Week 3

session notes • slides

Visitor: Houman Saberi, Community Tech NY

A brief introduction to a number of grassroots, activist organizations working toward digital equity in the U.S. who define themselves as “community technologists.”

The key differences between one-to-one messaging, one-to-few group chats, and one-to-many broadcasting. The divide between local ties and global connection.

Before Class

• Greta Byrum, “Building the People’s Internet.” Urban Omnibus
• Familiarize yourselves with:
  • Community Technology Collective
  • Teaching Community Technology Handbook, ed. Diana Nucera

• “Intro to Community Technology” panel from the 2020 Allied Media Conference

• a letter to your classmate
• answers to these #response-questions:
  • What is the difference between mesh networks and traditional network infrastructures?
  • How would you describe the curriculum in the Teaching Community Technology Handbook?

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Practicum

None for this week.

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Related Links

artifact of the week: telegram

• “I Tried to Send a Telegram in 2016,” The Atlantic. See also this Atlas Obscura piece.
• Henry James, In the Cage (1898)

legal barriers to rural and community-owned wireless

• Claire Park, “Community Broadband: The Fast, Affordable Internet Option That’s Flying Under the Radar.” New America Foundation (May 2020)