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The Journal of Community Informatics by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2007-03-30 18:30

Community Informatics (CI) is the study and the practice of enabling communities with Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). CI seeks to work with communities towards the effective use of ICTs to improve their processes, achieve their objectives, overcome the "digital divides" that exist both within and between communities, and empower communities and citizens in the range of areas of ICT application including for health, cultural production, civic management, e-governance among others. The Journal of Community Informatics brings together a global range of academics, CI practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers. Each issue of the Journal of Community Informatics will contain double blind peer-reviewed research articles as well as commentaries by leading CI practitioners and policy makers.

IT+46 by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2007-04-25 15:20

IT +46 was started in 2004 to take on the challenge of localizing free and open source software to Swahili. That intense experience in Africa helped the IT+46 team to define a mission of : Knowledge Transfer to the recipients. As their latest report states, "IT +46 is convinced that IT can play an important role in making development sustainable. But since information by itself is not knowledge, we aim to share knowledge rather than simply transfer information. This approach is considered in our projects from the design to the implementation and training. We work together with grassroots organizations, academia, as well as regulators in both developing and developed countries. The company brings more than ten years of hands-on international working experience in Information Technology in the areas of: * Education and Training in ICTs * Free and Open Source Software Development * Localization of Software * Design and Implementation of fixed and wireless Infrastructure * Voice over IP * Network and Computer Security * ICT Policies and Development Plans * Energy Solutions for ICTs

iDA_MJM_Speaker by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2007-04-30 10:16

Promotion of iDA Distinguished Speaker event - April 2007

Links by lki — last modified 2007-04-25 15:17

Links to websites that have direct relevance to the OPLAN concept

OPLAN Presentations by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-11-15 11:40

OPLAN presentations in .pdf format as made by Malcolm Matson and others at external events

Digital Services - The Economic challenge for rural areas - Fryslân (The Netherlands) (PDF document, 13284Kb) by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-11-21 23:28

The conference gave the opportunity to experience the results of several projects which have been co-financed by the European Union, the Province of Fryslân and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Besides experiences, it set forth views and strategy in the field of digital services. This Presentation was given by Malcolm Matson on 23rd November, 2006 on behalf of the OPLAN Foundation.

CAIDA - Commons Project by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-12-04 17:26

CAIDA (Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis) proposes a collaboration to simultaneously solve three acute and growing problems facing the Internet: a self-reported financial crisis in the Internet infrastructure provider industry; a data acquisition crisis which has severely stunted the field of network science; and a struggle for survival within emerging community and municipal networks, who are in an ideal position to address the first two problems but often lack resources and experience to make informed operational decisions, and are also continually threatened by incumbent-driven legislation. We propose an experiment to build a cooperative national backbone to connect select community and municipal networks to each other, and to the global Internet. Peering would be conditionally available to county, state, and federal government entities, academic institutions, and community wireless initiatives. The conditions are two-fold: (1) the attached networks must make select operational data available to Internet technology and policy researchers under appropriate legal data sharing frameworks; (2) the attached networks must agree to cooperatively develop and abide by policies based on confirmed results of empirical data analyses. The proposed experiment -- Cooperative Measurement and Modeling of Open Networked Systems (COMMONS) -- carefully addresses the three highlighted problems, and without federal regulatory involvement, which is still feared to be a cure worse than the disease(s) even by the regulators themselves. First, by offloading from commercial providers the responsibility for supporting Internet service delivery in unprofitable areas, we will measurably improve the financial situation of these providers. Second, COMMONS offers an unprecedented opportunity to establish standards of scientific integrity in the field of Internet research -- by providing rigorous empirical data against which to validate theories, models and simulations. Furthermore, because the COMMONS testbed will support public analysis of actual Internet traffic, it will inform debates on increasingly important technical, economic, policy, and social issues related to the Internet. Third, the COMMONS project not only allows struggling community networks to cost-share a financially daunting component of their operation, but it also provides a forum for the cooperating networks and the research community to share lessons learned with eachother.

OMIDYAR Network by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-12-04 17:30

"Originally, we created this tool so that everyone at Omidyar Network could share news and information; discuss different ideas and viewpoints; collaborate on documents; post announcements; sync up our calendars; and, in general, stay well informed. We found that it served us well. In fact, we wondered if others might find value in it, too. So, we decided to open it up to anyone and everyone working toward making the world a better place. Here, you can: * Participate in group discussions and collaborate on a wide variety of topics * Create a home where you can collaborate and communicate with others * Invite anyone you want to join or create discussions and workspaces Because this isn't a typical web site, its value depends on you. You help make omidyar.net useful to others. You help decide how it evolves. There are certain ground rules, however: We are all here because we believe in making the world a better place. We believe in treating each other with respect. We believe everyone has something to contribute. Many of you have already contributed greatly to making the world a better place. Thank you for all your efforts up until now. And thank you, in advance, for your efforts in the future."

Sweden - IT Policy Strategy Group Report by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-11-11 16:48

On 18 June 2003, the Swedish Government appointed an IT Policy Strategy Group. In addition to exercising an advisory role vis à vis the Government, the Group is to play a proactive role in efforts to achieve the IT policy goal of an information society for all. Another central task is to seek in collaboration with other players in the community to maintain Swedens leading international position at the forefront of IT development. The report of the group is here.

