Digital Arts Service Corps - Community Networking

Community Organizing

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:14:30 +0000

This area contains resources about Community Organizing.

Let's Try This Again!

Renae Smack — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 05:07:05 +0000

Last week as I sat and I wrote, I was so impressed by the new set up to go with my brand new second term and so I added the picture and wa-la everything went away. So here I am again going to bring you up on what's been happening with Renae.

Back in April a group of us went to conference in Baltimore hosted by NeighborWorks.

I was very impressed by the commitment of the kids. In Baltimore their kids are doing really innovative things. I heard poetry, skits, role playing and a lot of other things they were involved in. Their community was a very big deal to most of the teens who attended the conference and I came away with this wonderful feeling. Some of the things they said in the role play made me examine myself. One young man was the executive director of a center. He had asked one of the teens at his center to come to the board meeting, when the teen arrived he handed him the agendas to hand out. He asked him to greet people at the door, the adult was the child in this role play so the adult actually never became apart of the meeting because the adult (young man) kept coming up with different things for the child to do. I had to ask myself do we really listen to them when they speak, do we treat them as if they should be grateful for the attention we give them, or do we appreciate their since of style, the fresh way they look at things, their ability to move on after they have been disappointed yet again by an well meaning adult who after all thinks they don't really know what they want. We don't give them enough credit, and we don't give them a chance to use the tools we give them. I'm am blessed to be working with a group of kids who are intelligent, trustworthty, honest and creative.

They might be young but they are more reliable then some adults I know and they work just as hard as everyone else at our center to make it the great place it is. Hat's off to you Yasmine, Soncerae, Lisa, and the rest of the Youth leadership program for all you do!

Our trip to Baltimore also produced another eyeopener. After we went through the classes we had to come up with a project to bring back home that would represent Being the Bridge You Want to Build. We were so hipe about it we planned it at the airport. It is titled Neighbors Helping Neighbors. We came home and began working on it even though we had another event planned for a week before this one would kick off.

So guess what, the Celebration Of Your Gifts to Us was a success. (The one planned the week before.) We celebrated the partners we have made over the last year and we had food served by the hospitality committee (man can they cook!) and we gave away some pretty neat stuff, certificates, magnets these neat cups I created while in Home Depot looking for flowers for my garden. Yes, and she gardens when she can find the time.

Well anyway needless to say , it was a wonderful event.
Then one week later our Neighbors Helping Neighbors Week kicks off. We were suppose to have a jump castle, all kind of fun stuff for the kids and It rains. We're hoping for this great neighborhood turnout because we've partnered with the City of Charleston, Family Services, Lowcountry Housing and Trust and a host of others to bring to the people all this great information and prizes and it's pouring down rain. IT WAS GREAT! People still came out the, Mayor of Charleston proclaimed it National Neighborworks Week and off we started.

I have literally been on roller skates since then. ( I take that back, I never took off the roller skates! ha-ha.) We identified eight houses in the neighborhood that needed small construction jobs done to get them to the point that they could get effective weatherization offered by another group called The Sustainability Institute. The identification of the houses came from a partnership we made last year with The Lead Base Initiative with the City of Charleston. We have a group name Mission Fuge who did all the work on the houses for the last 6 weeks. We have seen so much community growth and community pride since we began our mission one year ago, Rev. King and I. Then guess what? Summer camp opened. Here we go again!

And The Beat Goes On!

Renae Smack — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 16:20:31 +0000

Hi everyone,

Hey Pink House, say what!

Well the kids at the Pink House continue to amaze me with their dedication to the programs hosted there.

They are growing leaps and bounds due to the different programs offered here at the Neighborhood Resource Center. I can honestly say I can see this community beginning to embrace the PINK HOUSE in their community. Dondre and Darius Simmons presented a service learning project called Zig the Pig to the Ardmore/Sherwood Forest neighborhood association on last month. They are the get this ZIG Ambassadors for the project representing two schools ( St. Andrews Middle and Stono Park Elementary).They are also my newphews (oh I'm just so proud of how far they've come since they came here!) This is a first in the history of the community to have children as a part of the community meeting. Check out the first video we made!

What's A Zig Ambassador?

Go PINK HOUSE, SAY WHAT!

This group of kids created a commercial with the help of our parent involvement program here hosted at the PINK HOUSE. One of the parents used countless hours to assist the children in creating a video which they spliced and diced until they got Zig II.

The PINK HOUSE KIDS are now working on a computerized radio show to be hosted on Blogtalkradio.com. Wait to you see (or should I say hear) all the hard work these kids have put into this project.

Our prospective date to air is April 20,2007. Yes, that tomorrow, and boy am I nervous! I can only image how the kids are feeling about know. The time will be 4:30pm til 5:30pm.

