divide through competition and entrepreneurial innovation.

The more successful community wireless technologies become, the more policy challenges we face:

  • The Cable and DSL duopoly (which controls 98% of the broadband market) is lobbying to make municipal networking illegal (spending over $71 million on state lobbying in just the last year). Cutting through the scare tactics, hype, and misinformation has become both increasingly important and an effort needing input from a coalition of publi service supporters.
  • Congress and the FCC have not opened up the public airwaves for more and better wireless broadband solutions.
  • Our elected representatives are still largely unaware of the depth of our technological problems, our lack of global competitiveness, and the dangers of information inequality in the Information Age.
  • Worse yet, the FCC has eliminated the bedrock communications policy of open access and the Congress now stands at the brink of blithely rejecting network neutrality protections -- the last defenses that keep the Internet open and free from discrimination against content, applications, and new devices.

We stand at a paradigm shift in technology policy that demands a groundswell of public support to guide our leaders toward the right decisions. We need a national coalition of technology experts, community leaders, policy advocates, and innovative businesses. With this goal in mind, the 2nd National Summit for Community Wireless Networks provides:

  • A public venue for frank and honest assessment, discussion, and debate over the technology and policy sponsored not by vendors or special interests, but non-profit organizations;
  • Collaborative meeting space for stakeholders to share information, develop an agenda for further research, and solidify the leadership of the community broadband coalition;
  • Grassroots event for everyone from wireless neophytes to seasoned veterans to learn about ongoing projects, new technologies, and success stories;
  • Forum to crystallize a public message that rallies broad support for an open Internet and universal, affordable broadband access;
  • Strategy meetings for advocates to share tactics to both defend the gains made over the past year and expand the social benefits Community Internet projects offer;
  • Lobby day for wireless engineers to visit the FCC, local project managers to visit Members of Congress, and advocates to publicize the campaign to bridge the digital divide and keep the Internet open.

Summit organizers expect attendance to be several hundred strong. Lindenwood University has generously offered to host the 2nd National Summit for Community Wireless Networks and has donated the use of a building large enough for this weekend event. Yet an event of this scope still needs sufficient financial support to be successful. Most conferences rely on corporate donations for this support. However, Summit organizers are loathe to engage in the “money for access” quid pro quo that undermines the independence of many of these types of events. Instead, a coalition of public interest organizations is being approached to help fund this Summit. If our goal is to create broadband networks whose first priority is supporting the public interest, then we must create an environment conducive to honest discussion can take place and opportunities to build these infrastructures can flourish.

This is a critical opportunity to catalyze the community broadband movement and create tangible goals in technology, policy, and public education.

The Big Picture

The National Summit for Community Wireless Networks distinguishes itself from typical technical and academic conferences by engaging all participants in an ongoing dialogue that encourages a strategic approach to community wireless network development and spectrum policy reform. Panelists will not simply present their own work and opinions -- they will also serve as facilitators of a process that records lessons learned and produces a comprehensive "to-do list" of action items for the coming months and years. While three days may not be long enough to develop a truly comprehensive strategic plan that everyone can agree to follow, this Summit represents a significant opportunity for thinkers, developers, and stakeholders to produce substantial recommendations for the future success of community wireless networks. The Summit is, in essence, a gathering of leaders in the field and an opportunity to shape the future of this movement. Read more background on the 2006 Summit here.

How It Works

Each discussion session includes a facilitator who will be responsible for managing the interaction between the panelists and other participants in the room. Panelists will be given adequate time to present their experiences and recommendations, and the audience will be encouraged to engage the panelists in dialogue. Panelists will also be encouraged to interact directly with each other. Questions will be asked, answers may or may not be provided, and all the while, the facilitator will be recording good ideas, lessons learned, questions to be considered, and things to do. Near the end of each session, the facilitator will share what has been recorded so far, and all participants will assist in approving or modifying the list. Think of this as a brainstorming session -- nothing should be taken off the lists, but corrections and clarifications to existing items may be allowed and new ideas can be added. This collection of ideas and recommendations will be considered again, along with the collections produced in other sessions, during Sunday's "Strategizing/Next Steps" plenary session.

The Strategizing & Next Steps session will allow for the prioritization and consolidation of recommendations and for the beginning of the production of a document or series of documents that records, as much as possible, the relevant collective knowledge and consensus of Summit participants. The resulting document(s) will be made available to all participants under a Creative Commons license and as a Wiki-type CMS to allow ongoing modification.