It’s now October 3 – After a nice little dinner and a drink last night, I was the first occupant of the newly renovated Chateau De La Genesis. The AC wasn’t hooked up, so I hope my Deet was protecting me as I had to have some air in the room. The location is pretty amazing (see photos if you don’t believe me). They’ve done a lot to restore this set of buildings, the previous occupants, apparently soldiers, had subdivided every room into tiny rooms. As you can see, from the pics, the area around the compound is still in a bit of disrepair. With unemployment running at around 85%, you can understand why.
I awoke early and had a chance to snap some photos as the sun was coming up. The ocean is some 50 m away, so I slept last night to the sound of the waves crashing. Very pleasant, but I’m just not used to it! That, and every time I had an itch I couldn’t help but think about mosquitoes…
This morning met a nice young lady who is a junior at the United Methodist University, majoring in accounting with a minor in economics. She is from Liberia, but spent a number of years in Nigeria (near Lagos) during the war. She’s very optimistic but knows it will take some time to rebuild the country. She hopes to be able to pursue a graduate degree overseas and be able to come back and use what she learned to help out.
I also spent some time with Abraham, a young man who is in networking – primarily sounds like he deals with satellite networks. As with a lot of people, he also spent some time elsewhere during the war and is back.
Both Abraham and Joisei(sp?) are very interested in technology. I ran my Phonopoly idea past them and they seemed genuinely interested. There are times where having access to an account of some kind would be very useful. For example with the universities, many web sites require some type of account. It truly is amazing how prevalent the mobile phones are. They confirmed this, noting that they use them for both voice and texting.
Phones here are not cheap since the phone companies don’t subsidize them. This in turn helps propagate the cell phone thievery. Sam (the economist fellow) mentioned that it is the number 1 item for theft in the country. The young lady showed me a scar (it was on her neck before you ask!) where a thug had cut her to get her cell phone.
Anyway, the generator isn’t on yet, sometime during the night it stopped. I’m on my second battery so I have a bit of time left. My cell phone, however is on it’s last leg – stupid charger doesn’t seem to be working, and my other phone *still* isn’t unlocked! And my IP phone won’t work until they get the network back alive….
Now, preparing for a press conference on Energy. Met a gentleman, Will James from IRG in DC. He’s an energy lawyer. I promised him to send him an article on the Dark Land, about the forgotten land of Africa. Will has a slide of the nighttime view of the earth.
Also met Dunstan L. D. Maculey, the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC). He spent a number of years in Atlanta (circa 95) and led the Liberian delegation at the Centenial Olympics.
A discussion ensued about the upcoming National Forum. Hydro power (~60%) was the key generator pre-war power source (413 Megawatts ish). Now they have about 4 Megawatts. Rural electrification has always been an issue in Liberia. Petroleum production stopped many years ago. 2004 Energy workshop came out with some options. Issues to tackle include:
1) sector reform and restructuring – liberalized with competition
2) market development – measures to establish market structure within electricity and petro subsectors
3) increase access to rural – renewable energy resources
4) establish independent regulatory bodies
5) strengthen legal and regulatory framework
Several members of the press followed up the speeches with some hard questions about implementation, not just policy. The answers were a mix of ‘we’ll try’ and ‘we know’ about both the perception and the reality of the scorecard on implementation. Pledges to do better…
Sam Jackson drove me to the National Investment Commission building. I’m to meet with Ben Wolo (head of LTC) who will also be meeting with LTA and World Bank.
I was able to meet with Ben Wolo of the LTC briefly. I was more of a fly on the wall during a discussion between LTC, LTA, and World Bank. I can’t say more, but I was appreciative of the chance to participate.
I then made my way over to visit with Zotowan Titus, the Assistant Minister of Telecom. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications building has a dual image…many areas are in disrepair, yet the offices are in good shape albeit spread around on several levels. Unfortunately, the office does not have Internet access – but I was thoroughly debriefed by Mr. Titus who graciously walked me through the policy process as well as the process by which the provisional government had enacted certain bills.
Back to the office, a number of scheduling calls and debriefs, some note taking, then to a quick dinner and back to bed….
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
A day on the road
Monday
JB stopped by to say hi, Ellen will be stopping by at 10:00 to pick me up and head to the office. Eager to get going…
Oh, and my pathetic GPS (Teletype SBT-1000) unit seems quite worthless. I was unable to get a fix in Brussels, at the airport in Monrovia or at my hotel room. I’ll try outside, but not holding my breath.
Maintained my isolation, reviewing the current proposals for ICT policy in Liberia and writing a document on Phonopoly – a means to transfer money via mobile phones. It appears upon review that this really could be a way to open the cash only economy up to a new form of monetary transactions.
I am supposed to be picked up now by JB around 1PM…
Well, JB didn’t end up picking me up, rather Saey came and gathered me up around 1PM. After checking out, we made about a 15 minute drive up the main road to Genesis. The main road is in pretty bad shape, very large areas where traffic slows to a craw as people try to weave around the minefield of potholes. The destruction from the war is present everywhere you look.
The Genesis compound is near the presidential and other government offices. Since the fire in the Presidential compound, the President has been staying in a different building, I think it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.
I spent the rest of the afternoon meeting the rest of the team: Sam Jackson an economist with a long list of accomplishments, Mr. Woods who has been spearheading the OSIWA project, Ellen Crayton the owner and the brains behind Genesis who also has an impressive background of accomplishments.
