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Title: How to Build a Low-tech Internet |
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Author: Kris de Decker |
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<!-- Status: published --> |
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<p id="colophon_title">Colophon</p> |
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<div class="colophon"> |
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<p>A Nourishing Network is a peer-to-peer publishing experiment starting from the feed as a potentially multi-directional circulation device.</p> |
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<p>A Nourishing Network is initiated by servus.at (Davide Bevilacqua) in collaboration with varia.zone (Alice Strete & Manetta Berends) and is published in the context of AMRO 2020 (Arts Meets Radical Openness). </p> |
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<p> Editing: Davide Bevilacqua <br> Design and development: Manetta Berends, Alice Strete <br> Paper: xxxx <br> Typeface: Gnu Unifont, White Rabbit, Ansi Shadow <br> Print and production: Varia <br> This project is produced with Free Software tools. The feeds are made with Pelican & Weasyprint. |
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</p> |
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<p> Davide is an artist and curator working is the blurry area between media and contemporary art. </p><p> Manetta Berends is a designer working with forms of networked publishing, situated software and collective infrastructures. </p> <p>Alice Strete is an artist and researcher interested in the intricate relationship between humans and the technologies they surround themselves with. </p> <p>Many thanks to our partners, collaborators, authors and the AMRO community. </p> |
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<p> Published under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.</p> |
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</p></div> |
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<div class="first-page"> |
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<div id="title_edition"> A Nourishing Network - December 2020</div> |
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<div id="title">The Philosophy of Warnings</div> |
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<div id="author"> by Santiago Zabala</div> |
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<pre id="ascii_blob"> |
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----------i-------i-------i-------i-------i-------i-------i----------- |
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-------s--------s--------s--------s--------s--------s--------s-------- |
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----- --------- -------- --------- --------- -------- --------- ------ |
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--------------------o----o---o----o----o---o----o--------------------- |
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-------------------------r--r--r--r--r--r--r-------------------------- |
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---------------------------- k-kk-k-kk-k ----------------------------- |
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</pre> |
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</div> |
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<header id="pageheader-issue">A Nourishing Network</header> |
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<header id="pageheader-theme">The Philosophy of Warnings</header> |
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|
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<div class="essay_content"> |
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<p> |
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Wireless internet access is on the rise in both modern consumer |
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societies and in the developing world.</p> |
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|
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In rich countries, however, the focus is on always-on connectivity and |
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ever higher access speeds. In poor countries, on the other hand, |
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connectivity is achieved through much more low-tech, often asynchronous |
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networks. |
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|
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While the high-tech approach pushes the costs and energy use of the |
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internet [higher and higher](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/can-the-internet-run-on-renewable-energy.html), |
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the low-tech alternatives result in much cheaper and very energy |
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efficient networks that combine well with renewable power production and |
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are resistant to disruptions. |
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|
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If we want the internet to keep working in circumstances where access to |
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energy is more limited, we can learn important lessons from alternative |
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network technologies. Best of all, there\'s no need to wait for |
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governments or companies to facilitate: we can build our own resilient |
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communication infrastructure if we cooperate with one another. This is |
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demonstrated by several community networks in Europe, of which the |
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largest has more than 35,000 users already. |
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|
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[]{#anchor}Picture: A node in the [Scottish Tegola |
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Network](http://www.tegola.org.uk/hebnet/). |
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|
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More than half of the global population does not have access to the |
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\"worldwide\" web. Up to now, the internet is mainly an urban |
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phenomenon, especially in \"developing\" countries. Telecommunication |
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companies are usually reluctant to extend their network outside cities |
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due to a combination of high infrastructure costs, low population |
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density, limited ability to pay for services, and an unreliable or |
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non-existent electricity infrastructure. Even in remote regions of |
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\"developed\" countries, internet connectivity isn\'t always available. |
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|
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Internet companies such as Facebook and Google regularly make headlines |
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with plans for connecting these remote regions to the internet. Facebook |
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tries to achieve this with drones, while Google counts on high-altitude |
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balloons. There are major technological challenges, but the main |
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objection to these plans is their commercial character. Obviously, |
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Google and Facebook want to connect more people to the internet because |
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that would increase their revenues. Facebook especially receives lots of |
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criticism because their network promotes their own site in particular, |
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and blocks most other internet applications. \[1\] |
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|
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Meanwhile, several research groups and network enthusiasts have |
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developed and implemented much cheaper alternative network technologies |
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to solve these issues. Although these low-tech networks have proven |
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their worth, they have received much less attention. Contrary to the |
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projects of internet companies, they are set up by small organisations |
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or by the users themselves. This guarantees an open network that |
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benefits the users instead of a handful of corporations. At the same |
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time, these low-tech networks are very energy efficient. |
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|
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****WiFi-based Long Distance Networks**** |
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|
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Most low-tech networks are based on WiFi, the same technology that |
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allows mobile access to the internet in most western households. As we |
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have seen in the previous article, [sharing these devices could provide |
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free mobile access across densely populated |
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cities](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/the-4g-network-thats-already-there.html). |
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But the technology can be equally useful in sparsely populated areas. |
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Although the WiFi-standard was developed for short-distance data |
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communication (with a typical range of about 30 metres), its reach can |
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be extended through modifications of the Media Access Control (MAC) |
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layer in the networking protocol, and through the use of range extender |
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amplifiers and directional antennas. \[2\] |
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|
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Although the WiFi-standard was developed for short-distance data |
