Washington DC Event Oct 16: Planning for Technology

From the YIPPS listserve:

"Planning for Technology
6:30PM Tuesday, October 16, 2012
New America Foundation
1899 L Street NW, Ste. 400
Washington, DC

Free and open to interested parties. Please RSVP.

Kansas City made headlines this year with the launch of the much-anticipated Google Fiber project. Excitement is high as Google’s Internet service is about to come online. Communities around the nation are recognizing that broadband Internet access is increasingly a local issue.

Even before 1,100 communities applied to be the site of the Google Fiber project, some cities around the country began constructing enhanced telecommunications infrastructure. They built their own fiber-optic networks to connect their area schools, hospitals and municipal offices. A few cities have gone further still and extended their local public networks to offer broadband services directly to their own residents.

As society continues its trend of digitalization, communities that lack easy and reliable access to communicate, both online and within the community, are at a growing disadvantage. Communications is a local issue. Yet, we often exclude issues of broadband access and Wi-Fi availability from urban planning discussions.

But it is not just local governments that are leading the way. Individual citizens are organizing themselves and creating neighborhood Wi-Fi mesh networks. These are member-driven projects where participants contribute their own equipment and expertise to build out Wi-Fi availability block by block. Beyond offering wireless Internet access, mesh networks offer new ways for citizens to engage with each other, as well as with local officials.

Join the University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation’s Student Planning Association for a conversation about technology, communication, and local communities with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute.

Overview of Google Fiber / Municipal Broadband Networks
Patrick Lucey
Policy Program Associate, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation

Overview of Community Wireless Mesh Networking
Greta Byrum
Senior Field Analyst, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
M.Sc. Urban Planning, Columbia University

Report from the Ground: Organizing and Maintaining a Community Wireless Network
Preston Rhea
Field Program Associate, Open Technology Institute, New America Foundation
Organizer, Mt. Pleasant Community Wireless Network

Click here to RSVP."