There is some buzz around, as the group is very involved in a National Oil & Energy Stakeholders Forum later this week. This is a pretty big deal as they are working on various aspects of the energy issue including the possibility of oil along the coast.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on into the evening establishing contact with the various communications service providers and government officials. After about 40 calls, had several meetings scheduled and several call backs to make to confirm a time. The key this week is getting to as many of the providers and government people as possible.
Next week, we are working on putting together a workshop that brings together representatives from various sectors of the economy to discuss ICT. We think this will be the most effective way to get information from a broad spectrum of the economy.
JB stopped by to say hi, Ellen will be stopping by at 10:00 to pick me up and head to the office. Eager to get going…
Oh, and my pathetic GPS (Teletype SBT-1000) unit seems quite worthless. I was unable to get a fix in Brussels, at the airport in Monrovia or at my hotel room. I’ll try outside, but not holding my breath.
Maintained my isolation, reviewing the current proposals for ICT policy in Liberia and writing a document on Phonopoly – a means to transfer money via mobile phones. It appears upon review that this really could be a way to open the cash only economy up to a new form of monetary transactions.
I am supposed to be picked up now by JB around 1PM…
Well, JB didn’t end up picking me up, rather Saey came and gathered me up around 1PM. After checking out, we made about a 15 minute drive up the main road to Genesis. The main road is in pretty bad shape, very large areas where traffic slows to a craw as people try to weave around the minefield of potholes. The destruction from the war is present everywhere you look.
The Genesis compound is near the presidential and other government offices. Since the fire in the Presidential compound, the President has been staying in a different building, I think it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building.
I spent the rest of the afternoon meeting the rest of the team: Sam Jackson an economist with a long list of accomplishments, Mr. Woods who has been spearheading the OSIWA project, Ellen Crayton the owner and the brains behind Genesis who also has an impressive background of accomplishments.
There is some buzz around, as the group is very involved in a National Oil & Energy Stakeholders Forum later this week. This is a pretty big deal as they are working on various aspects of the energy issue including the possibility of oil along the coast.
I spent the rest of the afternoon on into the evening establishing contact with the various communications service providers and government officials. After about 40 calls, had several meetings scheduled and several call backs to make to confirm a time. The key this week is getting to as many of the providers and government people as possible.
Next week, we are working on putting together a workshop that brings together representatives from various sectors of the economy to discuss ICT. We think this will be the most effective way to get information from a broad spectrum of the economy.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
The realities
This gives a view out the front of the Genesis compound. It provides a bit more view into the devestation that the years of war have had on the country -- a local figure putting unemployment at 85%...
The possibilities
The great view from the Genesis compound. This is a view out of the room I'm staying in.
The journey continues
10/1
Okay, continuing day 2, I spent the morning doing some more readings for the qualifiers. This to add a bit of variety to my reading diet of ‘The Travler’ by John Twelve Hawks and a paper on spectrum allocation…you really wish you were me don’t you?!?
I did run into Boutheina (World Bank), who is on her way to work with the gov’t of Liberia on the telecom act and then to Sierra Leone to work with their government as well. It is her team’s work that we are building on for this Liberian project and I owe a lot of thanks to both her and Judith Hollerstein for the generous sharing of their contacts.
The trip to Monrovia was very interesting. I ended up sitting next to a gentleman, Roland who works for the UN. He’s responsible for the UN fueling stations (some 40+ of them) in Liberia – for land and air vehicles. He had a lot to say about the UN, the countries in which he had been stationed (Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Kuwait…) and his home country of Austria. A quite vocal fellow with a passion for Italian cars, he described how he seems to have a knack for building and fixing things interspersed with a couple of choice curse words and an ‘I tell you what…” in an Austrian accent. In particular his descriptions of some of the waste within the UN machine (both by the bureaucracy as well as by individual and group corrupt behavior of graft and theft of UN resources. I could give you a pretty good history of his life and a fairly detailed description of his favorite things to do (fish) and dislikes (lazy bleeps).
We had a short stop in Freetown, Sierra Leone to pick up and drop off some passengers. I snapped a couple of pictures (but received a good wag of the finger by the flight attendant – apparently my blurry pictures of the airport represent a security threat). I also had a chance to meet Jeff, another UN person who contracts for the UNDP (food). He goes into locations and devises security mechanisms and methods to protect the food chain. He also has done stints all around the world, recently coming from a couple months in Bangladesh – a place that he says is the worst place he has been with respect to quality of life and prospects for improvement. A very interesting fellow, one who just exuded a confidence and had such a commanding voice that you just felt comfortable hanging around him.
There seems to be a lack of consistent understanding of what happens with the technology when the UN retreats. Does it stay or does it go? How much stays and is there training on the use of it? According to Roland, it all goes when the UN leaves, the radios, the towers, the equipment, but Jeff had another take, stating that it all stays...
We then made a quick jaunt from Freetown to Monrovia (about 1 hour/ 700 km). The airport in Monrovia iss minimalist, the main terminal had been destroyed by the war, so all people traffic now goes through the freight terminal (as described by a local a bit later in my day). The process of going through security was quite painless and pretty well organized (especially if you go back to my nightmarish experience in ATL!).
I was able to retrieve my checked bag, but since I didn’t have my luggage tag (doh!), I had to politely beg a lady to let me have my bag. But then, I borrowed Roland’s phone (I didn’t have a local sim just yet) and called my driver who was supposed to meet me at the airport. Well, JB had suffered a vehicular fan belt failure and was 45 minutes away from the airport.