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communication, its reach can be extended to cover distances of more than |
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100 kilometres. |
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|
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The longest unamplified WiFi link is a 384 km wireless point-to-point |
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connection between Pico El Águila and Platillón in Venezuela, |
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established a few years ago. \[3,4\] However, WiFi-based long distance |
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networks usually consist of a combination of shorter point-to-point |
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links, each between a few kilometres and one hundred kilometers long at |
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most. These are combined to create larger, multihop networks. |
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Point-to-points links, which form the backbone of a long range WiFi |
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network, are combined with omnidirectional antennas that distribute the |
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signal to individual households (or public institutions) of a community. |
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|
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Picture: A relay with three point-to-point links and three sectoral |
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antennae. |
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[Tegola](http://www.tegola.org.uk/howto/network-planning.html). |
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|
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Long-distance WiFi links require line of sight to make a connection \-- |
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in this sense, the technology resembles the [18th century optical |
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telegraph](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2007/12/email-in-the-18.html). |
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\[5\] If there\'s no line of sight between two points, a third relay is |
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required that can see both points, and the signal is sent to the |
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intermediate relay first. Depending on the terrain and particular |
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obstacles, more hubs may be necessary. \[6\] |
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|
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Point-to-point links typically consist of two directional antennas, one |
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focused on the next node and the other on the previous node in the |
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network. Nodes can have multiple antennas with one antenna per fixed |
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point-to-point link to each neighbour. \[7\] This allows mesh routing |
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protocols that can dynamically select which links to choose for routing |
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among the available ones. \[8\] |
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|
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Long-distance WiFi links require line of sight to make a connection \-- |
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in this sense, the technology resembles the 18th century optical |
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telegraph. |
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|
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Distribution nodes usually consist of a sectoral antenna (a small |
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version of the things you see on mobile phone masts) or a conventional |
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WiFi-router, together with a number of receivers in the community. \[6\] |
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For short distance WiFi-communication, there is no requirement for line |
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of sight between the transmitter and the receiver. \[9\] |
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|
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To provide users with access to the worldwide internet, a long range |
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WiFi network should be connected to the main backbone of the internet |
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using at least one \"backhaul\" or \"gateway node\". This can be a |
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dial-up or broadband connection (DSL, fibre or satellite). If such a |
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link is not established, users would still be able to communicate with |
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each other and view websites set up on local servers, but they would not |
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be able to access the internet. \[10\] |
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|
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****Advantages of Long Range WiFi**** |
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|
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Long range WiFi offers high bandwidth (up to 54 Mbps) combined with very |
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low capital costs. Because the WiFi standard enjoys widespread |
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acceptance and has huge production volumes, off-the-shelf antennas and |
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wireless cards can be bought for very little money. \[11\] |
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Alternatively, components can be put together [from discarded |
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materials](http://roelof.info/projects/%282014%29Pretty_Fly_For_A_Wifi/) |
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such as old routers, satellite dish antennas and laptops. Protocols like |
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WiLDNet run on a 266 Mhz processor with only 128 MB memory, so an old |
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computer will do the trick. \[7\] |
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|
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The WiFi-nodes are lightweight and don\'t need expensive towers \-- |
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further decreasing capital costs, and minimizing the impact of the |
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structures to be built. \[7\] More recently, single units that combine |
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antenna, wireless card and processor have become available. These are |
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very convenient for installation. To build a relay, one simply connects |
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such units together with ethernet cables that carry both signal and |
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power. \[6\] The units can be mounted in towers or slim masts, given |
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that they offer little windload. \[3\] Examples of suppliers of long |
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range WiFi components are [Ubiquity](https://www.ubnt.com/), |
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[Alvarion](http://www.alvarion.com/) and |
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[MikroTik](http://www.mikrotik.com/), and |
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[simpleWiFi](https://www.simplewifi.com/). |
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|
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Long Range WiFi makes use of unlicensed spectrum and offers high |
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bandwidth, low capital costs, easy installation, and low power |
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requirements. |
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|
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Long range WiFi also has low operational costs due to low power |
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requirements. A typical mast installation consisting of two long |
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distance links and one or two wireless cards for local distribution |
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consumes around 30 watts. \[6,12\] In several low-tech networks, nodes |
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are entirely powered by solar panels and batteries. Another important |
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advantage of long range WiFi is that it makes use of unlicensed spectrum |
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(2.4 and 5 GHz), and thus avoids negotiations with telecom operators and |
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government. This adds to the cost advantage and allows basically anyone |
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to start a WiFi-based long distance network. \[9\] |
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|
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****Long Range WiFi Networks in Poor Countries**** |
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|
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The first long range WiFi networks were set up ten to fifteen years ago. |
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In poor countries, two main types have been built. The first is aimed at |
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providing internet access to people in remote villages. An example is |
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the Akshaya network in India, which covers the entire Kerala State and |
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is one of the largest wireless networks in the world. The infrastructure |
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is built around approximately 2,500 \"computer access centers\", which |
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are open to the local population \-- direct ownership of computers is |
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minimal in the region. \[13\] |
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|
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Another example, also in India, are the AirJaldi networks which provide |
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internet access to approximately 20,000 users in six states, all in |
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remote regions and on difficult terrain. Most nodes in this network are |
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solar-powered and the distance between them can range up to 50 km or |
