News about CUWIN

A homeland security expert named W. David Stephenson has started posting a series of short videos on using simple, everyday technology to facilitate communication and coordination during disasters. This one mentions using CUWiN livecds to create an instant wireless network, similar to what was actually done in New Orleans as part of a grassroots disaster response for Hurricane Katrina.

-- Community Technology Leaders from Six Continents to Participate --

Champaign-Urbana, I.L., April 18 -- The CUWiN Foundation and the Center for Community Informatics (CCI) will host the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (http://WirelessSummit.org) from May 18-20, 2007 at Loyola College in Columbia, Maryland.

The summit is the largest gathering of wireless network developers, technology and policy experts, and community organizers working to build universal, low-cost broadband networks around the world. "We are proud to host an event that brings together technologists and activists committed to universal access to informatics," said Marco Figueiredo, CCI Director.

"The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks explores the opportunities and challenges facing the growing movement to build community and municipal broadband networks," said Sascha Meinrath, co-founder and Executive Director of CUWiN. "This event showcases cutting-edge technologies and develops political strategies to increase digital inclusion."

Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, over 300 Community Internet and municipal broadband projects have sprung up in the United States alone. The Summit will focus on how these networks can better serve their target populations, the policies needed to support broader deployment of community wireless systems, and the latest technological and
software innovations.

Presenters at previous summits have included FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, Jim Baller of the Baller Herbst Law Group, Annie Collins of Fiber for Our Future, Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America, Harold Feld of Media Access Project, Robert W. McChesney of Free Press, Matt Rantanen of Tribal Digital Village, Greg Richardson of Civitium LLC, Paul Smith of the Center for Neighborhood Technologies, Jim Snider of the New America Foundation, Dana Spiegel of NYCwireless, Esme Vos of Muniwireless.com and many other luminaries.

"High-speed broadband access is the electricity of the 21st century, yet many rural and poorer urban communities are being left off the grid," said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, the DC-based policy think-tank. "The innovators and organizers at the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks are blazing the trail to make broadband affordable and available to everyone."

About CUWiN (http://www.cuwin.net)
The CUWiN Foundation is a world-renowned coalition of wireless developers and community volunteers committed to providing low-cost, do-it-yourself, community-controlled alternatives to contemporary broadband models. CUWiN is fiscally sponsored by Grassroots.org, a non-profit 501c3. CUWiN's mission is todevelop decentralized, community-owned networks that foster democratic cultures and local content. Through advocacy and through our commitment to open source technology, CUWiN supports organic networks that grow to meet the needs of their communities.

About CCI (http://cci.cs.loyola.edu)
The Center for Community Informatics engages Loyola College’s students, faculty and staff in supporting the creation and deployment of informatics tools for community empowerment. CCI develops the Community Telecenter Free Software Toolset; promotes awareness events for the Loyola College community; offer courses in Community Informatics; promotes Digital Inclusion Conferences; researches and develops human-friendly technologies to facilitate inclusion in the New Society of Knowledge; and, evaluates, documents and develops sustainable models for Universal Access to Informatics.

We are happy to announce that for a second straight year the CUWiN Foundation plans to take part in Google's Summer of Code. Last year we were able to support two successful projects. This year, we hope to mentor several more projects.

For a list of the projects that CUWiN is supporting for Summer of Code 2007, click here.

For more information about the projects or to suggest a project that would further develop our CUWiNware software, please send an email to David Young, our Chief Engineer.

CUWiN has recently finished its new brochure. Click here to download a copy today.

On Tuesday, January 30, 2007, CUWiN staff gathered to take part in Vision Quest 2007. An off-site location was donated by the the Episcopal Foundation of the University of Illinois. We met in the late afternoon and began with Dutch coffee and double-chocolate brownies.

Spirits were high as the staff took stock of the organization's progress and where we want to be at the end of 2007. Important plans were made to get CUWiNware, our flagship software, to version 1.0. We also agreed on the future of Hack Night, which will take a decidedly technical turn beginning very, very soon (details to be released later today). We also established important goals for our new consulting services and development efforts.

Our day concluded with a fantastic meal at a local establishment. The energy created at Vision Quest bodes well for the future of the CUWiN Foundation, as we build on past successes to promote open, democratic networks and provide better mesh networking products.