Talk about a stir. There is no place in the airport itself to wait – get your bags and out the door. I talked to one of the ‘workers’, and he had me stand by the terminal. Well, that worked for a bit, until somebody else spotted me and wanted me to move. I informed them that my driver was on the way, so they said okay…until somebody else noticed me and then we all moved down to the edge of the airport building. There is an interesting mix of UN folk on the perimeter, with officers and airport security mixing with what I can only assume are non-employed ‘helpers’. After about 30 minutes of this, I had a veritable army of people surrounding me, 4 officers and a couple of others who were helping get my phone working and get back in touch with JB, as they seemed more worried about me being there than I did. JB finally showed up and I paid $20 for my police escort….
But, we still had to wait for Edem to show up. We then parked and hung out in an outbuilding by the airport for a couple of hours, again attracting a bit of a crowd again. About the time Edem’s flight was arriving, we get a call. He had been delayed and was still in the states and was going to try to make it to Liberia by Monday night…I’m not sure it’ll happen, but good luck!
While hanging outside the airport, I was introduced to the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Commerce, Pete Norman. He was on his way to Miami. Like many here, Pete is a recent returnee to Liberia who appear to be coming back with dual goals. 1) to improve their homeland and help out where they can, and 2) participate in what many see as a huge opportunity for personal gain.
Regarding commerce, it appears the Rice Scandal is weighing heavy on people. My take on this, and apologies if I get it wrong, is the Lebanese (and one family in particular) have maintained a monopoly on the rice industry in Liberia for 3 generations. This issue has become a major problem, and sounds like it has caused several months of delay in the process to apply for WTO membership. Frustration at the speed with which change is taking place can be felt by some folk such as Pete who is struggling to get the momentum going in the right direction.
I also learned that there are about 3 radio stations, Star, Free (UN?) and some other one. The Free station operates 24 hours and, at least according to one youngster, doles out accurate information about events.
So around 10:30, JB and I hop in the 157,000 mile Trooper for the 70 minute ride back to the city. The road at times was in great shape, and at other times, you could lose your axle in the washed out pot holes. People were walking along the dark street, and periodically, there would be some type of shop or stand that had a gathering.
And to continue the adventure, our original plan of staying at the Genisis facilities was modified and I’m now at the Royal Hotel room 303 for the evening. Tomorrow, we’ll get a kick on things and get our plan mapped out for the duration of my stay…
Stay tuned for some pictures...
Kipp
Okay, continuing day 2, I spent the morning doing some more readings for the qualifiers. This to add a bit of variety to my reading diet of ‘The Travler’ by John Twelve Hawks and a paper on spectrum allocation…you really wish you were me don’t you?!?
I did run into Boutheina (World Bank), who is on her way to work with the gov’t of Liberia on the telecom act and then to Sierra Leone to work with their government as well. It is her team’s work that we are building on for this Liberian project and I owe a lot of thanks to both her and Judith Hollerstein for the generous sharing of their contacts.
The trip to Monrovia was very interesting. I ended up sitting next to a gentleman, Roland who works for the UN. He’s responsible for the UN fueling stations (some 40+ of them) in Liberia – for land and air vehicles. He had a lot to say about the UN, the countries in which he had been stationed (Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Kuwait…) and his home country of Austria. A quite vocal fellow with a passion for Italian cars, he described how he seems to have a knack for building and fixing things interspersed with a couple of choice curse words and an ‘I tell you what…” in an Austrian accent. In particular his descriptions of some of the waste within the UN machine (both by the bureaucracy as well as by individual and group corrupt behavior of graft and theft of UN resources. I could give you a pretty good history of his life and a fairly detailed description of his favorite things to do (fish) and dislikes (lazy bleeps).
We had a short stop in Freetown, Sierra Leone to pick up and drop off some passengers. I snapped a couple of pictures (but received a good wag of the finger by the flight attendant – apparently my blurry pictures of the airport represent a security threat). I also had a chance to meet Jeff, another UN person who contracts for the UNDP (food). He goes into locations and devises security mechanisms and methods to protect the food chain. He also has done stints all around the world, recently coming from a couple months in Bangladesh – a place that he says is the worst place he has been with respect to quality of life and prospects for improvement. A very interesting fellow, one who just exuded a confidence and had such a commanding voice that you just felt comfortable hanging around him.
There seems to be a lack of consistent understanding of what happens with the technology when the UN retreats. Does it stay or does it go? How much stays and is there training on the use of it? According to Roland, it all goes when the UN leaves, the radios, the towers, the equipment, but Jeff had another take, stating that it all stays...
We then made a quick jaunt from Freetown to Monrovia (about 1 hour/ 700 km). The airport in Monrovia iss minimalist, the main terminal had been destroyed by the war, so all people traffic now goes through the freight terminal (as described by a local a bit later in my day). The process of going through security was quite painless and pretty well organized (especially if you go back to my nightmarish experience in ATL!).
I was able to retrieve my checked bag, but since I didn’t have my luggage tag (doh!), I had to politely beg a lady to let me have my bag. But then, I borrowed Roland’s phone (I didn’t have a local sim just yet) and called my driver who was supposed to meet me at the airport. Well, JB had suffered a vehicular fan belt failure and was 45 minutes away from the airport.
Talk about a stir. There is no place in the airport itself to wait – get your bags and out the door. I talked to one of the ‘workers’, and he had me stand by the terminal. Well, that worked for a bit, until somebody else spotted me and wanted me to move. I informed them that my driver was on the way, so they said okay…until somebody else noticed me and then we all moved down to the edge of the airport building. There is an interesting mix of UN folk on the perimeter, with officers and airport security mixing with what I can only assume are non-employed ‘helpers’. After about 30 minutes of this, I had a veritable army of people surrounding me, 4 officers and a couple of others who were helping get my phone working and get back in touch with JB, as they seemed more worried about me being there than I did. JB finally showed up and I paid $20 for my police escort….