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more. \[14\] In some African countries, local WiFi-networks distribute |
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internet access from a satellite gateway. \[15,16\] |
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|
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A node in the AirJaldi network. Picture: AirJaldi. |
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|
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A second type of long distance WiFi network in poor countries is aimed |
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at providing telemedicine to remote communities. In remote regions, |
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health care is often provided through health posts scarcely equipped and |
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attended by health technicians who are barely trained. \[17\] Long-range |
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WiFi networks can connect urban hospitals with these outlying health |
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posts, allowing doctors to remotely support health technicians using |
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high-resolution file transfers and real-time communication tools based |
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on voice and video. |
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|
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An example is the link between Cabo Pantoja and Iquitos in the Loreto |
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province in Peru, which was established in 2007. The 450 km network |
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consists of 17 towers which are 16 to 50 km apart. The line connects 15 |
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medical outposts in remote villages with the main hospital in Iquitos |
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and is aimed at remote diagnosis of patients. \[17,18\] All equipment is |
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powered by solar panels. \[18,19\] Other succesful examples of long |
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range WiFi telemedicine networks have been built in India, Malawi and |
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Ghana. \[20,21\] |
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|
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****WiFi-Based Community Networks in Europe**** |
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|
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The low-tech networks in poor countries are set up by NGO\'s, |
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governments, universities or businesses. In contrast, most of the |
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WiFi-based long distance networks in remote regions of rich countries |
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are so-called \"community networks\": the users themselves build, own, |
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power and maintain the infrastructure. Similar to the shared wireless |
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approach in cities, reciprocal resource sharing forms the basis of these |
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networks: participants can set up their own node and connect to the |
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network (for free), as long as their node also allows traffic of other |
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members. Each node acts as a WiFi routing device that provides IP |
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forwarding services and a data link to all users and nodes connected to |
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it. \[8,22\] |
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|
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In a community network, the users themselves build, own, power and |
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maintain the infrastructure. |
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|
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Consequently, with each new user, the network becomes larger. There is |
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no a-priori overall planning. A community network grows bottom-up, |
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driven by the needs of its users, as nodes and links are added or |
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upgraded following demand patterns. The only consideration is to connect |
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a node from a new participant to an existing one. As a node is powered |
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on, it discovers it neighbours, attributes itself a unique IP adress, |
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and then establishes the most appropriate routes to the rest of the |
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network, taking into account the quality of the links. Community |
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networks are open to participation to everyone, sometimes according to |
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an open peering agreement. \[8,9,19,22\] |
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|
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Wireless links in the Spanish Guifi network. |
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[Credit](https://iuliinet.github.io/presentazione_ottobre_2014/img/barcellona.jpg). |
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|
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Despite the lack of reliable statistics, community networks seem to be |
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rather succesful, and there are several large ones in Europe, such as |
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[Guifi.net](https://guifi.net/) (Spain), [Athens Wireless Metropolitan |
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Network](http://www.awmn.gr/content.php?s=ce506a41ab245641d6934638c6f6f107) |
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(Greece), [FunkFeuer](http://www.funkfeuer.at/) (Austria), and |
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[Freifunk](https://freifunk.net/en/) (Germany). \[8,22,23,24\] The |
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Spanish network is the largest WiFi-based long distance network in the |
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world with more than 50,000 kilometres of links, although a small part |
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is based on optic fibre links. Most of it is located in the Catalan |
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Pyrenees, one of the least populated areas in Spain. The network was |
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initiated in 2004 and now has close to 30,000 nodes, up from 17,000 in |
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2012. \[8,22\] |
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|
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Guifi.net provides internet access to individuals, companies, |
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administrations and universities. In principle, the network is |
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installed, powered and maintained by its users, although volunteer teams |
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and even commercial installers are present to help. Some nodes and |
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backbone upgrades have been succesfully crowdfunded by indirect |
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beneficiaries of the network. \[8,22\] |
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|
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****Performance of Low-tech Networks**** |
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|
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So how about the performance of low-tech networks? What can you do with |
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them? The available bandwidth per user can vary enormously, depending on |
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the bandwidth of the gateway node(s) and the number of users, among |
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other factors. The long-distance WiFi networks aimed at telemedicine in |
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poor countries have few users and a good backhaul, resulting in high |
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bandwidth (+ 40 Mbps). This gives them a similar performance to fibre |
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connections in the developed world. A study of (a small part of) the |
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Guifi.net community network, which has dozens of gateway nodes and |
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thousands of users, showed an average throughput of 2 Mbps, which is |
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comparable to a relatively slow DSL connection. Actual throughput per |
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user varies from 700 kbps to 8 Mbps. \[25\] |
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|
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The available bandwidth per user can vary enormously, depending on the |
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bandwidth of the gateway node(s) and the number of users, among other |
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factors |
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|
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However, the low-tech networks that distribute internet access to a |
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large user base in developing countries can have much more limited |
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bandwidth per user. For example, a university campus in Kerala (India) |
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uses a 750 kbps internet connection that is shared across 3,000 faculty |
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members and students operating from 400 machines, where during peak |
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hours nearly every machine is being used. |
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|
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Therefore, the worst-case average bandwidth available per machine is |
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approximately 1.9 kbps, which is slow even in comparison to a dial-up |
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connection (56 kbps). And this can be considered a really good |
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connectivity compared to typical rural settings in poor countries. |
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\[26\] To make matters worse, such networks often have to deal with an |