On last week the local radio station who has partnered with us to make the radio show a reality, invited our kids to the radio station to see how radio shows work behind the scenes. They really got a lot of good information and they got a chance to talk on the radio to see how it feels. Hats off to Citadel Broadcasting for their involvement in the community. Thanks Ms. Toby Smith from Heaven Talk 1390 am and Gentry Via for his time and dedication to the community and to the PINK HOUSE KIDS!

Listen out for WPHK that those (WONDERFUL PINK HOUSE KIDS).

The Ardmore/Sherwood Forest Newsletter has a new face thanks to Rev. C. King and our new edition Ms. Shirley Washington. They took my amaturistic attempt at community reporting to a whole new level of community organizing, and communicating with the community. Hats off ladies, You did a great job!

Our next event is an appreciation meeting for stakeholders in the community. The meeting will be the first of it's kind. It will be hosted outside with food and awards to say thank you to businesses in the neigborhood who care about The Ardmore/Sherwood Forest community.

Well, I got some much to do and so little time.......

Renae Out...........

Hey PINK HOUSE Say What.......

Best Practices in Innovation and Sustainability for Community Wireless Projects

Ross Musselman — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:15:00 +0000

The attached presentation contains best practices on community wireless projects as well as some case studies on successful projects that have already launched.

Newer wireless technologies can replace phone lines with Voice Over Internet cost savings. The telcos are fighting these new technologies because their profits dwindle as new and better technologies become available while they have already invested in obsolete infrastructure and want to recover their investments. There's a technological and political revolution taking place that will set the stage for new forms of social empowerment, as well. (- Frank Odasz, frank@lone-eagles.com)

Wireless (and Satellite) Internet Resources
http://lone-eagles.com/wireless.htm

Municipal Community Wireless
Municipal Wireless
http://www.muniwireless.com Reports on municipal and wireless broadband projects

A New Municipal Community Wireless Site
http://www.unwiremycity.com

Save Muni-Wireless
http://savemuniwireless.org
Related to Texas legislation to outlaw municipal wireless even for communities where telcos refuse to provide access.

Wireless Philadelphia Executive Committee
http://www.phila.gov/wireless/index.html

State laws and lobbying related to wireless
http://www.muniwireless.com/archives/000513.html
Information on state regulations on cities interested in
broadband utility networks.

Civitium
www.civitium.com
Powering the digital city. Municipal broadband and telecommunications. Civitium is routinely asked about how state laws affect the ability for municipal governments to provide telecommunications and/or information services. See their State by state statute listings regarding this issue.

Digital Watershed Community Wireless Services
www.digitalwatershed.org
Digital Watershed is a non-profit Community Technology Center offering wireless collaborative community services. Our offering goes beyond standard municipal infrastructure and e-government services to include social networks, performance arts, neighborhood projects, and more.
Greg Daigle
Executive Director
Digital Watershed
m 612 636-7227
gdaigle@digitalwatershed.org

"Wireless Broadband: The Foundation for Digital Cities,"
http://www.muniwireless.com/reports/cookbook1form.html
A cookbook for local leaders interested in deploying a community wireless broadband network. The cookbook can be downloaded for free.

FCC Wireless Resources and Article on Rural Community Wireless Vision Program
http://wireless.fcc.gov/outreach/ruralvision/index.html

Main FCC Wireless Site
http://wireless.fcc.gov

Mesh Community Wireless
Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN)
www.cuwireless.net
Founder Sascha Meinrath's site featuring perhaps the most advanced open-source dynamic mesh networking software available anywhere. See also his latest web site www.communityinternet.us and his personal archives of wireless resources at http://www.saschameinrath.com

"Wirelessing the World Socio-Historical and Technological Factors
Affecting the Battle over (Community) Wireless Networks"
http://www.saschameinrath.com (Select Writings and then the 11th article in listing)
From: Sascha Meinrath
A good introduction to the technologies and politics of community wireless networks.

Free Press Community Wireless http://freepress.net/wifi/
See also http://freepress.net Dedicated to media reform.

Community Wireless Project Summary
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wireless/
Sourceforge presents a summary of the CU Community Mesh Wireless project.

Wireless in California
www.ca-wireless.org

Directories of Wireless Communities
Personal Telco's International Listing of Wireless Communities
http://wiki.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/WirelessCommunities
An excellent listing!

International Wireless Community Network Directory (802.11b)
http://www.toaster.net/wireless/community.html

Unique Wireless Experts and Related Resources
Richard MacKinnon
http://lessnetworks.com Free WiFi
Richard has helped volunteers to establish over one hundred wireless hot-spots in Austin Texas.
www.austinwirelesscity.org

Dewayne Hendrick
http://www.firstmile.us/blogs/wireless
Dewayne was one of the first wireless pioneers. A quality resource person.

