WCN blog

Another study on internet access and the Digital Divide.

by Jon Gordon, Minnesota Public Radio April 27, 2006

The Internet population is growing again after a period of stagnation, according to a new poll from the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Nearly three out of four American adults now use the Internet regularly, according to Pew Internet researcher […]

Many studies have come out recently stating that the Digital Divide is growing smaller. A recent Pew survey found that 74% of Anglo-Americans, 61% of African-Americans and 80% of English speaking Hipanic-Americans have access to the internet. The study below looked at the Digital Divide through out the world.

World’s Digital Divide Narrowing

By Lucas van Grinsven, […]

by Martin H. Bosworth, ConsumerAffairs.Com March 30th, 2006

A final draft of Congressional legislation designed to update the nation’s telecommunication laws is being called a “mixed bag,” as it addresses issues ranging from cities developing their own Wi-Fi networks to codifying the principles of “net neutrality” into law.

Like any mixed bag, some are happy with what they’re […]

Across the country, organizations use network technology to empower the less fortunate.

From Network World, February 6, 2006

By Sandra Gittlen

For Vakil Kuner, the work involved in setting up and tearing down a secure wireless network to support more than two dozen government agencies and private organizations for a single day is well worth it.

Kuner, IT director […]

From the Chicago Tribune, February 17, 2006

Chicago seeks proposals for citywide Internet access

By Jon Van Tribune staff reporter

February 17, 2006

The City of Chicago wants to blanket its streets and neighborhoods with a wireless Internet signal, granting residents and visitors access to the Web wherever they are–on streets, in homes, offices and shopping malls.

Chicago’s chief information officer […]

From the New York Times, January 19, 2006

by GLENN FLEISHMAN

SEATTLE, Jan. 18 - The idea of building citywide wireless networks from the community level was suspiciously simple back in 2000, although the plans sounded like the work of underground revolutionaries. “All of us were very idealistic, and all quite strongly opinionated,” said Adam Shand, founder […]

From the Associated Press, October 4, 2005

by MATTHEW FORDAHL

Hours after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast and knocked out telecommunications across much of the region, Mac Dearman visited shelters in northern Louisiana to connect telephones.

Dearman doesn’t work for a phone company.

He owns a local wireless Internet service provider, and the gear he set up […]

From New York Times Magazine, September 18, 2005

By Clive Thompson

When was the last time you heard a “busy tone” on a telephone? Probably not for years. Our phone system is so robust, our mobile phones are so ubiquitous and voice mail and e-mail are such reliable backups that instant, unhindered access to friends, colleagues and […]

From Network World, September 16, 2005

By John Cox

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a volunteer group of network and wireless experts has moved from outfitting small northeastern Louisiana shelters with wireless Internet access and VoIP phones to preparing a desperately needed 45M bit/sec wireless pipe for the entire relief effort in devastated Bay Saint Louis, […]

From The Washington Post, Friday, September 9, 2005

By Arshad Mohammed

Hurricane Katrina survivor Caprice Butler had been at a church shelter in rural northeastern Louisiana for nearly a week when she finally heard her husband’s voice on an Internet phone running on an improvised wireless network.

“I was just overjoyed,” she said yesterday, tearing up as she […]