But, we still had to wait for Edem to show up. We then parked and hung out in an outbuilding by the airport for a couple of hours, again attracting a bit of a crowd again. About the time Edem’s flight was arriving, we get a call. He had been delayed and was still in the states and was going to try to make it to Liberia by Monday night…I’m not sure it’ll happen, but good luck!
While hanging outside the airport, I was introduced to the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Commerce, Pete Norman. He was on his way to Miami. Like many here, Pete is a recent returnee to Liberia who appear to be coming back with dual goals. 1) to improve their homeland and help out where they can, and 2) participate in what many see as a huge opportunity for personal gain.
Regarding commerce, it appears the Rice Scandal is weighing heavy on people. My take on this, and apologies if I get it wrong, is the Lebanese (and one family in particular) have maintained a monopoly on the rice industry in Liberia for 3 generations. This issue has become a major problem, and sounds like it has caused several months of delay in the process to apply for WTO membership. Frustration at the speed with which change is taking place can be felt by some folk such as Pete who is struggling to get the momentum going in the right direction.
I also learned that there are about 3 radio stations, Star, Free (UN?) and some other one. The Free station operates 24 hours and, at least according to one youngster, doles out accurate information about events.
So around 10:30, JB and I hop in the 157,000 mile Trooper for the 70 minute ride back to the city. The road at times was in great shape, and at other times, you could lose your axle in the washed out pot holes. People were walking along the dark street, and periodically, there would be some type of shop or stand that had a gathering.
And to continue the adventure, our original plan of staying at the Genisis facilities was modified and I’m now at the Royal Hotel room 303 for the evening. Tomorrow, we’ll get a kick on things and get our plan mapped out for the duration of my stay…
Stay tuned for some pictures...
Kipp
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Amsterdam and the Internet
Caught this article on the Internet exchange in Amersterdam ( on Yahoo). The AMS-IX is the world's busiest Internet exchange according to the article. It also boasts that it is the world's first mobile Internet peering point -- I wonder what exactly they mean by that.
According to the home page "the 5 minute average high of the aggregate traffic now reaches 120 Gbps for a total of 234 members" which is pretty impressive.
This is another take on the still raging Net Neutrality issue, or at least they work it into the story, even quoting the venerable Tim BL in the process.
Kipp
According to the home page "the 5 minute average high of the aggregate traffic now reaches 120 Gbps for a total of 234 members" which is pretty impressive.
This is another take on the still raging Net Neutrality issue, or at least they work it into the story, even quoting the venerable Tim BL in the process.
Kipp
The Journey begins
Saturday, noontime arrive at ATL Hartsfield airport for a 2:45PM flight out to Washington Dulles. Silly me, my checked luggage came in at over 50 pounds (brought some extra gear, a veritable electronics store of goods including a couple of phones, a VoIP phone, a wireless network, gps, palm, computer, camera…and all associated power accessories). After waiting in line for 45 minutes and reshuffling the load, was all checked in. Another 45 minutes in the security line and I barely made it onto the flight.
Established my first Liberian contact while on the flight. James, an electrical engineer by training and now a software developer for Turner was sitting next to me. 12 years since he’s been back to Liberia.
We reach Dulles with no problems, where I meet a couple other Liberians who are returning – another electrical engineer from Charlotte that is going back after 12 years in the States. I speak with several others and there does appear to be a theme – after the long years of the war, people are very optimistic about the opportunities back home. Several of their relatives have established or are in process of establishing some type of business. They are looking at all types of business – sports, Internet, investigative agencies, construction, education…it appears like a gold rush of a fashion.
Flight from Dulles to Brussels was a long one…thanks to great flight booking skills, I had the middle of the middle on the big ol’ plane. Luckily I was between a couple of young ladies on their way to Brussels for a marketing summit – they and a couple of their colleagues from eBay were headed over for the week.
Arrive in Brussels around 7:30AM Sunday morning, flight out at 11:15. I think I spotted Boutheina in a check-in line, but was too far back to make contact…I’m sure I’ll catch up with her soon.
Used the airport pay for Internet service (10euro for 1 hour). 1516 kbps download from DC, with a 313kbps upload speed…not too shabby!
Established my first Liberian contact while on the flight. James, an electrical engineer by training and now a software developer for Turner was sitting next to me. 12 years since he’s been back to Liberia.
We reach Dulles with no problems, where I meet a couple other Liberians who are returning – another electrical engineer from Charlotte that is going back after 12 years in the States. I speak with several others and there does appear to be a theme – after the long years of the war, people are very optimistic about the opportunities back home. Several of their relatives have established or are in process of establishing some type of business. They are looking at all types of business – sports, Internet, investigative agencies, construction, education…it appears like a gold rush of a fashion.
Flight from Dulles to Brussels was a long one…thanks to great flight booking skills, I had the middle of the middle on the big ol’ plane. Luckily I was between a couple of young ladies on their way to Brussels for a marketing summit – they and a couple of their colleagues from eBay were headed over for the week.
Arrive in Brussels around 7:30AM Sunday morning, flight out at 11:15. I think I spotted Boutheina in a check-in line, but was too far back to make contact…I’m sure I’ll catch up with her soon.