Old Colorado City National Science Foundation Wireless Testbed Project
http://wireless.oldcolo.com David Hughes' Wireless Innovations Web Site

Other Unique Community Wireless Resources
Wireless Technology Radio
http://wirelesstechradio.com

National Summit for Community Wireless Networks
http://www.wirelesssummit.org

Global Wireless Developers Conference and Technical Resources
http://www.freifunk.net/
FreiFunk.net summit in Djursland, Denmark where community wireless developers from over 30
countries compared notes. It was overwhelmingly agreed that the CUWiN
project had arguably the most advanced (and most promising) software
anyone knew about. If you're tech-saavy, you may
want to look through our CVS repositories, available from:
Rice University Community Mesh Wireless TAPS Project
www.taps.rice.edu

O'Reilly Publisher's Wireless Development Center
http://www.oreillynet.com/wireless/

Book: Building Wireless Community Networks, By Rob Flickenger
ISBN 0-596-00204-1, 125 pages, $24.95 A second edition is now available
O-Reilly Wireless Development Center
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2004/01/22/wirelessmesh.html

New Book: O'Reilly Releases "Building Wireless Community Networks"
For more information, a review copy, cover art or an interview with
the author, contact: Suzanne Axtell, (707) 827-7114 or suzanne@oreilly.com

Article: Renegade WLANs: Parasitic or Free-Spirited Anarchistic?
http://www.80211-planet.com/columns/article/0,4000,1781_896641,00.html
More on the new Freenet Wireless community model and related issues.

Personal Telco Project
http://www.personaltelco.net/

Wireless Anarchy
http://www.wirelessanarchy.com
WirelessAnarchy is about creating your own long range
infrastructure, without having to pay anyone or jump through
government hoops. Cheaply and easily, using off the shelf
equipment, and a little ingenuity, you too can create your own net.
International listing of community wireless sites included.

MIT Roofnet Community Wireless Implementation
http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/roofnet/design/

Wireless Community Networks, a Guide for Library boards, educators and community leaders
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ld/pubs/wireless/contents.html

Airshare.org
http://airshare.org/.
"Kelly Abbott" is the founder of Aishare.org, which offers news and knowledge of community wireless networks. He is also a co-chair of the San Diego Telecom Council's Wi-Fi Special Interest Group
Their collected resources: http://www.airshare.org/share/links/index.cfm

UK Wireless Community Model Project
http://www.wlan.org.uk Henry O'Tani

Community Networking Definitions

danielle martin — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:16:07 +0000

Globally, we’re seeing the simultaneous realization that opportunities exist for sharing best practices regarding motivating and training citizens in the use of Internet collaborative tools and their most efficient applications. Producing self-directed Internet learners with employability skills to reduce poverty is our challenge, as well as promoting effective global citizenship.

The broadest definition of the term ”community networking” refers to a dedicated group of people working together for a defined purpose, people working together online to realize a shared cause.

The purpose of community networks then, and now, is to create a shared online space for people working together to make good things happen for their communities.

Community Informatics on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_networking

What is Community Networking; And Why You Should Care
http://www.comtechreview.org/fall-2005/000347.html

Community Networking Primer
http://lone-eagles.com/articles/networking.htm
A good first article on the practical function and applications of community networks.
This is chapter one from The Good Neighbor's Guide to Community Networking
http://lone-eagles.com/cnguide.htm A simple, if dated, introduction.

Community Technology Centers
http://www.ctcnet.org

Association for Community Networking
http://www.afcn.org

Microsoft’s Telecenter Support Network
http://telecentre.org

Community Network Visualizations
http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/index.cfm

Lone Eagle’s Complete Community Networking Articles
http://lone-eagles.com/smart.htm

Community Networking Clearinghouse
http://lone-eagles.com/community.html

Happy New Year and All That Jazz! Jingle,Jingle,Jingle!

Renae Smack — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:07:01 +0000

Happy New year everyone. I hope everyone had a happy New Year. My new year is as busy as my end of the year events were. First let me say that the Pink House kids are great. The staff I'm working with are great. My supervisor is great and as busy as I am. We just recently got 20 Dell computers from a group who wanted to give our kids computers for Christmas. This is the second group that has donated computers to our kids. A local group in our area also gave our kids some great christmas gifts. We are offering a webcasting class to the children and parents in our community. We also had a group donate some dictionaries to our kids.

On the community level, we are working on our goals to intergrate the community into the center and we have more traffic everyday. We had a neighborhood breakfast that was a smash hit for the seniors it was sponsored for as well as the younger set of residents who attended. We had the usual southern breakfast but we also had great speakers and singing by the local youth choir and gulla poetry by a local poet.

Our new service project will have a lot of techie things attached to it, webcasting, podcasting, possibly even radio broadcasting. We plan to make our own commercials and advertisements. Stay tune for the next phase. Fun, Fun Fun!

Renae Out..........