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intermittent power supply. |
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|
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Under these circumstances, even the most common internet applications |
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have poor performance, or don\'t work at all. The communication model of |
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the internet is based on a set of network assumptions, called the TCP/IP |
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protocol suite. These include the existence of a bi-directional |
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end-to-end path between the source (for example a website\'s server) and |
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the destination (the user\'s computer), short round-trip delays, and low |
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error rates. |
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|
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Many low-tech networks in poor countries do not comform to these |
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assumptions. They are characterized by intermittent connectivity or |
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\"network partitioning\" \-- the absence of an end-to-end path between |
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source and destination \-- long and variable delays, and high error |
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rates. \[21,27,28\] |
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|
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****Delay-Tolerant Networks**** |
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|
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Nevertheless, even in such conditions, the internet could work perfectly |
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fine. The technical issues can be solved by moving away from the |
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always-on model of traditional networks, and instead design networks |
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based upon asynchronous communication and intermittent connectivity. |
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These so-called \"delay-tolerant networks\" (DTNs) have their own |
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specialized protocols overlayed on top of the lower protocols and do not |
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utilize TCP. They overcome the problems of intermittent connectivity and |
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long delays by using store-and-forward message switching. |
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|
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Information is forwarded from a storage place on one node to a storage |
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place on another node, along a path that *eventually* reaches its |
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destination. In contrast to traditional internet routers, which only |
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store incoming packets for a few milliseconds on memory chips, the nodes |
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of a delay-tolerant network have persistent storage (such as hard disks) |
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that can hold information indefinitely. \[27,28\] |
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|
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Delay-tolerant networks combine well with renewable energy: solar panels |
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or wind turbines could power network nodes only when the sun shines or |
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the wind blows, eliminating the need for energy storage. |
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|
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Delay-tolerant networks don\'t require an end-to-end path between source |
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and destination. Data is simply transferred from node to node. If the |
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next node is unavailable because of long delays or a power outage, the |
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data is stored on the hard disk until the node becomes available again. |
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While it might take a long time for data to travel from source to |
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destination, a delay-tolerant network ensures that it will eventually |
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arrive. |
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|
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Delay-tolerant networks further decrease capital costs and energy use, |
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leading to the most efficient use of scarce resources. They keep working |
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with an intermittent energy supply and they combine well with renewable |
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energy sources: solar panels or wind turbines could power network nodes |
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only when the sun shines or the wind blows, eliminating the need for |
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energy storage. |
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|
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****Data Mules**** |
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|
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Delay-tolerant networking can take surprising forms, especially when |
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they take advantage of some non-traditional means of communication, such |
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as \"data mules\". \[11,29\] In such networks, conventional |
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transportation technologies \-- buses, cars, motorcycles, trains, boats, |
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airplanes \-- are used to ferry messages from one location to another in |
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a store-and-forward manner. |
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|
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Examples are DakNet and KioskNet, which use buses as data mules. |
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\[30-34\] In many developing regions, rural bus routes regularly visit |
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villages and towns that have no network connectivity. By equipping each |
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vehicle with a computer, a storage device and a mobile WiFi-node on the |
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one hand, and by installing a stationary WiFi-node in each village on |
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the other hand, the local transport infrastructure can substitute for a |
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wireless internet link. \[11\] |
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|
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Picture: AirJaldi. |
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|
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Outgoing data (such as sent emails or requests for webpages) is stored |
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on local computers in the village until the bus comes withing range. At |
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this point, the fixed WiFi-node of the local computer automatically |
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transmits the data to the mobile WiFi-node of the bus. Later, when the |
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bus arrives at a hub that is connected to the internet, the outgoing |
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data is transmitted from the mobile WiFi-node to the gateway node, and |
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then to the internet. Data sent to the village takes the opposite route. |
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The bus \-- or data \-- driver doesn\'t require any special skills and |
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is completely oblivious to the data transfers taking place. He or she |
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does not need to do anything other than come in range of the nodes. |
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\[30,31\] |
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|
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In a data mules network, the local transport infrastructure substitutes |
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for a wireless internet link. |
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|
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The use of data mules offers some extra advantages over more |
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\"sophisticated\" delay-tolerant networks. A \"drive-by\" WiFi network |
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allows for small, low-cost and low-power radio devices to be used, which |
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don\'t require line of sight and consequently no towers \-- further |
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lowering capital costs and energy use compared to other low-tech |
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networks. \[30,31,32\] |
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|
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The use of short-distance WiFi-links also results in a higher bandwidth |
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compared to long-distance WiFi-links, which makes data mules better |
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suited to transfer larger files. On average, 20 MB of data can be moved |
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in each direction when a bus passes a fixed WiFi-node. \[30,32\] On the |
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other hand, latency (the time interval between sending and receiving |
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data) is usually higher than on long-range WiFi-links. A single bus |
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passing by a village once a day gives a latency of 24 hours. |
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|
|||
****Delay-Tolerant Software**** |
|||
|
|||
Obviously, a delay-tolerant network (DTN) \-- whatever its form \-- also |
|||
requires new software: applications that function without a connected |
|||
end-to-end networking path. \[11\] Such custom applications are also |
|||
useful for synchronous, low bandwidth networks. Email is relatively easy |
|||
to adapt to intermittent connectivity, because it\'s an asynchronous |
