Community Networks and Local Access Monthly Newsletter - Number 22

Welcome to the 22nd monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.

We have created a new platform for community networks to share our experiences and grow together. Please join us at https://communitynetworks.group/ 

1. Events and conferences

• [En español] Hasta el 30 de septiembre, se encuentra abierta la preinscripción al Taller sobre Tecnologías de Redes Internet para América Latina que sucederá en Guatemala. Leer más. 

• [En español] El 3 de octubre en la Universidad Politécnica se realizará el Diálogo (im)probable: Retos para cerrar la brecha digital en un mundo conectado. Leer más. 

• Internet Society has created a portal for the different Community Network Summits that will happen this year. Read more. 

• The IGF 2019 registration deadline is 1 November. Read more.    

• The 3rd Indigenous Connectivity Summit will be taking place from 12-15 November in Hilo, Hawaii. Read more. The summit will hold some preliminary training sessions online. Read more.  

• The 2019 European Community Networks Summit is taking place from 14-15 November in Tbilisi, Georgia. Read more. 

2. Resources from past events

• [En español] Varios colectivos participaron del Taller de Redes Comunitarias organizado por la UIT en Lima, Perú. AlterMundi emitió una noticia al respecto. Leer más. En este evento, Mariela Baladrón de la Universidad de Buenos Aires nos comparte la visión de sostenibilidad de una red comunitaria. Este es el video de resumen del evento.  

• The 6th Annual Latin American Spectrum Management Conference happened in Lima, Peru. Read more. Here are some of the materials shared in the event. 

• The Our Networks event is sharing their content online through streaming and through their Twitter account. Read more. 

• Coolab reports on their participation at the DWeb Camp through a video. Watch here. Janastu's Dinesh shares his experience too. Read more. 

• [En español] El reto de conectar con calidad a los no conectados a corto plazo, con participación de Valeria Betancourt y Karla Velasco aquí. 

• From the 2019 African School on Internet Governance (AfriSIG), Thomas Sithole shares how community networks could be a solution for connecting the unconnected. Read more. 

3. Community networks in news and blogs

• [En español] AlterMundi ha logrado hacer la homologación del LibreRouter en Argentina. Leer más. 

• [En español] El capítulo colombiano de Internet Society está realizando una serie de webinars acerca de redes comunitarias. El primero fue sobre ¿Por qué redes comunitarias? y Experiencias de redes comunitarias. 

• [En español] Las redes comunitarias se reúnen en Colombia para seguir construyendo a internet. Leer más. 

• [En español] DW hizo un video sobre TIC. En México, Telecomunicaciones Indígenas Comunitarias administra su propia red de telefonía celular. Leer más. 

• [En español] AlterMundi comparte su taller de armado de cables con la red QuintanaLibre. Leer más.  

• ISOC's North America Bureau Director Mark Buell: Beyond the Palm Trees: Local Action Key to Fast, Affordable and Reliable Internet Solutions in Rural Hawai’i. Read more. 

• [Em portugués] Coolab fez uma entrevista com Nicolás Pace sobre sua experiência em redes comunitárias. Ler aquí. 

• V-NET shares their experience on doing a mesh network that will eventually turn into a community network in South Africa. Read more. 

• [En español] Otro punto de vista de la situación de S-Net y el cambio de regulación en Cuba. Leer más.  

4. Gendering community networks

• [En español] Karla Velasco de REDES A.C. comparte en la cumbre de Redes Comunitarias sobre la situación de las Mujeres en Redes Comunitarias. Ver el video aquí. 

• [En español] Jessica Giudice de AlterMundi https://altermundi.net comparte en la cumbre de Redes Comunitarias sobre su experiencia. Ver el video aquí.   

• Chako Armant from Ensemble Pour la Différence: "Women became our first respondents and partners". Read more. 

5. News on policy and regulation

• The ITU's published its Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2019 Best Practice Guidelines. Read more. 

• The 6th Annual Latin American Spectrum Management Conference happened in Lima, Peru. Here are some of the materials shared in the event.  

• [Em portugués] Legalização das redes comunitárias no Brasil. Ler aquí.

6. Research

• Motivation for TV white space: An explorative study on Africa for achieving the rural broadband gap. Read more.   

• What Are the Economic Effects of Municipal Broadband? Read more.   

• IDB Universal Access to Broadband and Service Programs: A comparative study. Read more.  

7. Reports and publications

• The Alliance for Affordable Internet wrote a report: Raising the bar for internet access: Introducing “Meaningful Connectivity”. Read more. 

• Taeyoon Chai shares about a convivial practice done with the Digital Equity Lab, Sarantaporo.gr and others. Read more. 

8. Articles on technologies related to local access networks

• [En español] Nuestrared documenta sobre como compilar LibreMESH. Leer más.  

• Mix Irving shares a perspective about how the decentralised web isn't new, and insight into what he as a beginner has already learned. Read more.   

• A new blog that "explores the extent to which communities and people feel empowered and/or controlled by network infrastructures." Read more. 

• [En español] El Pais cita a Peter Bloom de Rhizomatica acerca de 5g y su impacto negativo. Leer más. 

• Energy generation is essential for community networks to thrive. This blog shares many ways in which you can generate your own electricity. Read more. 

9. Tools and toolkits

• IBE Brasil shares a tool called Technology Matrix, that helps communities understand what they need from technology, why, how and which ones they need. Read more. 

• [En español] Blog sobre soluciones de conectividad para las zonas rurales con tutoriales diversos. Leer más. 

10. Funding opportunities

• The Africa Innovation Challenge invites parties that expand connectivity in Africa to apply to the challenge by 31 December. Read more. 

• Ford Foundation's JustFilms supports artist-driven film and new media storytelling projects that explore aspects of inequality, as well as the organisations and networks that support these projects. Application is open year-round.

• Mozilla Open Source Support Awards fund open source projects used by or related to Mozilla’s mission. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and are reviewed monthly by an expert selection panel. Read more. 

• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation supports early-stage research for which private or government funding is hard to obtain, and supports early-career (tenure-track) researchers. Read more.  

• UNDEF funds help design, manage, mentor and generate projects that contribute to strengthening democracy. Read more.  

• Till 1 October, IDRC is looking for proposals on "Strengthening education systems with proven innovations in developing contexts", where community networks could be applied. Read more. 

• Soon the Grant for the Web will open, to boost open, fair and inclusive standards and innovation in web monetisation.

11. Previous editions

• Previous editions of this newsletter are available at: https://www.apc.org/en/community-networks-and-local-access-monthly-newsletter

This newsletter is part of the project titled, “Local Access Networks: Can the unconnected connect themselves?” carried out by APC in partnership with Internet Society and Rhizomática, with support from Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in 2017/2018 and funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in 2019. 

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One more thing! If you have comments about the newsletter or information relevant to the topic that you would like us to include in the next edition, please share it with us at localaccess.newsletter@apc.org.

September 2019