Dispatches from
the Digital Frontier

A Blog from New America's Open Technology Institute

Highlights from the Spectrum for Democracy Conference

  • By
  • Danielle Kehl
May 16, 2012
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Last year’s Arab Spring brought communications technologies into focus in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. While the conversation has often been dominated by talk about social media and censorship, the post-revolutionary transition has shed light on the need to reform media and communications policy and infrastructure in the region.

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Q&A with Bill Comisky: Expanding the Mount Pleasant Community Wireless Network

  • By
  • Preston Rhea
May 10, 2012

I recently wrote about a local effort to build a wireless community network in Mount Pleasant, Washington, D.C. In April I chatted with Bill Comisky, the first neighbor-link in the Mount Pleasant Community Wireless Network (MtPCWN), a grassroots approach to providing wireless access to the neighborhood.

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Small New England Town Approves Broadband Initiative

May 8, 2012
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The migration of job applications, payment systems and government documents online makes high-speed broadband access a necessity for all communities. Faced with the high prices of services and lagging connection speeds offered by incumbent providers, more and more cities around the country are building their own broadband networks to meet the needs of their residents, businesses and public institutions. Empowering communities to control their own communication infrastructure is one of the core values of OTI.

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In Support of Community-Driven and Responsive Digital Literacy Training

  • By
  • Sarah Morris
May 3, 2012

The Federal Communications Commission is designing a new digital literacy program right now, and they need your input.

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The Future of Centers of Worship

  • By
  • Andy Gunn
May 2, 2012

How community focus and technology initiatives refresh our local churches, mosques and synagogues

The religious and spiritual institutions that currently anchor our neighborhoods and tie together our communities can provide us with another benefit - a chance to build and own our own communications infrastructure.

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Reduced Prison Phone Rates Pave the Road to Rehabilitation

  • By
  • Leticia Miranda
April 20, 2012

This piece was co-authored with Clarissa Ramon, Outreach and Government Affairs Associate at Public Knowledge.

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Researchers Ask: What is Meaningful Broadband Adoption?

  • By
  • Seeta Gangadharan
  • Greta Byrum
April 17, 2012
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As federal and local authorities continue efforts to close the digital divide in the United States, innovative researchers are using new approaches to understand why some people “adopt” broadband—and why others choose to remain offline.

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Rewriting the Online Narrative of Detroit's Future

  • By
  • Joshua Breitbart
April 11, 2012

“we show love in our communities to stop violence by coming together, throwing away ignorance, lifting up one another, gardening...” -- @D_FY tweet

Invincible Talks at Detroit Summer at Allied Media Projects

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OTI partners from the DDJC report back from SXSW

March 30, 2012

by Nina Bianchi and Mike Medow of the Detroit Digital Justice Coalition and the Allied Media Projects

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Detroit: A Vision for Technology’s Future

  • By
  • Leticia Miranda
March 15, 2012

Few media narratives about Detroit describe the city’s potential to define our technological future. Instead we hear stories of crumbling buildings, empty streets or, conversely, its rise as a burgeoning city of everything hip and cool. Yet every four months or so, hundreds of Detroiters take part in shaping the future of technology through innovative community-led DiscoTechs.

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