Used the airport pay for Internet service (10euro for 1 hour). 1516 kbps download from DC, with a 313kbps upload speed…not too shabby!
Monday, September 25, 2006
We Feel Fine
Speaking of making you happy, check out what they've done with blog mining over at WeFeelFine.
For over a year, they have been mining blogs to find how people are feeling. But that's not all, as they gather the 'feelings' they also snag as much about the location, weather, person blogging, gender, age -- and then do a cool visualization with a self-organizing particle system....
You just gotta check it out!
Kipp
Sunsets
As reported in 'Good Morning Silicon Valley' by John Paczkowski, Despair: When silent suffering isn't enough
Despair.com which launched in 1998 to combat the motivational art infestation, has provided a new homework avoiding tool.
It just makes you happy!
Kipp
Despair.com which launched in 1998 to combat the motivational art infestation, has provided a new homework avoiding tool.
It just makes you happy!
Kipp
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Johnsons
We recently lost a couple of great friends and some of the best people you'd ever meet. My friend's parents from back home (Nebraska/Kansas) passed away -- Viron and Christa Johnson -- we'll miss them.
Very sad and tragic.
Of course these events are the only time groups of people get back together, so I did get to see my Bro and old man while I was there. I also took the opportunity to get a couple of photos since it was such a beautiful fall like day. These photos were taken as I drove across Kansas and into Nebraska.
This one is interesting -- wireless is everywhere!
Very sad and tragic.
Of course these events are the only time groups of people get back together, so I did get to see my Bro and old man while I was there. I also took the opportunity to get a couple of photos since it was such a beautiful fall like day. These photos were taken as I drove across Kansas and into Nebraska.
This one is interesting -- wireless is everywhere!
And this just seems appropriate for the event...
Liberia President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
I'm involved in a project that is focused on figuring out ICT's role in the post-conflict rebuilding of Liberia. There is a lot to be done, and I'm excited to have a chance to visit Monrovia in several weeks.
Through much effort on Mike Best's part, we were able to host the President of Liberia recently on Tech's campus. She has a daunting task ahead of her, but it was inspiring to hear her talk about the opportunities for a fresh start and moving the country forward.
This was one of the first time she has given a speech focused on ICT's role in development in Liberia. After the public event, we were able to spend some time at lunch with her and her staff.
Then came a working meeting with a number of agencies, private entities, and academia to try to layout some of the issues and roles that the different parties can/should play in Liberia.
For my part, I'm hoping to help establish a baseline understanding of the current capabilities and the beginnings of a needs assessment and policy roadmap.
Some additional information about her visit made it online:
Through much effort on Mike Best's part, we were able to host the President of Liberia recently on Tech's campus. She has a daunting task ahead of her, but it was inspiring to hear her talk about the opportunities for a fresh start and moving the country forward.
This was one of the first time she has given a speech focused on ICT's role in development in Liberia. After the public event, we were able to spend some time at lunch with her and her staff.
Then came a working meeting with a number of agencies, private entities, and academia to try to layout some of the issues and roles that the different parties can/should play in Liberia.
For my part, I'm hoping to help establish a baseline understanding of the current capabilities and the beginnings of a needs assessment and policy roadmap.
Some additional information about her visit made it online:
- AJC
- College of Computing (where I actually get a mention!)
- mp3 of the President's speech (14.3MB)
- AllAfrica coverage
Monday, August 14, 2006
Google in ATL
I caught this on Google's blog and thought folk might have an
interest in knowing about the growth of Google's presence in Atlanta.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/google-in-atl.html
Kipp
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Liberia and the world
I may be working on a project to map the ICT infrastructure in Liberia this fall. Some of my friends and family were asking a bit about Liberia. It has quite the storied past and is now trying to work its way out of a 14 year civil war that pretty much devastated all aspects of the country. The following is a bit of info that I dug up due to our discussion:
I caught a recent article on electricity in the capital of Liberia: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/liberia_electricity_dc
Also a bit of background if you are interested... https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/li.html
And for Pammy (who asked if we were to evenly redistribute the income in the world to each man, woman and child, what would the averarge income be?), the world currently has an estimated 6,530,757,077 people (http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html). In 2004, the world GPD (Gross Domestic Product) was estimated at $51,410,000,000,000 (http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/gdp_2004_0.html) leading me to believe that an average per capita for each person in the world would be about $7,871.98.
So, on average, a family of 4 would bring in $31,487/year...of course this is all based on GDP which is not necessarily the full picture regarding income, but since I'm no economist I use it here as an approximate proxy.
What is interesting is about 1/5 of the world's population lives on less than $1/day (considered extreme poverty) -- about 1.1 billion people (http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/6 and http://devdata.worldbank.org/wdi2005/Section1_1_1.htm). Good news is, they estimate this number will be down to around 858 million by 2015...
If we take the 1/5 of the population out of the the equation (and their $1/day), the remaining 4/5 take in about $9,748.73 -- about $26.71 per day per person...
Hope this clears up all of your questions for the day!
Kipp
I caught a recent article on electricity in the capital of Liberia: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/liberia_electricity_dc
Also a bit of background if you are interested... https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/li.html
And for Pammy (who asked if we were to evenly redistribute the income in the world to each man, woman and child, what would the averarge income be?), the world currently has an estimated 6,530,757,077 people (http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html). In 2004, the world GPD (Gross Domestic Product) was estimated at $51,410,000,000,000 (http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/gdp_2004_0.html) leading me to believe that an average per capita for each person in the world would be about $7,871.98.
