[CNSIG-Council] Statement of Intention for Social Impact WG coordination role

Hi all, Here follows my statement for the "social impact" WG: Since 2006, I am working constantly on the social impact of Community Networks, which from my perspective is strongly related to their potential role as local infrastructures for local (hybrid) services and applications, beyond affordable Internet Access. I have been doing this work inside academia, or at the borders of it, writing many related papers on this topic, and collaborating with researchers from different disciplines, including engineering, economics, urban studies, sociology, and participatory design, until 2015. At that moment, there was a big turning point in my life, quiting academia and co-founding a new non-profit organization based in Zurich, called NetHood (http://nethood.org). NetHood was founded a little before a new funding framework was launched at the EU Horizon2020 programme, called CAPS (Collective awareness platforms for sustainability) in the context of which NetHood fitted perfectly and managed to receive funding through two projects: http://mazizone.eu & http://netcommons.eu, and more recently: http://heteropolitics.net. This brings myself at the center of many different groups working around the idea of community networks from different perspectives, including work "on the ground" with projects like Exarcheia Net in Athens, where I organized recently a "libremesh" workshop: http://wiki.exarcheianet.gr/index.php?title=Libremesh_workshop_in_Athens_-_…. See also: https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/athens-community-wifi-project-exarcheia-net-… It would be part of my objective as coordinator of the Social Impact WG to exactly bring in the discussion people (both researchers and activists) that are typically not part of discussions around Community Networks but whose expertise and field of action are highly relevant and complementary. As a first task of this WG I would propose to develop a map of related fields, projects, and people that need to be included in this important discussion on social impact of CNs and some sort of framework that would allow a interdisciplinary or even better transdisciplinary treatment of the topic. A collection of existing CNs that could serve as appropriate case studies for such a treatment, could be also included in our list of "first steps". Some keywords on the type of work and relationships with other WGs, might include the following: - translation (of concepts, needs, requirements, etc) - participation (including all those concerned in the discussion) - collaboration (of people from different fields and areas of action) - sustainability (of the projects, the communities, the planet :-)) As a last remark, it would make sense for me to be the coordinator of this WG only if my "beyond affordable Internet access" is considered as important for this SIG, since this plays a key role in my work and personal interest, and I wouldn't be the right person to coordinate this WG if this is not considered at least as of equal importance with the Internet access dimension. Looking forward to our kick-off meeting! Panos http://nethood.org/panayotis/ On 19.01.2018 21:11, Nicolás Echániz wrote: