Since over a year now in Sarantaporo.gr Non Profit Organization we have been in contact with Internet Society (ISOC) in international meetings, over online interactions and through in-person collaboration with people of the organization who visited our village last Summer. From the beginning we saw that ISOC is an organization which we share a lot of common elements with in terms of vision, and that its network is a natural space for our Community Network to be a part of.
In September 2017 we applied for the Beyond the Net grant of Internet Society in an attempt to approach the organization more closely and pursue funding to finance our Community Network. We are very happy to announce that our proposal was successful and will be funded with $30.000 through 2018 and 2019. This grant arrives very timely, in a period of transformation for our CN.
The 12th Internet Governance Forum (IGF17) was held this year in Geneva from December 18th - 21st, with the theme "Shaping Your Digital Future!". Sarantaporo.gr was there, invited by the US One World Connected to co-form the digital future with activists, civil society organizations, government and non-governmental organizations around the world.
The conference program was interactive, featuring 8 main events, 99 workshops and 45 open forums among many other discussions and meetings. The conference was attended by 2019 participants from 142 countries, while 1661 people followed it online from all over the world.
On Thursday, December 28, 2017 all the node-owners, volunteers, supporters and new stakeholders of the Sarantaporo.gr Wireless Community Network will meet at the Throne Tavern in the village of Pythio (Elassona Municipality) at 5pm.
We want to celebrate all together the year full of action and creativity for our community network. At this meeting we have some very nice news to share with the community (spoiler alert: the network will continue to upgrade in 2018). We want this pleasant event to be a warm welcome to new networking friends, potential new members of our community. Together we will share a review of the past year’s actions, plan new actions for the upcoming year and update our commitment to the team's vision of creating opportunities for growth and prosperity in the region.
The event is open to anyone interested in attending. We are waiting for you!
During the recent months something extraordinary has been happening with the wireless community network Sarantaporo.gr. Starting in May 2017, on the occasion of a grant from The People's Trust, Sarantaporo.gr team began upgrading the backbone network equipment and switching to next-generation wireless networking technologies for better access within the settlements. The results are impressive in several villages involved in the project, especially in those, where the residents have decided to invest themselves in the purchase of new equipment (eg. Sarantaporo, Mikro Eleftherochori, Kokkinopilos). The speed of the network is clearly upgraded, so that even more of our fellow citizens can be served, and at the same time the quality has improved significantly, with an even more stable and reliable connection.
The improvement of the network has resulted from the collaborative work of the Sarantaporo.gr core team with local partners (node-owners/volunteers) in the villages. Starting with the need for internet access and lacking technical knowledge, some of our locals approached the team and stated their availability to support and develop their local village network. Today, these people, having enriched their knowledge of how the network operates, have joined Sarantaporo.gr's local affiliates. Their participation enables them to oversee the operation of the network, react immediately and effectively in the event of a failure, participate in decision-making to expand the network, communicate directly with each other and with the coreteam of Sarantaporo.gr NPO via a private group of volunteers at Telegram designed for this purpose and of course enjoying significantly improved internet connectivity.
Saturday July 15, 2017, 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Pantelopoulos Cultural Center of Sarantaporo
Seminar on "How Networks Work": Aimed at people already engaged or interested in developing and maintaining the Sarantaporo.gr wireless community network
Saturday July 15, 2017, 8:30 pm - 10:30 pm Pantelopoulos Cultural Center of Sarantaporo
Presentation / discussion on: "Transfer of experience and know-how from the community of Sarantaporo.gr to build a new community wireless network in the Municipality of North Tzoumerka"
Sunday, July 16, 2017, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm Pantelopoulos Cultural Center of Sarantaporo
Seminar on:
"Basic use of computers and the Internet for youth and elder" Aimed at everybody interested in learning the basics of using a computer and the internet
Since over a year now in Sarantaporo.gr Non Profit Organization we have been in contact with Internet Society (ISOC) in international meetings, over online interactions and through in-person collaboration with people of the organization who visited our village last Summer. From the beginning we saw that ISOC is an organization which we share a lot of common elements with in terms of vision, and that its network is a natural space for our Community Network to be a part of.