So, on average, a family of 4 would bring in $31,487/year...of course this is all based on GDP which is not necessarily the full picture regarding income, but since I'm no economist I use it here as an approximate proxy.
What is interesting is about 1/5 of the world's population lives on less than $1/day (considered extreme poverty) -- about 1.1 billion people (http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/6 and http://devdata.worldbank.org/wdi2005/Section1_1_1.htm). Good news is, they estimate this number will be down to around 858 million by 2015...
If we take the 1/5 of the population out of the the equation (and their $1/day), the remaining 4/5 take in about $9,748.73 -- about $26.71 per day per person...
Hope this clears up all of your questions for the day!
Kipp
One MegaBit Per Child/Community
It appears that the One Laptop Per Child (aka $100 laptop) continues to push forward. I think it is a great idea and the effort is likely to push the limits of technology and costs to a point where it will at least become more accessible.
However I tend to agree with the comments on ZDNet (http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39257951,00.htm) regrading the fact that it's not necessarily the best place to start. I'm starting to get a better understanding of the dynamics, and adding a hand crank to a laptop will not solve the issues for everybody who wants a laptop. As the author notes, "one power socket per village and one megabit per community are much surer foundations for building a future."
Infrastructure is stil a critical issue in making these devices useful, and while the FAQ on OLPC (http://www.laptop.org/faq.en_US.html) declares:
What about connectivity? Aren't telecommunications services expensive in the developing world?
When these machines pop out of the box, they will make a mesh network of their own, peer-to-peer. This is something initially developed at MIT and the Media Lab. We are also exploring ways to connect them to the backbone of the Internet at very low cost.
Good thought, and I think mesh networks will play an important role -- necessary but insufficient. These islands of mesh-pods still need to make it to the outside world. and while local networks without international connectivity can have some interesting applications, I don't think it is sufficient to have only local access without full Internet connectivity.
Concurrent with the deployment of devices, we need deployment of network infrastructure and power. How far can wireless mesh networks take the developing world? Is the premise that we need power and network infrastructure true? What density of deployment is needed for the mesh network to become fully connected? Is it even feasible and what happens to people until it does happen?
I think there's a lot more work to do than relying on the fact that mesh-networking between the laptops will solve it...
Kipp
However I tend to agree with the comments on ZDNet (http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39257951,00.htm) regrading the fact that it's not necessarily the best place to start. I'm starting to get a better understanding of the dynamics, and adding a hand crank to a laptop will not solve the issues for everybody who wants a laptop. As the author notes, "one power socket per village and one megabit per community are much surer foundations for building a future."
Infrastructure is stil a critical issue in making these devices useful, and while the FAQ on OLPC (http://www.laptop.org/faq.en_US.html) declares:
What about connectivity? Aren't telecommunications services expensive in the developing world?
When these machines pop out of the box, they will make a mesh network of their own, peer-to-peer. This is something initially developed at MIT and the Media Lab. We are also exploring ways to connect them to the backbone of the Internet at very low cost.
Good thought, and I think mesh networks will play an important role -- necessary but insufficient. These islands of mesh-pods still need to make it to the outside world. and while local networks without international connectivity can have some interesting applications, I don't think it is sufficient to have only local access without full Internet connectivity.
Concurrent with the deployment of devices, we need deployment of network infrastructure and power. How far can wireless mesh networks take the developing world? Is the premise that we need power and network infrastructure true? What density of deployment is needed for the mesh network to become fully connected? Is it even feasible and what happens to people until it does happen?
I think there's a lot more work to do than relying on the fact that mesh-networking between the laptops will solve it...
Kipp
Monday, July 17, 2006
FON_ wifi
I'm wondering if this is the proper configuration for a network -- I'm pretty sure the interference is better if you stack all 3 routers together, right?
So I received my $5 (actually something like $13) Linksys router from FON today (it's the one on top with the cool sticker). It's a standard Linksys WRT54GS router with the special FON firmware pre-installed.
Just a couple of details from my 15 minutes of installation:
- SSID: FON_linksys
- Channel: 6
The router was shipped from FON US INC, 1001 Technology Way, LIbertyvill, IL 60048.
I have earned nothing as yet, but I'll be watching closely. I also found out you can change your splash screen, even sending incoming users to a different web site.
I also updated my SSID, but it hasn't updated my router just yet...We should be able to see how many FON routers are out there, it appears that you can't change the FON_ prefix on the SSID...in fact, it appears that we only have 34 FON APs in our database right now. There are several other self named fon aps, these are likely named by somebody who downloaded and installed the firmware on their own box, but that's just a guess.
Right now, we are showing .0003% of the access points are FON, however the frequency of them is beginning to increase.
I'll keep playing with it and see what it looks like as somebody else..
UPDATE: Using the wife's computer, I connected to the FON network (after I rebooted the router, it now shows up as FON_kippster). The modified splash screen shows up whereby I can navigate to the one URL that I was able to specify in the FON interface. This provides some information to a user, even if they don't have/want a FON account. I had given my wife a guest account, so using that infromation, I logged in and was able to surf enough to verify that it really does work.
I was unable to view any other network resources once connected to the FON network, which is a good thing!
So I received my $5 (actually something like $13) Linksys router from FON today (it's the one on top with the cool sticker). It's a standard Linksys WRT54GS router with the special FON firmware pre-installed.
Just a couple of details from my 15 minutes of installation:
- SSID: FON_linksys
- Channel: 6
The router was shipped from FON US INC, 1001 Technology Way, LIbertyvill, IL 60048.
