NYCwireless » Events

Event: How the Internet Works – and how to Protect Freedom Online

Dana Spiegel — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:38:24 +0000

This is a great upcoming event, and NYCwireless will be there:

Voterbook Manhattan, the Media and Democracy Coalition, People’s Production House and Free Press invite you to a panel and town hall:

WHEN: Saturday, April 3, 2 p.m.
WHERE: P.S. 20, the Anna Silver School
166 Essex Street, Lower East Side

A town hall discussion and panel about Internet access, what it means in our community, the threats from big cable and phone companies to censor your speech online – and how you can fight back.

PANELISTS:
Kris Rios, media policy associate with People’s Production House
Tim Karr, campaign director with Free Press
Dr. Michael Livermore, director of the NYU School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity
… and more!

Free and open to all. We will be screening some of the People’s Production House documentary “The Internet is Serious Business,” taking questions, and having a lively discussion.

For more information and to RSVP, contact Jeff Kurzon at jeffkurzon@gmail.com, or Hannah Miller at hmiller@media-democracy.net or 215-888-8036.

We look forward to seeing you!

International Summit for Community Wireless Networks: August 12-15, 2010 in Vienna, Austria

Dana Spiegel — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:42:57 +0000

Those of you involved in building Community Wireless Networks likely have heard of Sascha Meinrath’s International Summit for Community Wireless Networks. He started the event a number of years ago when he was still at UIUC, and its the still the best place to meet and work with community network organizers from around the world.

This year, the Summit is truly going international: its moved to Vienna, Austraia! NYCwireless will be there, and so should all of you. Check out the press release:

The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, Tech Gate Vienna, the CUWiN Foundation, and the Acorn Active Media Foundation are pleased announce that the annual International Summit for Community Wireless Networks will take place in Vienna, Austria from August 12-15, 2010.

Internet access is increasingly important to all facets of civil society. Since the first National Summit for Community Wireless Networks in 2004, tens of thousands of community and municipal broadband initiatives have been deployed around the globe, but many communities are being left out of this communications revolution. “The global coalition of developers, communities, industry, and advocates working together over the past decade has created one of the most disruptive and far-reaching technological innovations of our generation, yet few know about it and fewer still have taken advantage of this opportunity,” says Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Initiative and the Summit’s founder. “The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks is the nexus around which this movement swaps notes, strategizes, and organizes its agenda for development and implementation of ubiquitous, affordable broadband networks.”

2010 marks the first year that this group of technologists, entrepreneurs, government officials, academics and engaged citizens will convene outside the United States, a critical step to broaden and deepen international involvement in what truly is a global movement. Participants will learn from each other’s examples, exchange strategies and anecdotes, and build partnerships that strengthen alliances among projects.

Vienna possesses a rich and diverse mix of established technology companies and start ups, new media organizations, researchers and cultural producers as well as a remarkable number of institutions of higher learning. Not only is Vienna well positioned among the top international leaders in the information economy, the city is also home to FunkFeuer, one of the most advanced community wireless networks in the world. FunkFeuer is highly respected internationally for its technical and social innovations, its many collaborations with university researchers and artists, and the scale and scope of its network. The Summit will provide an opportunity to expand upon FunkFeuer’s successes and spread best-methods for developing sustainable metro-scale wireless mesh networks.

The International Summit for Community Wireless Networks focuses on how wireless networks can better serve their target populations, the policies needed to support broader deployment of community wireless systems, and the latest technological and software innovations in the field.

More information on the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks, including a call for proposals, registration, and other logistical information, will be available in the coming weeks at www.wirelesssummit.org.

We look forward to seeing you in August!

ANNOUNCE: City Centered: A Festival of Locative Media and Urban Community (in SF)

Dana Spiegel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:41:59 +0000

Our good friend Kari Gray is helping to create a technology arts festival in San Francisco this year called “City Centered: A Festival of Locative Media and Urban Community“. Kari originally contacted us about Spectropolis, our Wireless Arts festival from a few years ago, wanting to create something similar out on the west coast. What her team came up with is significantly and impressively more than Spectropolis was, while keeping the core goals of wireless technology and community engagement (leave it to a San Franciscan to one-up us on these concepts!).

