Re: [gaia] Promoting more discussion on GAIA mailing list

[Luis Martinez <[e-mail]>]

Clearly this is an attractive theme, "the future of community networks"

On Sat, Feb 18, 2023, 14:56 Henning Schulzrinne <[e-mail]> wrote:

> Part of this is that the phase of the "heroic team connects a few remote
> villages" model may have reached its useful endpoint. Many countries are
> looking at scalable solutions, i.e., how you can connect most of their
> low-income or rural populations within the next 5-10 years. For example,
> the US NTIA BEAD program will spend $42.5B in the next few years to achieve
> 100/20 Mbps or more in almost all remaining unserved and underserved
> locations. Making service affordable remains a large
> challenge, particularly if the current subsidy program expires, along with
> "digital literacy" and other equity efforts. [Disclaimer: I'm part of the
> NTIA BEAD team, but obviously don't speak for it.] The EU and middle-income
> countries are also either implementing or considering large-scale efforts.
> Clearly, the availability of 4G and satellite services has changed the
> policy and technology-challenge landscape. Efforts like the NSF
> OVERCOME project are worth tracking (
> https://www.us-ignite.org/program/us-ignite-communities/overcome/), as
> they combine building networks with digital equity efforts. Organizations
> such as the US-based NDIA are doing useful community-building work.
>
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 12:30 AM Luis Martinez <[e-mail]> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I think we should separate the problem in two parts. First, the medium
>> (platform). I think that more platforms where content is replicated leads
>> to more participants. However, this community is more used to email list.
>> This brings us into the second part, content. As pointed out by Kurtis, the
>> list is just announcements and forwards. When discussion is active it finds
>> its own medium. Most email clients mark these contents as periodical so
>> they go into folders set for that, or even this happens in people minds as
>> we tend to mentally classify them.
>>
>> In order to have a lively discussion we should start discussing things
>> that are original and relevant to GAIA. We are facing time where again
>> people keep saying access is the solution - i.e. the only gap towards the
>> integration of the disconnected. We all know gap exists due to
>> economics but mainly due to knowledge.
>>
>> I propose to make a list of themes that should be discussed and just
>> start a conversation towards collecting views to be discussed at next
>> sessions of GAIA. I strongly believe that community networks is an ever
>> evolving theme that is posed to have non-definitive solutions to access and
>> connectivity issues.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Luis
>>
>>