I have earned nothing as yet, but I'll be watching closely. I also found out you can change your splash screen, even sending incoming users to a different web site.
I also updated my SSID, but it hasn't updated my router just yet...We should be able to see how many FON routers are out there, it appears that you can't change the FON_ prefix on the SSID...in fact, it appears that we only have 34 FON APs in our database right now. There are several other self named fon aps, these are likely named by somebody who downloaded and installed the firmware on their own box, but that's just a guess.
Right now, we are showing .0003% of the access points are FON, however the frequency of them is beginning to increase.
I'll keep playing with it and see what it looks like as somebody else..
UPDATE: Using the wife's computer, I connected to the FON network (after I rebooted the router, it now shows up as FON_kippster). The modified splash screen shows up whereby I can navigate to the one URL that I was able to specify in the FON interface. This provides some information to a user, even if they don't have/want a FON account. I had given my wife a guest account, so using that infromation, I logged in and was able to surf enough to verify that it really does work.
I was unable to view any other network resources once connected to the FON network, which is a good thing!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Atlanta Wifi
Atlanta recently published their RFP for a metro-scale broadband wireless network.
This is a very extensive RFP and I'm eagerly watching what and who comes out to respond.
In the meantime, this is a look at the existing wifi infrastructure in Atlanta. This image shows the over 100,000 public/private wifi access points that exist (and are mapped) in the ATL region.
As part of my WhatWhereWi project, I'm exploring how this infastructure is evolving.
Kipp
This is a very extensive RFP and I'm eagerly watching what and who comes out to respond.
In the meantime, this is a look at the existing wifi infrastructure in Atlanta. This image shows the over 100,000 public/private wifi access points that exist (and are mapped) in the ATL region.
As part of my WhatWhereWi project, I'm exploring how this infastructure is evolving.
Kipp
Last resort
In the vein of competition and changing landscape for networks, I caught an article in the AJC this morning (http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0711bizbellsouth.html) that discusses how BellSouth is attempting to get out of its obligations as 'provider of last resort'.
According to the article, the encumbent provider currently has a responsibility to provide service to any one who wants it regardless of the economic viability of said service. This, I believe, is intended to ensure universal coverage and not 'cherry picking' service to the wealthy. But with the increase in competition for these 'cherries' BellSouth is finding it may not have the advantages it once enjoyed and now has to deal with other companies that may not have the last resort encumberance.
BellSouth is particularly fighting as new developments (apartments, planned cities, 'hoods, etc.) are at the forefront of the battle for new subscribers and developers are negotiating up front deals for their developments. If BellSouth doesn't become the prefered provider, it is arguing that it shouldn't have the last resort requirement in that area.
It appears that their first line of attack has been to throw a bit of FUD directly at the developers, as the article notes regarding one letter sent out by BellSouth: "Please be aware that the presence of these types of arrangements with alternate communications providers or infrastructure providers may affect BellSouth's provision of service."
Apparently a law in Florida (supported by BellSouth) passed this year that provides an out for the encumbent in certain circumstances. I'd bet we'll see more of these bills being introduced around the states in the near future...
Kipp
According to the article, the encumbent provider currently has a responsibility to provide service to any one who wants it regardless of the economic viability of said service. This, I believe, is intended to ensure universal coverage and not 'cherry picking' service to the wealthy. But with the increase in competition for these 'cherries' BellSouth is finding it may not have the advantages it once enjoyed and now has to deal with other companies that may not have the last resort encumberance.
BellSouth is particularly fighting as new developments (apartments, planned cities, 'hoods, etc.) are at the forefront of the battle for new subscribers and developers are negotiating up front deals for their developments. If BellSouth doesn't become the prefered provider, it is arguing that it shouldn't have the last resort requirement in that area.
It appears that their first line of attack has been to throw a bit of FUD directly at the developers, as the article notes regarding one letter sent out by BellSouth: "Please be aware that the presence of these types of arrangements with alternate communications providers or infrastructure providers may affect BellSouth's provision of service."
Apparently a law in Florida (supported by BellSouth) passed this year that provides an out for the encumbent in certain circumstances. I'd bet we'll see more of these bills being introduced around the states in the near future...
Kipp
Monday, July 10, 2006
FON vs Phone
I've been continuing to analyze the skyhook data, looking at the existing US wifi infrastructure to see what else could be done with it, what problems it represents, how it could be better, what issues might it represent (security, privacy, etc.) and how we could use the technology to reach ever more people.
One company that is utilizing this infrastructure is FON (www.fon.com), a Spanish company that has set out to change the way our existing (and growing) wifi networks provide access by building a community that shares their wifi connections. They now state that they have over 68,000 'foneros' -- people who have enabled their wifi routers (either upgraded their firmware or purchased a fon router). 68,000, not a bad start, but definitely on the right track.
Now, there are issues with their plan, but it could work. In fact this was something that was contemplated by a colleague of mine several years ago, but we couldn't see a way to get past the ISPs in the US -- It looks like it was easier to start in Europe and move into the US than to start here -- that or they just have bigger Euros than we did...
But clearly there is a lot of infrastructure that is being underutliized -- I think of this similar to the SETI@Home effort -- how to put to use all of those wasted bandwidths, only in this case the idea is if you give a little, you get a little, rather than just for the sake of finding errant signals in the sky. Hmm...I guess it is more similar than I thought, as both are looking for particular signals...okay that may be a stretch....
Nonetheless, I find it interesting to think about the various wifi networks that we are building -- home, shared, municipal, community, business, region, public transport, airport, etc. and how all of these are related and/or different. If we were going to do it from scratch, is this really the way we would do it? Is there a better way? What would it look like? And where should we (personal, community, metro, international) be investing to provide better access to everybody?
