This project will launch interdisciplinary research into the design, implementation, and deployment of community-held urban network infrastructure, specifically edge services, edge sensors, and the security aspects thereof, in partnership with two local community-led organizations: Tacoma Cooperative Network (TCN), the Black Brilliance Research (BBR) Project, and Seattle Central College. Internet access has become a critical component of urban infrastructure, providing innumerable services including employment, banking, civic engagement, education, and others. In spite of this reality, billions of people, even in highly connected urban environments (5% of people in our home city of Seattle, for instance), remain offline. To meet these needs, researchers and practitioners have begun to explore community networks, networks owned, operated, and managed by constituents, in order to explore novel business models and connectivity paradigms. While great progress has been made on base network elements (e.g., spectrum access, network architectures), many second-order questions, both social and technical, remain underexamined.
We focus on the development of the following community-led innovations: (1) novel network services, such as localized CDNs, community (non-law enforcement-led) crisis management, and digital literacy training; (2) sensing systems, such as traffic collision detectors (coupled with the above crisis management), and air and soil monitoring, and (3) related security aspects such as network security and community-based information and data privacy. Researchers will work with technology practitioners and community stakeholders to identify current technology conditions and community needs and develop novel socio-technical systems that directly support local communities. Early discussions with stakeholders have curated our above list of initial agendas (which will be refined through community workshops). These agendas will be supported by STEM education programming within partner communities, which will provide a context for local ideation, creation, and support of technology design, implementation, and deployment.
