The first workshop in our civic media workshop series brought Community Tech New York (CTNY) and their portable wireless network kit, presenting a DIY technology that is designed to give regular people insight into how the internet works, build technical IT trade skills, and ultimately provide internet access in cases where access is suspended or limited in some way.
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Fordham Workshop w CTNY
CTNY’s Raul Enriquez provided students in the Digital Technology and Emerging Media major a demo of their Portable Network Kit (PNK)– what they call a “wireless network in a suitcase” that provides standalone internet access, and can be connected with other simple devices to create mesh networks for more expansive coverage. As Enriquez explained, the PNKs can give emergency access (they were used after Hurricane Sandy, when parts of Brooklyn were entirely without access), but their bigger value to CTNY is as a vehicle for educating community members in how internet connections work, and teaching technical skills in a way that is accessible and more likely to make people of color see tech as a career option. Enriquez taught our own students the specifics of how an internet connection (a server, a router, an electricity source, an antenna, and cables) functions–something even DTEM majors didn’t know!), had them build their own networks, and interact via a basic set of tools on a raspberry pi server.