|||
communication method by itself. A DTN-enabled email client stores |
|||
outgoing messages until a connection is available. Although emails may |
|||
take longer to reach their destination, the user experience doesn\'t |
|||
really change. |
|||
|
|||
A Freifunk WiFi-node is installed in Berlin, Germany. Picture:[ |
|||
Wikipedia |
|||
Commons](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Freifunk-Initiative_in_Berlin-Kreuzberg.jpg). |
|||
|
|||
Browsing and searching the web requires more adaptations. For example, |
|||
most search engines optimize for speed, assuming that a user can quickly |
|||
look through the returned links and immediately run a second modified |
|||
search if the first result is inadequate. However, in intermittent |
|||
networks, multiple rounds of interactive search would be impractical. |
|||
\[26,35\] Asynchronous search engines optimize for bandwith rather than |
|||
response time. \[26,30,31,35,36\] For example, RuralCafe desynchronizes |
|||
the search process by performing many search tasks in an offline manner, |
|||
refining the search request based on a database of similar searches. The |
|||
actual retrieval of information using the network is only done when |
|||
absolutely necessary. |
|||
|
|||
Many internet applications could be adapted to intermittent networks, |
|||
such as webbrowsing, email, electronic form filling, interaction with |
|||
e-commerce sites, blogsoftware, large file downloads, or social media. |
|||
|
|||
Some DTN-enabled browsers download not only the explicitly requested |
|||
webpages but also the pages that are linked to by the requested pages. |
|||
\[30\] Others are optimized to return low-bandwidth results, which are |
|||
achieved by filtering, analysis, and compression on the server site. A |
|||
similar effect can be achieved through the use of a service like |
|||
[Loband](http://www.loband.org/loband/), which strips webpages of |
|||
images, video, advertisements, social media buttons, and so on, merely |
|||
presenting the textual content. \[26\] |
|||
|
|||
Browsing and searching on intermittent networks can also be improved by |
|||
local caching (storing already downloaded pages) and prefetching |
|||
(downloading pages that might be retrieved in the future). \[206\] Many |
|||
other internet applications could also be adapted to intermittent |
|||
networks, such as electronic form filling, interaction with e-commerce |
|||
sites, blogsoftware, large file downloads, social media, and so on. |
|||
\[11,30\] All these applications would remain possible, though at lower |
|||
speeds. |
|||
|
|||
****Sneakernets**** |
|||
|
|||
Obviously, real-time applications such as internet telephony, media |
|||
streaming, chatting or videoconferencing are impossible to adapt to |
|||
intermittent networks, which provide only asynchronous communication. |
|||
These applications are also difficult to run on synchronous networks |
|||
that have limited bandwidth. Because these are the applications that are |
|||
in large part responsible for the growing energy use of the internet, |
|||
one could argue that their incompatibility with low-tech networks is |
|||
actually a good thing (see the [previous |
|||
article](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/can-the-internet-run-on-renewable-energy.html)). |
|||
|
|||
Furthermore, many of these applications could be organized in different |
|||
ways. While real-time voice or video conversations won\'t work, it\'s |
|||
perfectly possible to send and receive voice or video messages. And |
|||
while streaming media can\'t happen, downloading music albums and video |
|||
remains possible. Moreover, these files could be \"transmitted\" by the |
|||
most low-tech internet technology available: a sneakernet. In a |
|||
sneakernet, digital data is \"wirelessly\" transmitted using a storage |
|||
medium such as a hard disk, a USB-key, a flash card, or a CD or DVD. |
|||
Before the arrival of the internet, all computer files were exchanged |
|||
via a sneakernet, using tape or floppy disks as a storage medium. |
|||
|
|||
Stuffing a cargo train full of digital storage media would beat any |
|||
digital network in terms of speed, cost and energy efficiency. Picture: |
|||
Wikipedia Commons. |
|||
|
|||
Just like a data mules network, a sneakernet involves a vehicle, a |
|||
messenger on foot, or an animal (such as a [carrier |
|||
pigeon](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/02/sneakernet-beats-internet.html)). |
|||
However, in a sneakernet there is no automatic data transfer between the |
|||
mobile node (for instance, a vehicle) and the stationary nodes (sender |
|||
and recipient). Instead, the data first have to be transferred from the |
|||
sender\'s computer to a portable storage medium. Then, upon arrival, the |
|||
data have to be transferred from the portable storage medium to the |
|||
receiver\'s computer. \[30\] A sneakernet thus requires manual |
|||
intervention and this makes it less convenient for many internet |
|||
applications. |
|||
|
|||
There are exceptions, though. For example, a movie doesn\'t have to be |
|||
transferred to the hard disk of your computer in order to watch it. You |
|||
play it straight from a portable hard disk or slide a disc into the |
|||
DVD-player. Moreover, a sneakernet also offers an important advantage: |
|||
of all low-tech networks, it has the most bandwidth available. This |
|||
makes it perfectly suited for the distribution of large files such as |
|||
movies or computer games. In fact, when very large files are involved, a |
|||
sneakernet even beats the fastest fibre internet connection. At lower |
|||
internet speeds, sneakernets can be advantageous for much smaller files. |
|||
|
|||
Technological progress will not lower the advantage of a sneakernet. |
|||
Digital storage media evolve at least as fast as internet connections |
|||
and they both improve communication in an equal way. |
|||
|
|||
****Resilient Networks**** |
|||
|
|||
While most low-tech networks are aimed at regions where the alternative |
|||
is often no internet connection at all, their usefulness for |
|||
well-connected areas cannot be overlooked. The internet as we know it in |
|||
the industrialized world is a product of an abundant energy supply, a |
|||
robust electricity infrastructure, and sustained economic growth. This |
|||
\"high-tech\" internet might offer some fancy advantages over the |
|||
low-tech networks, but it cannot survive if these conditions change. |
|||
This makes it extremely vulnerable. |
|||
|
|||
The internet as we know it in the industrialized world is a product of |
|||
an abundant energy supply, a robust electricity infrastructure, and |
|||
sustained economic growth. It cannot survive if these conditions change. |
|||
|
|||
Depending on their level of resilience, low-tech networks can remain in |
|||
operation when the supply of fossil fuels is interrupted, when the |
|||
electricity infrastructure deteriorates, when the economy grinds to a |
|||
halt, or if other calamities should hit. Such a low-tech internet would |
|||
allow us to surf the web, send and receive e-mails, shop online, share |
|||
content, and so on. Meanwhile, data mules and sneakernets could serve to |
|||
handle the distribution of large files such as videos. Stuffing a cargo |
|||
vessel or a train full of digital storage media would beat any digital |
|||
network in terms of speed, cost and energy efficiency. And if such a |
|||
transport infrastructure would no longer be available, we could still |
|||
rely on messengers on foot, [cargo |
|||
bikes](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/05/modular-cargo-cycles.html) |
|||
and [sailing vessels](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/sailing-ships/). |
|||
|
|||
Such a hybrid system of online and offline applications would remain a |
|||
very powerful communication network \-- unlike anything we had even in |
|||
the late twentieth century. Even if we envision a doom scenario in which |
|||
the wider internet infrastructure would disintegrate, isolated low-tech |
|||
networks would still be very useful local and regional communication |
|||
technologies. Furthermore, they could obtain content from other remote |
|||
networks through the exchange of portable storage media. The internet, |
|||
it appears, can be as low-tech or high-tech as we can afford it to be. |
|||
</div> |
|||
Kris De Decker (edited by [Jenna |
|||
Collett](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jenna-collett/1a/925/b3)) |
|||
|
|||
This article has been translated into |
|||
[Spanish](https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/es/2015/10/how-to-build-a-low-tech-internet.html). |
|||
|
|||
****Sources & Notes:**** |
|||
|
|||
DIY: [Wireless networking in the developing |
|||
world](http://wndw.net/book.html#readBook) (Third Edition) is a free |
|||
book about designing, implementing and maintaining low-cost wireless |
|||
networks. Available in English, French, and Spanish. |
|||
|
|||
\[1\] [Connecting the unwired world with balloons, satellites, lasers & |
|||
drones](https://tech.slashdot.org/story/15/09/03/214256/connecting-the-unwired-world-with-balloons-satellites-lasers-drones), |
|||
Slashdot, 2015 |
|||
|
|||
\[2\] [A QoS-aware dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme for multi-hop |
|||
WiFi-based long distance |
|||
networks](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs13638-015-0352-z#/page-1), |
|||
Iftekhar Hussain et al., 2015 |
|||
|
|||
\[3\] [Long-distance, Low-Cost Wireless Data |
|||
Transmission](http://www.ursi.org/files/RSBissues/RSB_339_2011_12.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Ermanno Pietrosemoli, 2011 |
|||
|
|||
\[4\] This link could only be established thanks to the height of the |
|||
endpoints (4,200 and 1,500 km) and the flatness of the middle ground. |
|||
The curvature of the Earth makes longer point-to-point WiFi-links |
|||
difficult to achieve because line of sight between two points is |
|||
required. |
|||
|
|||
\[5\] Radio waves occupy a volume around the optical line, which must be |
|||
unemcumbered from obstacles. This volume is known as the Fresnel |
|||
ellipsoid and its size grows with the distance between the two end |
|||
points and with the wavelength of the signal, which is in turn inversely |
|||
proportional to the frequency. Thus, it is required to leave extra |
|||
\"elbow room\" for the Fresnel zone. \[9\] |
|||
|
|||
\[6\] [A Brief History of the Tegola |
|||
Project](http://www.tegola.org.uk/tegola-history.html), Tegola Project, |
|||
retrieved October 2015 |
|||
|
|||
\[7\] [WiLDNet: Design and Implementation of High Performance WiFi based |
|||
Long Distance |
|||
Networks](http://tier.cs.berkeley.edu/docs/wireless/wild_multihop.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Rabin Patra et al., 2007 |
|||
|
|||
\[8\] [Topology Patterns of a Community Network: |
|||
Guifi.net](http://dsg.ac.upc.edu/sites/default/files/1569633605.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Davide Vega et al., 2012 |
|||
|
|||
\[9\] [Global Access to the Internet for All, internet |
|||
draft](https://trac.tools.ietf.org/group/irtf/trac/wiki/gaia), Internet |
|||
Engineering Task Force (IETF), 2015 |