Bill Moyers Citizens Class (PBS television USA) by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-10-06 05:36

Public Service Television (PBS) presenter Bill Moyers, has latched onto the whole 'open' debate as it impacts the Internet (net neutrality) and local open access neutrality (OPLANs). The website provides a very useful overview of specific US issues and raging battles - where the citizens of various communities are being strongly opposed by the telco and cable sector in lobbying on Capitol Hill to prevent the market-driven development of OPLANs. Also contains useful streamed material and other links

How To Accelerate Your Internet: A practical guide to Bandwidth Management and Optimization using Open Source Software by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-10-17 05:04

Access to sufficient Internet bandwidth enables worldwide electronic collaboration, access to informational resources, rapid and effective communication, and grants membership to a global community. Therefore, bandwidth is probably the single most critical resource at the disposal of a modern organisation. The goal of this book is to provide practical information on how to gain the largest possible benefit from your connection to the Internet. By applying the monitoring and optimisation techniques discussed here, the effectiveness of your network can be significantly improved. We hope that you find these materials and this website useful. Please feel free to contribute your own experiences on the wiki and mailing list, and help make the next edition even better.

COOVA - Hot Spot Management by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-10-17 05:07

In order to make Hotspot Setup and Management using off-the-shelf components a whole lot easier, Coova's first solution is open source firmware tailor made for HotSpots. Check it out…

The City of the Future - Turin (PDF document, 11231Kb) by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-10-11 19:01

Malcolm Matson's closing keynote presentation given at the Cisco e-Leaders Forum in Turin on 11th October 2006. Exploring the Forum topic of "Transforming Cities: Innovative uses of ICT for social and economic development", the presentation highligh the key themes and issues facing any city or municipality.

STADSNÄTS Förengingen – Bredbandsbåten (PDF document, 10321Kb) by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-09-28 02:16

Malcolm Matson's presentation to Svenska STADSNÄTS Förengingen – Bredbandsbåten – 27th September 2006 : Stockholm M/S Victoria 1

'Where Do System Standards Go From Here?' (PDF document, 316Kb) by Dr John G. Waclawsky — last modified 2006-10-10 07:53

The goal of any standards group should be to generate end-user value, argues John G. Waclawsky, Ph.D. in this paper written when he was a member of the senior technical staff of the mobile wireless group at Cisco Systems. Notable quotes from the paper include: "Most vendors would rather be system integrators than commodity box and part suppliers" "The telcos and their suppliers want to “circle the wagons” against the threat of component technologies and business models" "Incumbents use the slow pace of system standards to help protect their markets and business models" "Market-based projects with “cookbook” outputs would help the system standards bodies remain relevant"

'Closed Architectures, Closed Systems and Closed Minds' (PDF document, 250Kb) by Dr John G. Waclawsky — last modified 2006-10-10 07:51

After OSI, how can anyone still believe in network technology innovation through system standards groupthink efforts?' Some key quotes from the paper: "People, including standards makers, can’t see into the future" "The lack of flexibility in tightly-coupled architectures makes it hard to experiment" "The market is abandoning the planned future of mobile wireless" "In an open architecture, developers can experiment with new applications, services and technologies"

'IMS 101: What You Need To Know Now' (PDF document, 250Kb) by Dr John G. Waclawsky — last modified 2006-10-10 07:57

Can the IP Multimedia Subsystem enable new services, converge wireless and wireline networks and keep service providers firmly in the driver’s seat? The author addresses this and leave us with a number of notable quotes: "IMS functions signal and track usage, but IMS doesn’t provide features or services" "UMTS Releases are just steps in the migration toward full 3G implementation" "The desire to monetize the Internet means some form of IMS will probably be implemented"

'IMS: A Critique of The Grand Plan' (PDF document, 118Kb) by Dr John G. Waclawsky — last modified 2006-10-10 08:00

The author offers ten reasons why IMS is a bad idea and says: "The dark side of Quality Of Service (QOS) is that it can be used to limit bandwidth and functionality" "HTTP traffic is an enormous threat to IMS, as it does not require redirection from the signaling plane" "How to pay for the Internet’s underlying communication infrastructure is the key question" "IMS is just a veiled attempt to prop up an aging, monopolistic, circuit-oriented business model"

Seattle - Report of Broadband & Telecommunications Task Force (PDF document, 2191Kb) by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-10-14 18:08

The Seattle City Council created, with concurrence by Mayor Greg Nickels, the Task Force on Broadband and Telecommunications in summer, 2004. The Task Force was charged to explore and report on the feasibility of using municipal resources in a network that is available to the public using broadband technologies. The work of the committee included evaluation of broadband technologies such as broadband over power lines; Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, and other wireless applications; and end-user fiber-optics build out. The Task Force explored the future of broadband and broadband experiences of other cities and governments, and assesses City of Seattle assets that could help shape the future of telecommunications information services for the City, its citizens and its businesses. The thirteen-member Task Force was chaired by Steve Clifford, the former CEO of King Broadcasting. Seattle City Council Resolution 30684 directed that members of the Task Force should have the following expertise, experience and attributes: * Members of the business, technology, and telecommunication communities; * Persons with a background in community technology; * Persons with expertise in technology and telecommunications law and regulation; and * Citizens with an interest in technology, telecommunications, and the delivery of services to residents and businesses in Seattle.

City of Seattle, Washington State, USA by Malcolm Matson — last modified 2006-10-14 18:11

The Seattle City Council created, with concurrence by Mayor Greg Nickels, the Task Force on Broadband and Telecommunications in summer, 2004. The Task Force was charged to explore and report on the feasibility of using municipal resources in a network that is available to the public using broadband technologies. It reported in May 2005