**GAIA WG Notes Interim 2020-01** 2020-04-20 Online Slides: Note takers: Leandro Navarro, co-chair Introduction: Jane Coffin, co-chair Talks: **Data Sourcing for Community Networks & Public Policy** Speaker: Maureen Hernandez, Article19 About collecting data from different papers, mapping visually, owned by the community. Not all community networks but community oriented. In 5 countries. Q/C: David: comment about geo-spacial map, ways to add new points. Q: Luis: sources for information about grants for rural connectivity in the USA. A: can be listed. **Communities, iNethi and the pandemic** Speaker: David Johnson, UCT A description of iNethi, context, the community, the portal and voucher system, services. COVID-19 related actions: relevant information and infographic docs, zero rating sites (gov sites, easyclass.com), download web content copy in local portal, selling local pastries, network measurements Q: when it started, how large A: 2018, about 26000? people in the community Q: any recent change on traffic, usage A: changed splash for more educational content, ted talks, and specially videos, wikipedia. Q: how many users A: 300 internet users on 10 WiFi hotspots, not clear how many using free content, perhaps few thousands Q: resources A: in the direction of being self-maintained from the income from paid vouchers. **Education in times of pandemia** Speaker: Luis Martinez, ISOC-MX Effect of COVID19 on the education system, management of disruption, and scenarios Distance learning at every educational level started immediately Difficulties: makes education more difficult, sometimes sadly students can connect but don’t know what to do. Limitations in pedagogical model for this situation Distance learning vs online learning (learning away from school due to sudden pandemic situation) Adaptation: better adapted if they were doing already online. Some institutions closed as they cannot continue online, or for fairness, because not every student has the possibility to followup Screens were a distraction in the classroom, now there other distractions at home. Disruption creates new opportunities. Difficult choices: eat or study, etc. Social distancing: what will happen when we go to school, social distance, lack of group activities, in a paced way, avoidance of contact and propagation of waves of infection. Other options for connectivity: sharing at community level, promote ethical use of those connections, easing connection to internet, some ways to ease access to certain content, improve cybersecurity. More offline strategies for next waves. We keep learning. Q: Jane: mapping of hotspots, libraries sharing hotspots where people can go and get connectivity from outside. A: People drive-in to restaurants, cafeterias, libraries to make homework from parkings. Must be done in an ethical way. Operators are not cutting access when no payment. Reliance on neighbors Q: David: CN got permits because they support critical infrastructure. Added hotspots in townships. We may not build new CNs but we can expand connectivity in new areas. A: supermarkets have open hotspots **SDN IXP architecture for IXPs** Speaker: Marc Bruyere (IIJ - Univ Tokyo) Description of the architecture, full stack solution IXP-Manager: powering 92+ IXP Q: distributed IXP, any interop issue **Progress in the Locnet project** Speaker: Mike Jensen, APC Description of Locnet: The Association for Progressive Communications (APC), is continuing with its efforts to support small scale independent communications infrastructure-building initiatives under the Locnet programme which has recently received funding commitments for the next two years from Swedish Sida and the UK's Department for International Development. The work will involve pushing for policy and regulatory change to be more conducive to small scale networks, and continuing to build the capacity of the many local community networks in the global South that APC had begun to work with in 2019, including providing platforms and resources for knowledge exchange and for the development of networking equipment and other hardware and software tools that are needed by these networks. The support from DfID leverages its Prosperity Fund which focuses specifically on Brasil, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Indonesia, where APC will be able to focus more intensively on building sustainable community networks in these countries over the next 24 months. Q: Barriers incremental changes, policies, TVWS regulatory framework, gradual opening up of mobile spectrum, exemptions, capitalize on success stories. We are not seeing rapid scaling due to barriers (spectrum. but also lack of diversity COVID situation has given impetus to connecting the unconnected **No child offline: guifi.net, eReuse.org and the pandemic** Speaker: Leandro Navarro, UPC A description of how the COVID lockdown, the challenge of all activities remotely, particularly participating in school from home. Initiatives to support: support networks for families, connectivity (sharing, community networks, connectivity operators), devices (new and reused, the role of volunteers and social enterprises offering computers, tablets, mobiles, routers), services (conferencing, storage, intranets) and a spike of demand for limited resources (volunteers, professionals), and initial lessons: more connectivity => more devices, more ewaste (traceability, accountability of environmental impact), more coverage (Internet as a global public good / commons). **AOB: Next steps for GAIARG, including Update of RFC 7962 "Alternative Network Deployments..." August 2016 (5 m)** Presenter: Leandro Navarro, UPC Reflections about how to update that document either with an update about technology or about complementary aspects. **Closing: next meeting** Presenter: Jane Coffin, ISOC Planning for a meeting about community networks together with IETF108 in Madrid end of July or online. 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