|||
|
|||
\[10\] This is what happened to Afghanistan\'s JLINK network when |
|||
[funding for the network\'s satellite link ran dry in |
|||
2012](https://www.wired.com/2012/05/jlink/). |
|||
|
|||
\[11\] [The case for technology in developing |
|||
regions](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mattkam/lab/publications/Computer2005.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Eric Brewer et al., 2005 |
|||
|
|||
\[12\] [Beyond Pilots: Keeping Rural Wireless Networks |
|||
Alive](https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/nsdi08/tech/full_papers/surana/surana.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Sonesh Surana et al., 2008 |
|||
|
|||
\[13\] <http://www.akshaya.kerala.gov.in/> |
|||
|
|||
\[14\] <http://main.airjaldi.com/> |
|||
|
|||
\[15\] [VillageCell: Cost Effective Cellular Connectivity in Rural |
|||
Areas](http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pejovicv/docs/Anand12ICTD.pdf) (PDF), |
|||
Abhinav Anand et al., 2012 |
|||
|
|||
\[16\] [Deployment and Extensio of a Converged WiMAX/WiFi Network for |
|||
Dwesa Community Area South |
|||
Africa](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.452.7357&rep=rep1&type=pdf) |
|||
(PDF), N. Ndlovu et al., 2009 |
|||
|
|||
\[17\] \"[A telemedicine network optimized for long distances in the |
|||
Amazonian jungle of |
|||
Peru](http://www.ehas.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Extremecomm_sig_ISBN.pdf)\" |
|||
(PDF), Carlos Rey-Moreno, ExtremeCom \'11, September 2011 |
|||
|
|||
\[18\] \"[Telemedicine networks of EHAS Foundation in Latin |
|||
America](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4197650/)\", |
|||
Ignacio Prieto-Egido et al., in \"Frontiers in Public Health\", October |
|||
15, 2014. |
|||
|
|||
\[19\] \"[The design of a wireless solar-powered router for rural |
|||
environments isolated from health |
|||
facilities](https://eciencia.urjc.es/bitstream/handle/10115/2293/THE%20DESIGN%20OF%20A%20WIRELESS%20SOLAR-POWERED-2008.pdf?sequence=1)\" |
|||
(PDF), Francisco Javier Simo Reigadas et al., in \"IEEE Wireless |
|||
Communications\", June 2008. |
|||
|
|||
\[20\] [On a long wireless link for rural telemedicine in |
|||
Malawi](http://users.ictp.it/~mzennaro/Malawi.pdf) (PDF), M. Zennaro et |
|||
al., 2008 |
|||
|
|||
\[21\] [A Survey of Delay- and Disruption-Tolerant Networking |
|||
Applications](http://www.jie-online.org/index.php/jie/article/view/91), |
|||
Artemios G. Voyiatzis, 2012 |
|||
|
|||
\[22\] [Supporting Cloud Deployment in the Guifi Community |
|||
Network](https://www.sics.se/~amir/files/download/papers/guifi.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Roger Baig et al., 2013 |
|||
|
|||
\[23\] [A Case for Research with and on Community |
|||
Networks](http://www.sigcomm.org/sites/default/files/ccr/papers/2013/July/2500098-2500108.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Bart Braem et.al, 2013 |
|||
|
|||
\[24\] There are smaller networks in Scotland |
|||
([Tegola](http://www.tegola.org.uk/)), Slovenia ([wlan |
|||
slovenija](https://wlan-si.net/)), Belgium ([Wireless |
|||
Antwerpen](http://www.wirelessantwerpen.be/)), and the Netherlands |
|||
([Wireless Leiden](https://www.wirelessleiden.nl/)), among others. |
|||
Australia has [Melbourne Wireless](http://melbourne.wireless.org.au/). |
|||
In Latin America, numerous examples exists, such as [Bogota |
|||
Mesh](https://www.facebook.com/BogotaMesh) (Colombia) and [Monte Video |
|||
Libre](http://picandocodigo.net/2008/montevideolibre-redes-libres-en-montevideo/) |
|||
(Uruguay). Some of these networks are interconnected. This is the case |
|||
for the Belgian and Dutch community networks, and for the Slovenian and |
|||
Austrian networks. \[8,22,23\] |
|||
|
|||
\[25\] [Proxy performance analysis in a community wireless |
|||
network](http://upcommons.upc.edu/handle/2099.1/19710), Pablo Pitarch |
|||
Miguel, 2013 |
|||
|
|||
\[26\] [RuralCafe: Web Search in the Rural Developing |
|||
World](http://www.ambuehler.ethz.ch/CDstore/www2009/proc/docs/p411.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Jay Chen et al., 2009 |
|||
|
|||
\[27\] [A Delay-Tolerant Network Architecture for Challenged |
|||
Networks](http://www.kevinfall.com/seipage/papers/p27-fall.pdf) (PDF), |
|||
Kevin Fall, 2003 |
|||
|
|||
\[28\] [Delay- and Disruption-Tolerant Networks (DTNs) \-- A Tutorial |
|||
(version |
|||
2.0)](http://ipnsig.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/DTN_Tutorial_v2.04.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Forrest Warthman, 2012 |
|||
|
|||
\[29\] [Healthcare Supported by Data Mule Networks in Remote Communities |
|||
of the Amazon |
|||
Region](http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2014/730760/), Mauro |
|||
Margalho Coutinho et al., 2014 |
|||
|
|||
\[30\] [First Mile Solutions\' Daknet Takes Rural Communities |
|||
Online](http://www.firstmilesolutions.com/documents/FMS_Case_Study.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Carol Chyau and Jean-Francois Raymond, 2005 |
|||
|
|||
\[31\] [DakNet: A Road to Universal Broadband |
|||
Connectivity](http://courses.media.mit.edu/2003fall/de/DakNet-Case.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Amir Alexander Hasson et al., 2003 |
|||
|
|||
\[32\] [DakNet: Architecture and Connectivity in Developing |
|||
Nations](http://ijpret.com/publishedarticle/2015/4/IJPRET%20-%20ECN%20115.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Madhuri Bhole, 2015 |
|||
|
|||
\[33\] [Delay Tolerant Networks and Their |
|||
Applications](http://www.citeulike.org/user/tnhh/article/13517347), |
|||
Longxiang Gao et al., 2015 |
|||
|
|||
\[34\] [Low-cost communication for rural internet kiosks using |
|||
mechanical |
|||
backhaul](https://people.csail.mit.edu/matei/papers/2006/mobicom_kiosks.pdf), |
|||
A. Seth et al., 2006 |
|||
|
|||
\[35\] [Searching the World Wide Web in Low-Connectivity |
|||
Communities](http://tek.sourceforge.net/papers/tek-www02.pdf) (PDF), |
|||
William Thies et al., 2002 |
|||
|
|||
\[36\] [Slow Search: Information Retrieval without Time |
|||
Constraints](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~yubink/hcir2013.pdf) (PDF), Jaime |
|||
Teevan, 2013 |
|||
|
|||
\[37\] [Potential for Collaborative Caching and Prefetching in |
|||
Largely-Disconnected |
|||
Villages](http://mrmgroup.cs.princeton.edu/papers/isaacman-winsdr503.pdf) |
|||
(PDF), Sibren Isaacman et al., 2008 |
|||
|
|||
-- |
|||
-- |
|||
|
|||
Posted on October 26, 2015 at 12:26 AM in [Access to |
|||
information](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/copyright_and_access_to_information/), |
|||
[Communications](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/communications/), |
|||
[Cover story](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/cover-story/), |
|||
[DIY](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/diy/), |
|||
[Internet](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/internet/), [Wireless |
|||
technology](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/wireless_technology/) \| |
|||
[Permalink](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/10/how-to-build-a-low-tech-internet.html) |
|||
@ -1,131 +1,85 @@ |
|||
Title: The Pandemic's Dark Cloud |
|||
Author: Mél Hogan |
|||
<p id="colophon_title">Colophon</p> |
|||
<div class="colophon"> |
|||
<p>A Nourishing Network is a peer-to-peer publishing experiment starting from the feed as a potentially multi-directional circulation device.</p> |
|||
<p>A Nourishing Network is initiated by servus.at (Davide Bevilacqua) in collaboration with varia.zone (Alice Strete & Manetta Berends) and is published in the context of AMRO 2020 (Arts Meets Radical Openness). </p> |
|||
<p> Editing: Davide Bevilacqua <br> Design and development: Manetta Berends, Alice Strete <br> Paper: xxxx <br> Typeface: Gnu Unifont, White Rabbit, Ansi Shadow <br> Print and production: Varia <br> This project is produced with Free Software tools. The feeds are made with Pelican & Weasyprint. |
|||
</p> |
|||
|
|||
<p> Davide is an artist and curator working is the blurry area between media and contemporary art. </p><p> Manetta Berends is a designer working with forms of networked publishing, situated software and collective infrastructures. </p> <p>Alice Strete is an artist and researcher interested in the intricate relationship between humans and the technologies they surround themselves with. </p> <p>Many thanks to our partners, collaborators, authors and the AMRO community. </p> |
|||
<p> Published under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.</p> |
|||
</p></div> |
|||
|
|||
<div class="first-page"> |
|||
<div id="title_edition"> A Nourishing Network - December 2020</div> |
|||
<div id="title">The Pandemic's Dark Cloud</div> |
|||
|
|||
<div id="author"> by Mél Hogan</div> |
|||
<pre id="ascii_blob"> |
|||
----------------------------------a----------------------------------- |
|||
-------------------------- - - - - - ----------------------------- |
|||
----------------------n--n--n--n--n--n--n--n--n----------------------- |
|||
--------------------o----o---o----o----o---o----o--------------------- |
|||
----------------u-----u-----u-----u-----u-----u-----u----------------- |
|||
-------------r------r------r------r------r------r------r-------------- |
|||
----------i-------i-------i-------i-------i-------i-------i----------- |
|||
-------s--------s--------s--------s--------s--------s--------s-------- |
|||
-----h---------h--------h---------h---------h--------h---------h------ |
|||
----i---------i---------i---------i---------i---------i---------i----- |
|||
----n---------n---------n---------n---------n---------n---------n----- |
|||
----g---------g---------g---------g---------g---------g---------g----- |
|||
----- --------- -------- --------- --------- -------- --------- ------ |
|||
-------n--------n--------n--------n--------n--------n--------n-------- |
|||
----------e-------e-------e-------e-------e-------e-------e----------- |
|||
-------------t------t------t------t------t------t------t-------------- |
|||
----------------w-----w-----w-----w-----w-----w-----w----------------- |
|||
--------------------o----o---o----o----o---o----o--------------------- |
|||
-------------------------r--r--r--r--r--r--r-------------------------- |
|||
---------------------------- k-kk-k-kk-k ----------------------------- |
|||
</pre> |
|||
|
|||
|
|||
</div> |
|||
<header id="pageheader-issue">A Nourishing Network</header> |
|||
<header id="pageheader-theme">The Pandemic's Dark Cloud</header> |
|||
|
|||
<div class="essay_content"> |
|||
|
|||
<p><pre id="first_letter_mel"> |
|||
Date: 7 January 2021 |
|||
|
|||
<pre id="first_letter_mel"> |
|||
█████╗ |
|||
██╔══██╗ |
|||
███████║ |
|||
██╔══██║ |
|||
╚═╝ ╚═╝ |
|||
</pre>s the pandemic settled into consciousness across the globe, humans devolved. People in countries where the response to COVID-19 was most mismanaged started to snack a lot.^[^1]^ Pre-sliced packaged charcuterie. Ritz crackers. Oreo cookies. In their growing helplessness, people also sharply increased their consumption of alcohol, especially women in the US.^[^2]^ For some it was drugs. Those lucky enough to keep their job doubled down on work, staying at their stations or desks for longer hours – part avoidance and part stuckness into systems that could offer no other plan.</p> |