There’s an open call for projects, and we think everyone should submit something to the festival. NYC has a lot of innovative, creative, artistic nerds and nerdy artists, and more representation of our great city in SF can only be a good thing!

Recent exhibitions, festivals and conferences across the US and in Europe have taken wireless networks, public space, locative media and urban environments as sites of intervention, creativity, and critique. Formulated within the emerging context of networked urbanism and mobile media, City Centered: A Festival of Locative Media and Urban Community will focus upon dynamics of the shifting, locative, cartographic and social space of the city. It is organized by educational, arts, community-based and civic organizations and asks how locative media can act as a platform and venue for community-led expression.

From within San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, this festival will celebrate the rich possibilities that art and technology offer for urban communication of place and place-based media. City Centered focuses on the use of locative media and wireless technologies for site-specific and neighborhood-based interventions. Artists, designers, architects, community and cultural workers –people, places, and devices — will meet for four days of street-side celebration, public exhibitions, a symposium, and workshops. The festival seeks new work aligned with the themes of creative mapping, urban storytelling, sentient space, body awareness, local history, contested spaces and gaming.

The festival’s main goals are:

to promote creative public use of free wi fi and open networks in the city of San Francisco

to encourage meaningful collaboration between artists and local organizations in connection with wireless networks

to introduce site-specific locative media art to urban places

PluggedIn NYC: Mobile and Social Media Summit on January 12, 2010

Dana Spiegel — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:08:35 +0000

Members of NYCwireless have been invited to participate in PluggedIn, a great social media event on January 12, 2010. Be sure to register and use discount code “plugged”!

PluggedIn is a mobile and social media summit, bringing together handpicked media, advertising, social media and mobile executives and gatekeepers. The event is designed to facilitate knowledge sharing, relationship building and deal making. See 25 companies present and talk about what they are doing and what they look to achieve in 2010.

Participating companies include: Klout, Tweetphoto, Tweetfeel, Movoxx, Flyscreen, AppsSavvy, and many more.

PluggedIn is run by Founders Roundtable, a digital media networking company focused on leveraging relationships to help startups succeed. The reason for PluggedIn is the frustration with typical industry conferences which are overcrowded and lack the intimacy and cut-to-the-chase attitude required for in-depth dialogue and true relationship building.

Announcing: New York’s Technical Community Holiday Party

Dana Spiegel — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:50:00 +0000

NYCwireless is joining forces with a number of other prominent technology organizations in NYC to help host the 2009 Technical Community Holiday Party.

Be sure to RSVP!

More than a palindromic number, 12/21 is an evening for drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and special guests at the professional networking event for New York technology.
Our mission is to bring together all aspects of technology and the business of technology in one event.

Come rub elbows and connect with colleagues from every segment of NY tech, as we unite the technical and business communities that we’re all a part of.

All are invited – CTO/CIO, junior admin, engineer, developer, entrepreneur, manager, author, speaker, media, and business professional.

This, our third groundbreaking event, is co-hosted by Bootup and Girls in Tech (see our 2007 and 2004 events).

Space is limited and we may have to close RSVPs early.

Date: December 21st, 2009 at 7:00PM
Location: Forum, 127 Fourth Avenue
Business casual attire is required.

Community Broadband Hearing at Columbia University on Dec. 11

Dana Spiegel — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:07:30 +0000

UPDATE: This is a Community Broadband Hearing by Columbia University, not an FCC Field Hearing. Sorry for the confusion!

Friend Bruce Lincoln, Entrepreneur in Residence at Columbia Engineering’s Center for Technology, Innovation & Community Engagement, sent us an invite for a Community Broadband Hearing taking place next Friday, December 11 at Columbia. I’m planning to attend, and suggest those of you that fill the different roles outlined below attend as well.

If you are planning on attending, leave a comment so we can find you!

It is important that members of the local community have an opportunity to participate in the National Broadband Planning process which is currently underway in Washington.

