History
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Community technology, community tech for short, is both the work to increase community access to technology, as well as to design and develop tools that meet community needs.
The movement originated in the 1990s around the work of community technology centers and national organizations with federal policy initiatives around broadband, information access, education, and economic development.
In the early 2000s the term shifted towards community-led design and development processes.
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The digital divide is the unequal access to digital technology, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, and the internet. The digital divide creates a division and inequality around access to information and resources. In the Information Age in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) have eclipsed manufacturing technologies as the basis for world economies and social connectivity, people without access to the Internet and other ICTs are at a socio-economic disadvantage, for they are unable or less able to find and apply for jobs, shop and sell online, participate democratically, or research and learn.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves as the President's principal adviser on telecommunications policies pertaining to the United States' economic and technological advancement and to regulation of the telecommunications industry.
Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet service providers (ISPs) delivering connectivity at a wide range of data transfer rates via various networking technologies. Many organizations, including a growing number of municipal entities, also provide cost-free wireless access and landlines.
Rouzbeh Yassini, Ph.D., "Father of the Cable Modem", is an Iranian-American author, inventor, and engineer, who has gained an international reputation as a "broadband visionary" for his pioneering work in broadband industry and inventing the cable modem, establishing the cable modem industry standards (DOCSIS) through Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs), the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). He is executive director of the University Of New Hampshire Broadband Center Of Excellence and Founder and board member of the YAS Foundation. Yassini is the author of “Planet Broadband”, a humanized look at broadband technology and its contributions to the society, as well as “Broadband Intelligent Series”, a series of white papers on digital services. He is a worldwide speaker and is often interviewed and quoted in the press for his vision on the future of broadband. His lifetime vision and dream is that all the people in the world have ubiquitous access to the broadband and be connected all the time. He believes that broadband connectivity is a fundamental right for all the human beings, what he has referred to it frequently as "Broadband Equality".
The global digital divide describes global disparities, primarily between developed and developing countries, in regards to access to computing and information resources such as the Internet and the opportunities derived from such access. As with a smaller unit of analysis, this gap describes an inequality that exists, referencing a global scale.
Municipal broadband is broadband Internet access owned by public entities. Services are often provided either fully or partially by local governments to residents within certain areas or jurisdictions. Common connection technologies include unlicensed wireless, licensed wireless, and fiber optic cable. Many cities that previously deployed Wi-Fi based solutions, like Comcast and Charter Spectrum, are switching to municipal broadband. Municipal fiber-to-the-home networks are becoming more prominent because of increased demand for modern audio and video applications, which are increasing bandwidth requirements by 40% per year. Supporters of municipal broadband argue that when cities create their own internet and broadband, customers ultimately get faster internet speeds, lower prices, and better customer service than from internet service providers. The purpose of municipal broadband is to provide internet access to those who cannot afford internet from internet service providers and local governments are increasingly investing in said services for their communities.
Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a tablet/smartphone or other mobile device. The first wireless Internet access became available in 1991 as part of the second generation (2G) of mobile phone technology. Higher speeds became available in 2001 and 2006 as part of the third (3G) and fourth (4G) generations. In 2011, 90% of the world's population lived in areas with 2G coverage, while 45% lived in areas with 2G and 3G coverage. Mobile broadband uses the spectrum of 225 MHz to 3700 MHz.
eCorridors is an information technology program to promote and facilitate broadband access for communities of Virginia and nearby areas. It was developed by faculty at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT) in the spring of 2000.
The Internet in the United States grew out of the ARPANET, a network sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense during the 1960s. The Internet in the United States in turn provided the foundation for the worldwide Internet of today.
One Economy Corporation is a Washington, D.C. based, global, nonprofit organization that uses the power of technology to connect underserved, low-income communities around the world to vital online information and resources.
SSi Canada is a Canadian wireless broadband internet service provider primarily serving remote areas that lack terrestrial service options. SSi was established in 1990 by Jeffrey Philipp and is headquartered in Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories. SSi is also a provider of Satellite Communication services, offered in locations that do not have terrestrial service options. They offer turnkey Internet systems to other ISPs. They have a local market serving all 25 communities in Nunavut and several in the Northwest Territories. These two territories account for 1/3 of Canada's landmass covering 3,439,296 km2 (1,327,920 sq mi). They also have an international market including Africa, Indonesia and Kiribati.
South African wireless community networks are wireless networks that allow members to talk, send messages, share files and play games independent of the commercial landline and mobile telephone networks. Most of them use WiFi technology and many are wireless mesh networks. A wireless community network may connect to the public switched telephone network and/or the Internet, but there are various restrictions on connectivity in South Africa. Wireless community networks are particularly useful in areas where commercial telecommunications services are unavailable or unaffordable.
Merit Network, Inc., is a nonprofit member-governed organization providing high-performance computer networking and related services to educational, government, health care, and nonprofit organizations, primarily in Michigan. Created in 1966, Merit operates the longest running regional computer network in the United States.
Recode, formerly the Center for Digital inclusion (CDI), is a nonprofit organization that uses technology to fight poverty and stimulate entrepreneurship. CDI and partners create community centers in low-income, rural, indigenous communities, hospitals, prisons, and psychiatric clinics. These centers work to strengthen low-income communities by providing access to information and communication technologies.
Broadband is a term normally considered to be synonymous with a high-speed connection to the internet. Suitability for certain applications, or technically a certain quality of service, is often assumed. For instance, low round trip delay would normally be assumed to be well under 150ms and suitable for Voice over IP, online gaming, financial trading especially arbitrage, virtual private networks and other latency-sensitive applications. This would rule out satellite Internet as inherently high-latency. In some applications, utility-grade reliability or security are often also assumed or defined as requirements. There is no single definition of broadband and official plans may refer to any or none of these criteria.
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. is a technology company principally engaged in development, production and marketing of data and telecommunication products in the field of local and wide area networks, as well as the development, production and distribution of laboratory diagnostic equipment in the medical sector. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE techMARK 100 Index.
The Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is a government body headquartered in Smart Village Egypt, Giza Governorate, in the Cairo metropolitan area. Established in 1999, the Ministry is responsible for information and communications technology (ICT) issues in the Arab Republic of Egypt including the planning, implementation and operation of government ICT plans and strategies. It is led by the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, who is nominated by the Prime Minister and is a member of the cabinet. The current ICT Minister is Amr Talaat who assumed the position on 14 June 2018.
The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development was established in May 2010 as a joint initiative by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote Internet access, in particular, broadband networks in order to help achieve United Nations development goals, such as the Millennium Development Goals. The Commission was renamed the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development, following the adoption of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015.
Broadband universal service, also known as "universal service obligation" (USO) or "universal broadband service", refers to government efforts to ensure all citizens have access to the internet. Universal voice service obligations have been expanded to include broadband service obligations in Switzerland, Finland, Spain and the UK.
The digital divide in the United States refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting.