[CNSIG-Council] Policy and Regulation WG

Dear SIG Members, Sorry for the delay: I'm in field-work in Atins with Troian, from CooLab, looking for alternatives for local communication in deep Maranhão. Currently, there's only satelite connection, so when it rains, we became offline. We've tried to follow the kick-off meeting, but we didn't get it. Please, find below a few lines of my proposal to the Policy and Regulation Wroking Group. best regards, Thiago Novaes +++ Policy and Regulation Network Communities – SIG – ISOC Jan 2018 Spectrum has been a crucial and public resource for communication in the last one hundred years. Since the introduction of radio, the potential to amplify communication between people has been widely discussed. However, worldwide spectrum is under-used and most of the cities are not using even half of their allocated spectrum. Although there is a technical evolution largely taking place, technical alienation makes difficult the development of new possibilities characteristic of technologies such as new multimedia communication platforms. The dominant trend in public discussion around digital technologies is frequently limited to how it is now possible to receive more content with more lines and pixels (high-definition). Whilst governments and the private sector pretend to the general public that the spectrum is a scarce resource, today this is certainly not true, and there is a lot of unused spectrum available. The appeal of revenue involved in spectrum management is very powerful making it difficult for regulators and national Governments to let go of exclusive commercial use of the spectrum. The restriction of the use of the spectrum creates an environment where pricing determines the actors and rules for access, imposing a commercial relationship between civil society and this fundamental right and ample resource. The current debate about spectrum management considers that new technologies can provide more efficient and equitable use of the spectrum, leading us to a paradigm shift: the abundance of the spectrum. In this context, what are the opportunities and challenges for Communities Networks to use spectrum, particularly in the transition from analogue to digital technologies? The use of the spectrum in contemporary and diverse cultures requires a socio-technical thinking, in an effort to reduce technological alienation. Since not everyone has access to the same digital development, we have a scenario where both analogue and digital technologies share the potential of empowering far-to-reach communities, who themselves desire to build communication networks and tools collaboratively. Whilst these new media aesthetic objects have been understood mostly by their economic potential, as instruments of work, or, ideed, of consumption, Community Networks around the globe are exploring multiple modalities of human-machine relation emerged from local, ethnic and experimental uses. Mesh networks, community cell phones, digital television, digital radio, different communication infrastructures can be finally combined to interactive services, and work as an effective tool which helps to communicate over large territories. Combining old and new communicational devices, Network Communities can produce their own information and make it available to other distant and/or isolated locations through lower energy consuming equipments as well as connecting to the Internet to amplify locally and globally their communicational public sphere. Activities: Organize strategic meetings with SIG-members, technicians, authorities and community leaders; Co-produce pedagogical material with outlines for use of different digital devices specific to locality and dissiminate information through public workshops; Mediate the institutional relations between key partners and potential collaborators from different sectors; Participate in public debates, and follow specialized telecom news concerning regulation, technological advances and current challenges to the effective use of the spectrum through different digital communication infrastructures. Present papers to academic and activist communities to widen discussion and attract further specialist collaborators. Experience: Since 1997 I have been involved in local communication projects: Radio Muda, a free radio installed in the centre of the University campus which lead me to offer hundreds of worshops around Brazil, Latin America and Europe. In 2003 and 2004, I became member of the Brazilian digital television research group, responsible for interactive services. In 2005, I was invited to coordinate the digital worshops for the National Cultural Policy “Pontos de Cultura”, and collaborated as advisor of Brazilian gorvernment during the WSIS, in Tunis. In 2011, I became General Secretary of the Brazilian Digital Radio Assoation, a group of researchers dedicated to develop alternatives for autonomous global digital communication through radio technologies. Currently, I’m post-doc researcher in a federal university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, lecture in Radio Political Economy, working with CooLab, building communication infrastructure in the Brazilian Amazon. In 2017 I have been involved in the organization of some spectrum related activities: - International Conference Spectrum Communication Society – ESC IV (Nov. 13th and 14th 2017) http://esc4.abradig.org.br/ - Round table in the Internet Brazilian Forum (Pre-IGF, Nov. 15th 2017) http://forumdainternet.cgi.br/files/16462.pdf - Amazon Digital Television Seminar (Dec. 1th 2017) http://tvdigitalamazonia.produtoracolaborativa.com/ Responsible for: https://simondongilbert.wordpress.com/ http://www.tsonami.cl/radio/programa-para-raio/ Collaboration: http://www.coolab.org/ http://drm-brasil.org/ http://radiolivre.org/ http://muda.radiolivre.org/ Portuguese translator for http://apc.org/ Reference Article: Digital Radio in Brazil: Not left, nor right. Let’s move forward http://revista.ibict.br/liinc/article/view/3768