Subject: Re: [gaia] Current version of the Alternative Networks draft. Section about Goals and motivations / Purpose and benefits

From: "Jose Saldana" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2016 18:06:33 +0200

Hi,

I have removed the first part of your message, in order to focus on this
other one:

> > 4.2.  Goals and motivation
> I propose to change this classification criteria to "Benefits"

What about "Purpose and benefits"?

> >
> >    Alternative Networks can also be classified according to the
> >    underlying motivation for them, e.g., addressing deployment and usage
> >    hurdles:
> And change the above as follows:
> 
> Alternative Networks can be classified according to the benefits that they
> bring compared to mainstream solutions, regarding economic, technological,
> social or political objectives. These benefits could be enjoyed mostly by
> the actors involved (e.g., lowering costs or gaining technical
> expertise) or
> by the society as a whole (e.g., Internet access in underserved areas or
> network neutrality).
> 
> 
> >
> >    o  Free sharing of Internet connectivity, including altruistic
> >       reasons.
> I would delete "including altruistic reasons". "Free sharing" sounds
> altruistic enough :-)

Agree.

> 
> And add also:
> 
> "Community building, social cohesion, quality of life" (example: Redhook
> Wifi)

Ok. Do we have any reference about Redhook wifi?
> 
> 
> BUT I still find this section a little confusing. I am not sure though
> how to simplify
> it without "losing information". If I was the editor I would include in
> the classification
> only the "stated goals" of different networks as presented in their web
> sites and leave
> second-order goals and motivations for a "discussion"-like section. They
are
> very important but not really appropriate as classification criteria in
> my opinion.
> 
> However, this needs some extra work and personally I don't have the time
> to do this
> right now. I could try though if you think it would be useful.

My proposal is to include the "stated goals" into a bullet list, and
"second-order goals and motivations" in another paragraph. What about this?

   Alternative Networks can be classified according to their purpose and
   the benefits they bring compared to mainstream solutions, regarding
   economic, technological, social or political objectives.  These
   benefits could be enjoyed mostly by the actors involved (e.g.,
   lowering costs or gaining technical expertise) or by the society as a
   whole (e.g., Internet access in underserved areas or network
   neutrality).

   The benefits provided by Alternative Networks include, but are not
   limited to:

   o  Reducing initial capital expenditures (for the network and the end
      user, or both).

   o  Providing additional sources of capital (beyond the traditional
      carrier-based financing).

   o  Reducing on-going operational costs (such as backhaul or network
      administration).

   o  Leveraging expertise, and having a place for experimentation and
      teaching.

   o  Reducing hurdles to adoption (digital literacy; literacy in
      general; relevance, etc.)

   o  Extending coverage to underserved areas (users and communities).

   o  Providing an alternative service in case of natural disasters and
      other extreme situations.

   o  Community building, social cohesion and quality of life
      improvement.

   The underlying motivations of users for developing these networks may
   include their desire of free sharing of Internet connectivity; the
   experience of becoming active participants in the deployment and
   management of a real and operational network; various forms of
   activism as e.g. looking for network neutrality guarantees, anti-
   censorship, decentralization to minimize control; creating and
   sharing of "commons" (i.e. information and knowledge resources that
   are collectively shared); preferring alternative ownership model (co-
   owning, co-operating) of the networking infrastructure, etc.

> 
> Best,
> 
> Panayotis.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Best regards,

Jose