Current PCI projects supporting Internet access and connectivity:
TRC is PCI's effort (funded by Google) to support Native American tribal connectivity initiatives, including:
World Economic Forum Internet For All Initiative
Since 2016, Mei Lin Fung has represented PCI on WEF’s Internet For All initiative.
Internet for All establishes and facilitates physical and digital platforms at the global, regional and national level, that will create millions of new internet users, with a focus on the hardest to reach. It brings together stakeholders from the public and private sectors, non-profits, academia, international organizations, donors and civil society to create multistakeholder partnerships.
PCI Series on Pioneers in Access and Connectivity
True access and connectivity relies on consistent and widespread high-speed Internet. The history — and today's story — of the spread of the Internet is one of leaders pushing to create systems and infrastructure that are secure, equitable, and universal.
PCI is working to document the policymakers and tech innovators who made today's network of extensive underground fiber optic cables and National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) happen, and who continue to push for greater innovation while maintaining the principles of the first Internet pioneers.
Explore the first article in the series, highlighting Kenya's Bitange Ndemo, here.
Vint Cerf on Resilient Communities, January 2021
Vint Cert on Resilient Communities
Connecting Kenya: A Conversation with Bitange Ndemo
Ndemo is known as a pioneer for Internet access in Kenya. He led the establishment of TEAMS, the fiber optic cable system from Mombasa to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, linking Kenya to the rest of the world. The history of the effort to create TEAMS, it turns out, relied on government investment and trust for Ndemo’s vision.
Matthew Rantanen Honored with Public Knowledge IP3 Award
“The recognition is an honor, and this time more so, because I share it with my good friend, Geoffrey Blackwell,” Rantanen said. “The greatest benefit is bringing more focus to the work we do in Indian Country.”
Building a resilience ecosystem in Puerto Rico
In 2018, following the devastation of hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico, People-Centered Internet fielded a team of experts, working with the RAND Corporation, to offer recommendations for leveraging the Internet for the archipelago’s recovery plan. This initiative followed extensive disaster response work by PCI community member, Melvin Cordova, through his “Project Coqui.” PCI team members — including Marci Harris, Mei Lin Fung, and Lin Wells — traveled multiple times to Puerto Rico to engage with local business leaders, innovators, academics, and policymakers. They also participated in a knowledge-exchange trip, organized by Mei Lin Fung, for leaders from Puerto Rico to visit Singapore and engage with their counterparts in business, government, and academia to learn from Singapore’s post-colonial transformation. PCI’s work culminated in 11 recommendations (courses of action or “COAs”) for leveraging federal programs and private resources for Puerto Rico’s recovery and were included in the plan submitted to Congress.
Towards a people-centred Internet in Africa
This is the first article in which PCI appeared, written in 2015 by Bitange Ndemo in Business Daily Africa.
People-Centered Internet Announces Six “Areas of Focus” for 2020
Press Release — January 15, 2020 PALO ALTO, CA — People-Centered Internet (PCI) today announces its “Areas of Focus” for 2020. The nonprofit organization dedicated to “working for an Internet that works for people” was cofounded in 2015 by Vint Cerf and Mei Lin Fung. In the coming year, PCI will support projects in six categories: (1)