[Mip4] Call for Participation, WiNS-DR 2008

["Veljko Pejovic" <veljko at cs.ucsb.edu>]

          [Our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this document]
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ACM Wireless Networks and Systems for Developing Regions (WiNS-DR) Workshop

                  To be held in conjunction with ACM MobiCom 2008

                                    September 19, 2008

                         http://moment.cs.ucsb.edu/winsdr08


****** Call for Participation ******

Information and communication technologies have been widely hailed as
an important component in the advancement of the rural and underserved
regions of the developing world. While technology alone cannot be a
panacea for the diverse and myriad challenges in these regions, there
is increasing evidence that communications technologies and access to
information, far from being a luxury, can have direct and vital
benefits to the economic and social well-being of the population in
these regions.  In particular, studies indicate that access to
communication and information can contribute to specific measures such
as increased GDP and living standards.  Moreover, anecdotal evidence
as well as pilot projects indicates that such access can lead to
specific benefits, such as new economic opportunities and better
medical information and intervention.

This workshop focuses on the technology required to provide
communications and information access to rural regions in the
developing world, and in particular technical aspects of wireless
networking, systems and communication.  This target environment poses
unique system-wide challenges that require the development of new
research approaches and innovative designs and techniques.  These
challenges include infrastructure issues, such as power and
connectivity limitations, as well as particular user needs, including
cost, literacy and language issues.  Thus in addition to considering
the specifics of networking protocols and architectures, the aim of
the workshop is to consider the entire system by which networking and
communication is provided, all the key technical stakeholders, and the
overall system lifecycle from economic modeling to deployment.

AUDIENCE:  The workshop aims to bring together a diverse group of
technical researchers, including:

- network planners and economists,

- user experience researchers,

- network architecture and protocol specialists,

- networked application and middleware developers.

We believe it is this comprehensive approach that will lead to
breakthroughs in understanding the key challenges and research
required to build practical, deployable, innovative systems.



TECHNICAL PROGRAM:

The technical program of WiNS-DR promises to be very exciting and
thought-provoking. We will have a keynote speaker, technical panel,
and presentation of the technical papers listed below. It will be an
important venue for facilitating discussion about bridging the digital
divide to the developing world.



Session 1: Deployment Experience

Networking in the Land of Northern Lights - Two Years of Experiences
from DTN System Deployments:
Anders Lindgren (University of Cambridge, UK), Avri Doria (Electronics
and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), KR), Jan Lindblom
(Luleå University of Technology, Sweden), Mattias Ek (Luleå University
of Technology, Sweden)

Tegola Tiered Mesh Network Testbed in Rural Scotland:
Giacomo Bernardi (The University of Edinburgh, UK), Peter Buneman (The
University of Edinburgh, UK), Mahesh Marina (The University of
Edinburgh, UK)

Building rural wireless networks: Lessons learnt and future directions:
David Johnson (CSIR, South Africa), Kobus Roux (Meraka Institute, South Africa)



Session 2: Delay Tolerant Networking Solutions

Potential for Collaborative Caching and Prefetching in
Largely-Disconnected Villages:
Sibren Isaacman (Princeton University, US), Margaret Martonosi
(Princeton University, US)

Design Principles for Opportunistic Communication in Constrained
Computing Environments:
Earl Oliver (University of Waterloo, Canada), Srinivasan Keshav
(University of Waterloo, Canada)

A Framework for Multi-Region Delay Tolerant Networking:
Mirco Musolesi (Dartmouth University, US), Cecilia Mascolo (University
of Cambridge, UK)



Session 3: Policy, Platforms and Architectures

Issues in Next Generation Wireless Networks & Services for Developing Regions:
Fisseha Mekuria (Makerere University, Uganda)

A Radio Multiplexing Architecture for High Throughput Point to
Multipoint Wireless Networks:
Ramakrishna Gummadi (MIT, US), Rabin Patra (University of California,
Berkeley, US), Sergiu Nedevschi (University of California, Berkeley,
US), Sonesh Surana (University of California at Berkeley, US), Eric
Brewer (University of California at Berkeley, US)

Optimizing High Latency Links in the Developing World:
Yaw Anokwa (University of Washington, US), Colin Dixon (University of
Washington, US), Gaetano Borriello (University of Washington, US),
Tapan Parikh (UC Berkeley, US)


Keynote Address: "Geeks without Borders", Professor Alex Hills, CMU

Professor Hills, a Fellow of the IEEE, has broad experience in
information technology, including both technical and business aspects.
He is an expert in telecommunications policy, which encompasses
engineering, law and economics. His telecommunications policy course
addresses the very latest issues in this field and is always quite
popular with students. Wireless communications technology has been one
of his interests in recent years, and he has written and lectured on
the technology's potential for delivering basic telephone service in
the developing world and on its implications for ubiquitous (anytime,
anywhere) computing. Hills is the founder of Carnegie Mellon's
Wireless Initiative, and one of his recent projects is "Wireless
Andrew," which is making high speed wireless data network service
available to Carnegie Mellon users of laptop and other mobile
computers.

Working with colleagues, Professor Hills has developed a methodology
for designing large scale wireless LANs. He also recently invented a
semi-automated design tool called Rollabout, which dramatically
improves and speeds up the design process.

In addition, Professor Hills works on technology and policy issues
relevant to establishing new telecommunications infrastructure in
developing and remote areas of the world. His work with wireless local
loop technology, for example, has shown that it can be extremely cost
effective but that national decision makers must allocate sufficient
radio spectrum to guarantee its feasibility.

Panel: Challenges and Solutions for Mobile Applications in Developing Regions



We hope to see you there!



CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

General Chair:    Charles Perkins, WiChorus

TPC Co-Chairs:  Elizabeth Belding, UC Santa Barbara

                     Ravi Jain, Google
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