Course Description

Multidisciplinary graduate course – Spring 2015 – INFO 298-02:
Bridging the digital divide – Internet delivery to rural communities.
(3 units – letter grade ) M 2-4 – 205 South Hall (CCN: 41653)
Questions? Email: yahel @ eecs.berkeley.edu

The view from one of our radio relay sites at Elk, CA (South Mendocino coast).

This course takes a multidisciplinary, hands-on approach to exploring the sociotechnical practices and political-economic issues involved in building wireless networks in rural and under-resourced areas. Students will be introduced to a large-scale wireless network under development on the scenic South Mendocino coast (with optional field trips), and will have the opportunity to devise a semester-long project in their fields of interest. This course is of particular relevance to students in the following disciplines: computer science, electrical-engineering, business management, anthropology, sociology, political science, public policy, international relations, and education.

Our large-scale network with its subscribers, present a unique dataset available to course participants and researchers.

Instructors Bios:

Yahel Ben-David:
Yahel is a social entrepreneur who works at the intersection of wireless networks, freedom enhancing technologies, and social development. In 1984, while still in high-school, Yahel hacked the computers of a leading daily newspaper to publish a critique of one of his teachers. This episode paved the way for his career in IT security. Over the next 3 decades, Yahel gained diversified hands-on experience in leadership, design, deployment, and research of computer security and networks in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. In 1993 Yahel co-founded the Xpert group, a multinational IT security and network solutions firm. At Xpert he designed and led the technical setup for some of the world’s most advanced networks, managing large scale and complex projects for Fortune 500 companies and governments. Upon the sale of his Xpert group holdings in 1999, Yahel moved to Dharamsala in the Indian Himalayas, the headquarters of the Tibetan community in exile. There he founded the Tibetan Technology Center (TibTec) and later AirJaldi. AirJaldi became an exemplary model for sustainable delivery of affordable broadband Internet services to rural communities, and continues to expand to this day. His work in rural India and other remote and underserved regions established his expertise in Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) as well as in technologies for human rights. In 2009 Yahel joined the Ph.D. program at the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of California at Berkeley to advance his ICTD research and work with the Technology and Infrastructure for Emerging Regions (TIER) research group. As President of De Novo Group Yahel manages multi-million dollar projects which bring together world-renowned ICTD researchers and practitioners dedicated to bridging the digital divide and harnessing technology to increase civil liberties.
Yahel is passionate about connecting the next billion people to the Internet, while ensuring it remains uncensored and free.

Jenna Burrell:
Jenna Burrell is a Sociologist and an Associate Professor in the School of Information. Before pursuing her PhD she was an Application Concept Developer in the People and Practices Research Group at Intel Corporation. For over 10 years she has been studying the appropriation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by individuals and groups on the African continent.

FurtherReach.Net staffer maintaining a radio relay site at the Point-Arena lighthouse.