|||
</pre>s the pandemic settled into consciousness across the globe, humans devolved. People in countries where the response to COVID-19 was most mismanaged started to snack a lot.[^1] Pre-sliced packaged charcuterie. Ritz crackers. Oreo cookies. In their growing helplessness, people also sharply increased their consumption of alcohol, especially women in the US.[^2] For some it was drugs. Those lucky enough to keep their job doubled down on work, staying at their stations or desks for longer hours – part avoidance and part stuckness into systems that could offer no other plan. |
|||
|
|||
The dread by now is cumulative. Pick your pain: covid19, white supremacy, climate catastrophe. People are reaching new levels of “doomscrolling” on social media, playing online video games, and “binge-watching” Netflix as ways to pass the time, waiting on the virus to run its course, or for politicians to make a plan. As things shut down, Zoom quickly took over as the way to communicate at a safe social distance. Education quickly became clicking at screens. No more shopping in person meant ordering by way of interfaces. All of these screens more or less allowed things to continue, if not as normal, as a viable alternative in the meantime. It remains to be seen if this online world we’ve adopted so quickly is the new normal, and here to stay, or if it’ll reflect to us the inefficiencies of how we lived before and save us from ourselves. Or, maybe it will call into question the terrible inequities that are only made more evident by this pandemic. |
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|
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By April, the news media were already reporting that lockdowns had meant cleaner air and clearer water.[^3] Satellite images showed less pollution over China and the US. Animals were found roaming freely in different parts of India.[^4] “Nature is healing” became a popular meme celebrating the lessening of human impact and nature’s recovery.[^5] But were the effects of lockdown, or quarantine, of humans being trapped in their homes, and of doing everything online, truly a more sustainable way of going about life? Had the turn to “the cloud” proven to be the weightless way forward? Social isolation and disinformation propagation problems aside, could the internet become a tool to inadvertently save the environment? |
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|
|||
In thinking of the internet and the many devices connected to it, these account for approximately 2-4% of global greenhouse emissions, which only promise to double by 2025.[^6] Data centres and vast server farms (where data is stored and transmitted) draw more than 80% of their energy from fossil fuel power stations. Online video alone – porn, Netflix, YouTube, Zoom – generated 60% of the world’s total data flows before covid19 hit. A Google search uses as much energy as cooking an egg or boiling water in an electric kettle.[^7] Yearly emails for work (and not accounting for spam) have been calculated to be equal in terms of CO2 emissions to driving 320 kilometres.[^8] These numbers have likely gone up considerably since the pandemic.[^9] This way of living wasn’t sustainable then, and it certainly isn’t now. |
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|
|||
<p> |
|||
The dread by now is cumulative. Pick your pain: covid19, white supremacy, climate catastrophe. People are reaching new levels of “doomscrolling” on social media, playing online video games, and “binge-watching” Netflix as ways to pass the time, waiting on the virus to run its course, or for politicians to make a plan. As things shut down, Zoom quickly took over as the way to communicate at a safe social distance. Education quickly became clicking at screens. No more shopping in person meant ordering by way of interfaces. All of these screens more or less allowed things to continue, if not as normal, as a viable alternative in the meantime. It remains to be seen if this online world we’ve adopted so quickly is the new normal, and here to stay, or if it’ll reflect to us the inefficiencies of how we lived before and save us from ourselves. Or, maybe it will call into question the terrible inequities that are only made more evident by this pandemic.</p> |
|||
<p> |
|||
By April, the news media were already reporting that lockdowns had meant cleaner air and clearer water.^[^3]^ Satellite images showed less pollution over China and the US. Animals were found roaming freely in different parts of India.^[^4]^ “Nature is healing” became a popular meme celebrating the lessening of human impact and nature’s recovery.^[^5]^ But were the effects of lockdown, or quarantine, of humans being trapped in their homes, and of doing everything online, truly a more sustainable way of going about life? Had the turn to “the cloud” proven to be the weightless way forward? Social isolation and disinformation propagation problems aside, could the internet become a tool to inadvertently save the environment?</p> |
|||
<p> |
|||
In thinking of the internet and the many devices connected to it, these account for approximately 2-4% of global greenhouse emissions, which only promise to double by 2025.^[^6]^ Data centres and vast server farms (where data is stored and transmitted) draw more than 80% of their energy from fossil fuel power stations. Online video alone – porn, Netflix, YouTube, Zoom – generated 60% of the world’s total data flows before covid19 hit. A Google search uses as much energy as cooking an egg or boiling water in an electric kettle.^[^7]^ Yearly emails for work (and not accounting for spam) have been calculated to be equal in terms of CO2 emissions to driving 320 kilometres.^[^8]^ These numbers have likely gone up considerably since the pandemic.^[^9]^ This way of living wasn’t sustainable then, and it certainly isn’t now.</p> |
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<p> |
|||
There are search engines (eg. Ecosia^[^10]^) and add-ons (eg. Carbonalyser by The Shift Project,^[^11]^ green-algorithms.org^[^12]^) that help measure user impacts on the environment, but these miss addressing the bigger questions – such as moving away from confronting personal use to the systemic, material, and ideological issues baked into the internet. Why is the internet like this? The question is more political than it is purely technological. It’s more emotional, even, than it is political. Because we’ve drifted so far away from understanding nature as inherent to human and non-human wellbeing alike, towards unrelenting and exploitative capitalism and extractivism, it means we now have these massively entangled systems that reinforce one another, generate profit for the very few, but in the end benefit nothing and nobody.^[^13]^ These systems are harder to abolish or undo, so instead we turn to solutions that lessen their impacts, and we consider the rest inevitable – or worse, natural. We might, for example, shift data centers to cooler climates to save on cooling costs, we might develop more efficient software, we might offer carbon offsetting and plant trees, but none of these technofixes reach the heart of the our current predicament: our solutions and our problems originate from the same short-sighted, greed-driven, competitive, and market-driven agendas that caused this global deadly pandemic in the first place.</p> |
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<p> |
|||
In 2020, we are generating 50 million tons worldwide of electronic waste, with an annual growth of 5%.^[^14]^ This means that we produce e-waste at three times the rate that humans reproduce. Much e-waste is toxic and severely impacts land, water, plants, animals, and humans. This damage is permanent. At the other end of the supply chain, fields of wheat and corn have become lakes of toxic sludge to accommodate the rare earth mining industry.^[^15]^ From Mongolia to China to the Congo, people labour in dangerous conditions, mining through the ore-laden mud to find rare minerals to power our devices. Elsewhere, people work endless shifts to assemble computers, phones, tablets. It should be no surprise then that the internet that connects this all is toxic too, evidenced by both the work of content moderators who filter the internet, and the shady tactics used by Big Tech to evade taxes to get filthy rich off the backs of this global human-powered machine. As Ron Deibert put it recently in his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, “If we continue on this path of unbridled consumption and planned obsolescence, we are doomed.”^[^16]^</p> |
|||
<p> |
|||
So we can either become extinct from the repercussions of our centuries old destructive neoliberal colonial institutions, as the planet pushes back with more pandemics, storms, and violence, or we can get together and admit to our failures as colonisers. These failures tap into something profound, deeply broken, about what settlers have historically valued and continue to enact. We are living largely in the dark fantasies of ghosts – and these old, settler ideas haunt and break us. We can imagine better. We can make other decisions. We can tune our emotions to move from awareness to anxiety to action. We return public lands to Indigenous peoples. We defund police and dismantle white supremacy. We transform ourselves, and our communication systems will follow.</p> |
|||
There are search engines (eg. Ecosia[^10]) and add-ons (eg. Carbonalyser by The Shift Project,[^11] green-algorithms.org[^12]) that help measure user impacts on the environment, but these miss addressing the bigger questions – such as moving away from confronting personal use to the systemic, material, and ideological issues baked into the internet. Why is the internet like this? The question is more political than it is purely technological. It’s more emotional, even, than it is political. Because we’ve drifted so far away from understanding nature as inherent to human and non-human wellbeing alike, towards unrelenting and exploitative capitalism and extractivism, it means we now have these massively entangled systems that reinforce one another, generate profit for the very few, but in the end benefit nothing and nobody.[^13] These systems are harder to abolish or undo, so instead we turn to solutions that lessen their impacts, and we consider the rest inevitable – or worse, natural. We might, for example, shift data centers to cooler climates to save on cooling costs, we might develop more efficient software, we might offer carbon offsetting and plant trees, but none of these technofixes reach the heart of the our current predicament: our solutions and our problems originate from the same short-sighted, greed-driven, competitive, and market-driven agendas that caused this global deadly pandemic in the first place. |
|||
|
|||
</div> |
|||