Toward that end, I invite you to participate in an FCC Field Hearing on Friday, December 11, 2009 at Columbia University in New York. The meeting will be held in Davis Auditorium from 8:45 am until noon.

The field hearing will bring together policymakers, elected officials, not-for-profit organizations, small businesses, anchor institutions, public agencies, broadband providers, foundations, community-based organizations and community leaders, academicians, and researchers. Together we will share thoughts on how collectively we can ensure all New Yorkers have access to broadband and the educational, economic and social opportunities it can provide.

I hope you will be able to attend as a representative of your organization or constituency. To fully understand the importance of broadband access from all points of view, your participation is vital. The agenda includes a “community visioning session” where you will have an opportunity to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns with the group.

You can confirm your attendance via e-mail to bl2317@columbia.edu.

Agenda

Friday, December 11, 2009
Davis Auditorium, Columbia University
8 am-noon

8:00	Registration and Breakfast
8:45	Welcome (Bruce Lincoln, Columbia Engineering)
8:50	Opening Remarks (Dean, Feniosky Pena-Mora, Columbia Engineering)
9:00	“An Overview of the New York State Broadband Vision and Strategy” (Edward Reinfurt, Executive Director, New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation, NYSTAR)
9:30	“Vision of New York City’s Broadband Future” (Gale Brewer, Chair, Committee on Technology and Government, New York City Council)
9:40	Short Break
9:45	Practitioners Panel Session
10:15	Audience Q&A
10:30	Community Visioning Session
11:30	Wrap-up
12:00	Adjournment

Come join us for Breakout Festival’s BETA Session: What’s The Craziest Place You’d Work?

Elysse Preposi — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:54:52 +0000

Do you do your best thinking on a bike racing through traffic? Do you get inspired in the shower? Is blaring techno music the only way you can clear writer’s block?

If so, then join us at the second of a series of Breakout! Beta Sessions taking place in Manhattan in August and September. We bring the Wi-Fi and some gimmicks to get your creative and collaborative juices flowing. This Friday, we’re going to brainstorm locations for outdoor coworking during the festival in September, and record them on the Breakout! Wiki. We want to get off the beaten path, and find the craziest, most stimulating, electric environments for creative work in New York City.

When: Friday, August 14th, 2009, 3 pm – 6 pm

Where: Bryant Park (Look for the Breakout! signs and balloons in the southwest corner along 40th St. – see map)

7 to 5th Ave, B, D, F, V to 42nd St – Bryant Park

RSVP: Via Meetup or email elysse@breakoutfestival.org

Breakout! BETA Sessions happen every Friday through September 4, in preparation for the Breakout! Escape From the Office Festival September 17–October 16.

NYCwireless Launches New Hotspot in Clinton Hill For Brooklyn’s Underserved Children

Dana Spiegel — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:41:54 +0000

We are very proud to announce the launch of our newest hotspot in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The hotspot is a collaboration between Child Development Support Corp (CDSC), HARLOWTOWN and NYCwireless.

On Friday, July 31, 2009 at 11:00 AM at the Playground at the corner of Classon Ave and Lafayette Avenues in Clinton Hill, there will be a Ribbon Cutting ceremony at the hotspot, and we’d like to invite all press members and any NYCwireless member to come out and support the hotspot.

Contact:
Joe Plotkin
NYCwireless
212.982.9800 x9797

Marcia Rowe-Riddick
Executive Director, CDSC
718.398.2050 x8401

Free Wireless Internet For Brooklyn’s Underserved Children

Wi-Fi Hotspot launch set for 11:00 AM on Friday, July 31, 2009

BROOKLYN, NY, July 21, 2009 — NYC’s premier free Wi-Fi installation in a low-income community park, in a groundbreaking collaboration between a neighborhood service organization, Child Development Support Corp (CDSC), and private capital, HARLOWTOWN, will be launched at 11:00 AM on Friday, July 31, 2009 at Brooklyn’s Classon Playground.

