International Summit for Community Wireless Networks

Notes were compiled by Rosh Sethi, Intern for the Science and Human Rights Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Panelists: Josh Robbins (Program Associate, AAAS)
Reetu Sangani (Board Member and Technical Advisor, Community
Awareness Centre – India)
John Atkinson (Director of Wireless Ghana)

The session was moderated by Josh Robbins, Program Associate for the AAAS, who began the panel by introducing the panelists. Josh, a former Peace Corps volunteer, first described his work with a new project at AAAS to determine how human rights can assist the community wireless network movement and vice versa. Next, he introduced John Atkinson, also a former peace corps volunteer, who currently directs Wireless Ghana, which is a small organization focused on bringing internet connections to rural areas in Ghana. Josh then introdcued Reetu Sangani who works with a community awareness centre in India and advocates for human rights and communication.

The panel began with Reetu Sangani who described her work in the middle Himalayan areas. She talked about the need to protect and strengthen the region’s unique, local knowledge base, which has come about as a result of the local’s need to adapt to their difficult living situation and their local religions. She also talked about the need to empower these local populations, but also use strategies based on their local knowledge base. She expressed concern that the local body of knowledge is being eroded, and that lack of documentation is to blame. Ms. Sangani also spoke about women, and the fact that they retain most of the local knowledge. They are often times illiterate, however, and Ms. Sangani described the need for more visual and auditory modes of communication. She also pointed out that though many people are illiterate, this does not mean they are uneducated. As a result, she pointed out that it is still necessary for them to be informed and involved. She also spoke about the challenges she has faced. Her greatest one has been trying to prevent global knowledge from overcoming local knowledge. Ms. Sangani then went on to describe how she has tried to use ICT to not only bring in outside knowledge, but also preserve the locals’ confidence in their own knowledge system. She also spoke about her efforts to lay down a community managed infrastructure of technology. She described how the locals control the hub and can determine what content is distributed to local access points. Finally, Ms. Sangani spoke about her efforts to use ICT to protect people’s rights including their right to participate in the governing process and right to freedom of expression.

Next, John Atkinson gave a brief presentation on his work in eastern Ghana. He described his efforts to bring internet to local areas in Ghana through his company “Wireless Ghana.” He described how he has been using WiFi to share internet between areas that do not have telephone lines. He also described how he was able to use old Dell Optiplex machines and convert them into routers using software developed by Sasha. He also optimized internet browsing software such as Firefox to minize the amount of bandwidth used. His first customer was a school, and he now serves a variety of different customers including internet café’s, churches and other schools. He currently has 6 networks in Ghana with 10 to 14 nodes each. John also described how the focus of his work is to support community networks that are managed locally. He has found that projects that have strong community leaders are able to sustain the network and its required upkeep.

Question and Answer Session:

1) What obstacles has John faced in setting up his wireless networks?

John answered by describing how he has had some issues with shipping equipment and bringing money in and out of Ghana. He described how he has faced some problems with Ghanaian customs, but avoids this by sending equipment through friends. He acknowledged that as the project gets bigger, he will need to eventually face customs. He also spoke about the untapped potential for intranets to be created amongst the nodes for internal community communication. He acknowledged that most of the time internet is the motivating force behind the creation of CWNs, not creating an internal communication network.

2) How sustainable are these wireless networks created in countries like Ghana?

John answered this question by explaining how the cost of internet is split amongst everyone, and sharing is a major driving factor. He acknowledged that the equipment being used is not the most up-to-date or reliable. Reetu also added that she has been using used computers that were provided for free, and also pointed out that local governing bodies have their own funds that can be used to invest in technology in the long term.

3) An audience member mentioned how in Senegal many networks are created in remote areas where information is simply cached on computers, and provides users with the experience of being on the web even when computers were not always “online.”

To this comment, John replied that it was definitely something that could also be done in Ghana, but was not being taken up currently.

4) A concern was brought up by one audience member over the use of electricity and access to electricity at all times.

Both Reetu and John acknowledged that the unreliable nature of electricity in their respective countries poses a real problem. John also showed pictures of a device he created in which car batteries were used to power an access point in the event of a power outage.

5) John, how big is your community wireless network in eastern Ghana?

John answered by describing how it is approximately 14km long, but is only linear and only acts as a basic backbone that replaces what would otherwise be a telephone line.

6) Literacy and access to knowledge are important issues. What are the next steps one might take to distribute non-text based knowledge?

Reetu spoke about the need for human rights groups to be able to learn about what local communities are doing. Though Reetu did not know of any examples of non-text based technology devices, she mentioned that it was important to believe that other modes of communication are possible. John also added that there are ways to distribute video and audio content, but that they have not been popularized yet.

7) What are some ways in which success can be achieved in the future, and why have some things failed in setting up these wireless communities?

John answered this question by describing his experience with success. He mentioned how the wireless communities that succeed are those that have “local champions.” Josh described how it is necessary for a local leader to be on top of a CWN.

8) What are some barriers that you face and what support do you get, if any?

John began by describing how he has had very little government interference in terms of actually providing internet and creating networks. His only obstacles have been with customs agents. Reetu described how there is very little financial support, and that until recently, NGO’s were not allowed to own CWNs in her area. She did mention that the Indian government has installed some wireless phones which can be used to access internet, but again electricity often renders these useless. But Reetu did end by pointing out that the communications situtation in her area has improved significantly over the last year alone.

9) To avoid the problem of electricity, why don’t you use “Green Wifi,” which functions using solar energy?

John answered by stating that solar technology is very expensive. In addition, since solar panels are very brittle, careful packaging and transportating is required to import them. This poses a significant challenge. Another audience member also answered by citing the example of Cenegal, where the government requires a license to use solar energy. This again poses a challenge to its immediate use.

10) John, have you obtained other funding, from organizations like USAID?

John stated that he has not tried to get funding on such a large scale. He said he’d rather see a network being self sufficient rather than being funded by external sources. He also mentioned that previous attempts to obtain funding were unsuccessful.