Getting back to FON, should this mode of operation be promoted or controlled? Currently, it is likely against all ISP providers' rules to actually join FON and open your DSL or other broadband connection to 'outsiders'. Most agreements forbid such behavior (remember when they specified a single computer -- and even what type of computer could be connected to the network?!? My first cable modem provider (Cablevision) had some silly notion along those lines back in '98).
How should metro-scale wifi networks be regulated, promoted, stopped, changed, directed? What is going to happen with our spectrum and how do these millions of APs affect each other. At what density do they detract from service? How do we know if an area is ready for metro-scale wifi networks? What applications will drive adoption? How does wifi help those who can't afford a computer? How does WiMAX play with wifi? How does/should the wifi/cellular relationship play out?
And that's just a couple of questions that are bouncing around. Maybe I'll continue this with a bit more on the technical side next...
Kipp
One company that is utilizing this infrastructure is FON (www.fon.com), a Spanish company that has set out to change the way our existing (and growing) wifi networks provide access by building a community that shares their wifi connections. They now state that they have over 68,000 'foneros' -- people who have enabled their wifi routers (either upgraded their firmware or purchased a fon router). 68,000, not a bad start, but definitely on the right track.
Now, there are issues with their plan, but it could work. In fact this was something that was contemplated by a colleague of mine several years ago, but we couldn't see a way to get past the ISPs in the US -- It looks like it was easier to start in Europe and move into the US than to start here -- that or they just have bigger Euros than we did...
But clearly there is a lot of infrastructure that is being underutliized -- I think of this similar to the SETI@Home effort -- how to put to use all of those wasted bandwidths, only in this case the idea is if you give a little, you get a little, rather than just for the sake of finding errant signals in the sky. Hmm...I guess it is more similar than I thought, as both are looking for particular signals...okay that may be a stretch....
Nonetheless, I find it interesting to think about the various wifi networks that we are building -- home, shared, municipal, community, business, region, public transport, airport, etc. and how all of these are related and/or different. If we were going to do it from scratch, is this really the way we would do it? Is there a better way? What would it look like? And where should we (personal, community, metro, international) be investing to provide better access to everybody?
Getting back to FON, should this mode of operation be promoted or controlled? Currently, it is likely against all ISP providers' rules to actually join FON and open your DSL or other broadband connection to 'outsiders'. Most agreements forbid such behavior (remember when they specified a single computer -- and even what type of computer could be connected to the network?!? My first cable modem provider (Cablevision) had some silly notion along those lines back in '98).
How should metro-scale wifi networks be regulated, promoted, stopped, changed, directed? What is going to happen with our spectrum and how do these millions of APs affect each other. At what density do they detract from service? How do we know if an area is ready for metro-scale wifi networks? What applications will drive adoption? How does wifi help those who can't afford a computer? How does WiMAX play with wifi? How does/should the wifi/cellular relationship play out?
And that's just a couple of questions that are bouncing around. Maybe I'll continue this with a bit more on the technical side next...
Kipp
Monday, June 19, 2006
30 mile WiMax
Wi-SKY Networks and Proxim Wireless Achieve WiMAX Connections With Vessels at Sea and in Air (http://www.bbwexchange.com/publications/page1423-154340.asp)
According to this article, they've been able to achieve continuous operation over distances up to 30 miles and altitudes up to 10,000 feet and speeds up to 145 MPH. Pretty darn impressive...
According to this article, they've been able to achieve continuous operation over distances up to 30 miles and altitudes up to 10,000 feet and speeds up to 145 MPH. Pretty darn impressive...
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Rural Broadband
Article in the AJC today discussed the options for rural broadband (http://www.ajc.com/search/content/business/stories/0618rural.html) discussed how the demand for broadband has picked up in rural areas but supply has not been there to support the demand. DSL won't get there, cable is slow to build out, satellite is not the best option...
But wireless networks, which don't get a lot of coverage in the article are finding new ways to reach the rural areas. They do mention hot spots as means of gaining access, but that's just one means.
A couple of items they mention that I wanted to track include:
- US Dept. of Agriculture - Rural Utilities Service
- Georgia Tech - TechSmart
- GA Broadband Rural Initiative to Develop Georgia's Economy fund (BRIDGE) - $5M fund
- Roswell based Camvera Networks
- WildBlue Communications from Denver (satellite)
UPDATE: It turns out that Carl Peede, the President and CEO of Camvera Networks was once the COO for HomeCom Communications. Interesting historical note, I worked for Harvey Sax (CEO of HomeCom) when he initially started the company, helping establish the first set of customers and the initial network. If I recall, that was December of 1994...
But wireless networks, which don't get a lot of coverage in the article are finding new ways to reach the rural areas. They do mention hot spots as means of gaining access, but that's just one means.
A couple of items they mention that I wanted to track include:
- US Dept. of Agriculture - Rural Utilities Service
- Georgia Tech - TechSmart
- GA Broadband Rural Initiative to Develop Georgia's Economy fund (BRIDGE) - $5M fund
- Roswell based Camvera Networks
- WildBlue Communications from Denver (satellite)
UPDATE: It turns out that Carl Peede, the President and CEO of Camvera Networks was once the COO for HomeCom Communications. Interesting historical note, I worked for Harvey Sax (CEO of HomeCom) when he initially started the company, helping establish the first set of customers and the initial network. If I recall, that was December of 1994...
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