The Classon Playground Hotspot represents a stunning triumph of community action to deliver a public service essential in the 21st century: high-speed connection to the Internet, the gateway to the information economy. The 2008 Diamond Report, commissioned by New York City Council, concluded that a majority of the City’s low-income residents, including many children, remain without broadband Internet access and computer skills.

CDSC and HARLOWTOWN, in conjunction with NYCwireless and TECH MEDIA, will provide free Wi-Fi and literacy classes to an underserved Central Brooklyn community. “We felt strongly that our kids needed this now,” said CDSC Executive Director Marcia Rowe-Riddick, “We hope that this partnership may serve as a model for other organizations to bring Wi-Fi and computer literacy into their communities without waiting for government funding or support.”

The Wi-Fi HOTSPOT is at Classon Playground, on the corner of Classon and Lafayette Avenues, flanked by the 88th Precinct Stationhouse to the North, Lafayette Gardens Houses to the East, and the Community Partnership Charter School to the West.

About Child Development Support Corp

CDSC, a 501(c)(3), was created in 1969 to address the needs of low-income and underserved communities of Central Brooklyn. During the late seventies, the organization began preventive and foster care programs to counter the ravages of the drug and gun epidemics in the lives of the families it served. Today, CDSC provides a full range of social service programs for children and families in Community Boards 2, 3, 8, and 16.

About HARLOWTOWN

HARLOWTOWN is a private NGO that sponsors community projects in Brooklyn and the Bronx, as well as furnishing legal services to the needy and to not-for-profit organizations in the US and across the globe.

About NYCwireless

NYCwireless (http://www.nycwireless.net) is a non-profit organization that advocates and enables the growth of free, public wireless Internet access in New York City and surrounding areas. NYCwireless, founded in 2001, is an all-volunteer organization with many active members in the New York metropolitan area, across the United States of America, and around the world. In partnership with city parks organizations, business improvement districts and local non-profit organizations, NYCwireless has built free, public wireless Hotspots at Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, Wagner Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Jackson Square Park, Union Square Park (in partnership with commercial wireless Internet provider TowerStream), Stuyvesant Cove Park (the first fully solar powered hotspot in New York), Tompkins Square Park, Bowling Green Park, City Hall Park, the South Street Seaport, the Winter Garden, the Atrium at 60 Wall Street, Stone Street, Wall Street Park, and the Vietnam Veterans Plaza, among others. In addition, NYCwireless worked with Community Access to build free wireless networks in three NYCHA-licensed affordable housing residences. NYCwireless also served as a member of the FCC’s Consumer Advisory Committee.

Help Make Breakout Festival a Success this Fall (Meetup on July 1 @ New Work City)

Dana Spiegel — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:59:11 +0000

Come join us for a meetup to solicit ideas, interest, participants and planners in the upcoming Breakout! Festival on July 1 at 6:45pm at New Work City (200 Varick Street, Suite 507b).

This summer the BREAKOUT! Festival will return creative work to the streets of New York. Using coworking as a model, and injecting lightweight versions of essential office infrastructure into urban public spaces, BREAKOUT! will explore new and productive niches for working outside of traditional office buildings. BREAKOUT! seeks to create a new architecture for the creative city by appropriating public spaces for the collaborative knowledge work that drives the contemporary city.

This meetup gathers together fans, volunteers, and planners interested in helping make outdoor coworking and the BREAKOUT! Festival a success.

The Agenda? Discuss:

the upcoming New York Festival (September 18th – October 30th)
ideas for facilitating breakout sessions
cool things needed for breakouts
how to participate in a breakout
how to do more

Movie Nights at Brooklyn Bridge Park

Dana Spiegel — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:24:16 +0000

The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy has posted the schedule for their 2009 Movies with a View movie nights this summer. As many of you know, BBP is one of NYCwireless’ premiere hotspots, and offers a stunning view of Manhattan from just over the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.

There are some great movies planned for this summer, and the best part is you can use the NYCwireless hotspot that’s in the park while you get your seat ready and wait for the show to begin (you wouldn’t use your laptop during the movie, would you?).