In 2020, we are generating 50 million tons worldwide of electronic waste, with an annual growth of 5%.[^14] This means that we produce e-waste at three times the rate that humans reproduce. Much e-waste is toxic and severely impacts land, water, plants, animals, and humans. This damage is permanent. At the other end of the supply chain, fields of wheat and corn have become lakes of toxic sludge to accommodate the rare earth mining industry.[^15] From Mongolia to China to the Congo, people labour in dangerous conditions, mining through the ore-laden mud to find rare minerals to power our devices. Elsewhere, people work endless shifts to assemble computers, phones, tablets. It should be no surprise then that the internet that connects this all is toxic too, evidenced by both the work of content moderators who filter the internet, and the shady tactics used by Big Tech to evade taxes to get filthy rich off the backs of this global human-powered machine. As Ron Deibert put it recently in his 2020 CBC Massey Lectures, “If we continue on this path of unbridled consumption and planned obsolescence, we are doomed.”[^16] |
|||
|
|||
<div class="references"> |
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[^1]: [[*https://www.convenience.org/Media/Daily/2020/May/1/6-Snack-Sales-Soar-During-Pandemic\_Marketing*]{.underline}](https://www.convenience.org/Media/Daily/2020/May/1/6-Snack-Sales-Soar-During-Pandemic_Marketing) |
|||
[[*https://news.italianfood.net/2020/04/02/pre-sliced-packaged-charcuterie-partly-offsets-pandemic-blow/*]{.underline}](https://news.italianfood.net/2020/04/02/pre-sliced-packaged-charcuterie-partly-offsets-pandemic-blow/) |
|||
[[*https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/16078-the-snack-trends-predicted-to-persist-post-pandemic*]{.underline}](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/16078-the-snack-trends-predicted-to-persist-post-pandemic) |
|||
So we can either become extinct from the repercussions of our centuries old destructive neoliberal colonial institutions, as the planet pushes back with more pandemics, storms, and violence, or we can get together and admit to our failures as colonisers. These failures tap into something profound, deeply broken, about what settlers have historically valued and continue to enact. We are living largely in the dark fantasies of ghosts – and these old, settler ideas haunt and break us. We can imagine better. We can make other decisions. We can tune our emotions to move from awareness to anxiety to action. We return public lands to Indigenous peoples. We defund police and dismantle white supremacy. We transform ourselves, and our communication systems will follow. |
|||
|
|||
[^2]: [[*https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/americans-are-handling-coronavirus-pandemic-by-binging-on-snacks/*]{.underline}](https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/americans-are-handling-coronavirus-pandemic-by-binging-on-snacks/) |
|||
[[*https://www.herworld.com/gallery/life/wellness/overeating-binge-eating-covid19-pandemic-work-home/*]{.underline}](https://www.herworld.com/gallery/life/wellness/overeating-binge-eating-covid19-pandemic-work-home/) |
|||
[^1]: [https://www.convenience.org/Media/Daily/2020/May/1/6-Snack-Sales-Soar-During-Pandemic\_Marketing](https://www.convenience.org/Media/Daily/2020/May/1/6-Snack-Sales-Soar-During-Pandemic_Marketing) |
|||
[https://news.italianfood.net/2020/04/02/pre-sliced-packaged-charcuterie-partly-offsets-pandemic-blow/](https://news.italianfood.net/2020/04/02/pre-sliced-packaged-charcuterie-partly-offsets-pandemic-blow/) |
|||
[https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/16078-the-snack-trends-predicted-to-persist-post-pandemic](https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/16078-the-snack-trends-predicted-to-persist-post-pandemic) |
|||
|
|||
[^3]: [[*https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/coronavirus-shutdowns-have-unintended-climate-benefits-n1161921*]{.underline}](https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/coronavirus-shutdowns-have-unintended-climate-benefits-n1161921) |
|||
[^2]: [https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/americans-are-handling-coronavirus-pandemic-by-binging-on-snacks/](https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/americans-are-handling-coronavirus-pandemic-by-binging-on-snacks/) |
|||
[https://www.herworld.com/gallery/life/wellness/overeating-binge-eating-covid19-pandemic-work-home/](https://www.herworld.com/gallery/life/wellness/overeating-binge-eating-covid19-pandemic-work-home/) |
|||
|
|||
[^4]: [[*https://www.planetofstudents.com/blog/social-awareness/effects-of-lockdown-on-the-environment/*]{.underline}](https://www.planetofstudents.com/blog/social-awareness/effects-of-lockdown-on-the-environment/) |
|||
[^3]: [https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/coronavirus-shutdowns-have-unintended-climate-benefits-n1161921](https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/coronavirus-shutdowns-have-unintended-climate-benefits-n1161921) |
|||
|
|||
[^5]: [[*https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmanuelfelton/coronavirus-meme-nature-is-healing-we-are-the-virus*]{.underline}](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmanuelfelton/coronavirus-meme-nature-is-healing-we-are-the-virus) |
|||
[^4]: [https://www.planetofstudents.com/blog/social-awareness/effects-of-lockdown-on-the-environment/](https://www.planetofstudents.com/blog/social-awareness/effects-of-lockdown-on-the-environment/) |
|||
|
|||
[^6]: [[*https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think*]{.underline}](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think) |
|||
[^5]: [https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmanuelfelton/coronavirus-meme-nature-is-healing-we-are-the-virus](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emmanuelfelton/coronavirus-meme-nature-is-healing-we-are-the-virus) |
|||
|
|||
[^7]: [[*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jan/12/carbon-emissions-google*]{.underline}](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jan/12/carbon-emissions-google) |
|||
[^6]: [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think) |
|||
|
|||
[^8]: [[*https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think*]{.underline}](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think) |
|||
[^7]: [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jan/12/carbon-emissions-google](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/jan/12/carbon-emissions-google) |
|||
|
|||
[^8]: [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think) |
|||
and |
|||
[[*https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-55002423*]{.underline}](https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-55002423) |
|||
[https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-55002423](https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/technology-55002423) |
|||
|
|||
[^9]: [https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/](https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/) |
|||
|
|||
[^9]: [[*https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/*]{.underline}](https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/) |
|||
[^10]: [https://www.ecosia.org/](https://www.ecosia.org/) |
|||
|
|||
[^10]: [[*https://www.ecosia.org/*]{.underline}](https://www.ecosia.org/) |
|||
[^11]: [https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/carbonalyser/](https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/carbonalyser/) |
|||
|
|||
[^11]: [[*https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/carbonalyser/*]{.underline}](https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/carbonalyser/) |
|||
[^12]: [http://www.green-algorithms.org/](http://www.green-algorithms.org/) |
|||
|
|||
[^12]: [[*http://www.green-algorithms.org/*]{.underline}](http://www.green-algorithms.org/) |
|||
[^13]: [https://landback.org/manifesto/](https://landback.org/manifesto/) |
|||
|
|||
[^13]: [[*https://landback.org/manifesto/*]{.underline}](https://landback.org/manifesto/) |
|||
[^14]: [https://www.thebalancesmb.com/e-waste-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878189](https://www.thebalancesmb.com/e-waste-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878189) |
|||
|
|||
[^14]: [[*https://www.thebalancesmb.com/e-waste-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878189*]{.underline}](https://www.thebalancesmb.com/e-waste-recycling-facts-and-figures-2878189) |
|||
[^15]: [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html) |
|||
|
|||
[^15]: [[*https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html*]{.underline}](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1350811/In-China-true-cost-Britains-clean-green-wind-power-experiment-Pollution-disastrous-scale.html) |
|||
[^16]: [https://munkschool.exposure.co/a-qa-with-ron-deibert](https://munkschool.exposure.co/a-qa-with-ron-deibert) |
|||
|
|||
[^16]: [[*https://munkschool.exposure.co/a-qa-with-ron-deibert*]{.underline}](https://munkschool.exposure.co/a-qa-with-ron-deibert) |
|||
------------------------------- |
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|
|||
</div> |
|||
<p id="summary"> The Pandemic's Dark Cloud was written in November 2020 as a |
|||
*The Pandemic's Dark Cloud* was written in November 2020 as a |
|||
reflection on the relationship between the pandemic and environmental |
|||
media, with a focus on "the cloud" and its undergirding networked |
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infrastructure. The central idea of this piece is to demonstrate the |
|||
interconnectedness of all things -- covid, care, community, nature, |
|||
ewaste, racism, greed -- in both the making and undoing of our modern |
|||
communication systems. |
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<br><br> |
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|
|||
This piece is intended as a provocation, so your thoughts and feelings |
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are very welcomed! </p> |
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are very welcomed! |
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|
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<div class="bio-mel"> |
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-------------------------------- |
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|
|||
*Mél Hogan is the Director of the [[Environmental Media Lab |
|||
(EML)]{.underline}](https://www.environmentalmedialab.com/)* and [[Associate |
|||
Professor]{.underline}](https://www.melhogan.com/) at the University of Calgary, |
|||
**Mél Hogan** is the Director of the [Environmental Media Lab |
|||
(EML)](https://www.environmentalmedialab.com/) and [Associate |
|||
Professor](https://www.melhogan.com/) at the University of Calgary, |
|||
Canada. She is also an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of |
|||
Communication. Career highlights so far include keynoting the 2020 |
|||
McLuhan lecture at the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, and giving a plenary |
|||
at transmediale 2020.\ |
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\@mel\_hogan / melhogan.com / mhogan\@ucalgary.ca* </div> |
|||
at transmediale 2020. |
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|
|||
@mel_hogan, melhogan.com, mhogan@ucalgary.ca |
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|
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