The Open Park Project (Open Park) is a Washington D.C. based non-profit organization and recognized
tax exempt charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our mission is to provide:
- A 21st century community service - offering public Internet access on the National Mall, as well as
more specialized services for the museum community
- Public hotspots for democracy - so that citizens can communicate with each other online when exercising
their 1st Amendment rights (via Webcams, laptops, and other WiFi equipped devices)
- An educational resource - to advance the widespread deployment of public wireless Internet access in
the U.S. and the type of innovative spectrum management upon which WiFi depends, and
- A public test bed - bringing novel wireless applications and equipment (Internet phones, radio location
tags, wireless kiosks) to the doorstep of national decision makers.
The project's founding directors and officers are Greg Staple, Don Weightman, Kevin Werbach, and Leo Cloutier. Our web master is
Karthik Balakrishnan. Internet backhaul services for Open Park are provided by
DCAccess, Capitol Hill's first Wireless Internet
Service Provider (WISP).
Open Park is currently operated solely by volunteers and relies on private gifts and grants to cover its expenses. In April 2004,
Open Park received a major gift of WiFi equipment and services from Tropos Networks, Inc. (
www.tropos.com)
of Sunnyvale, California, a leading supplier of systems used to build metro-scale outdoor Wi-Fi networks. Donations from other technology companies are welcome.
Open Park has won significant bi-partisan support. In a recent
letter,
the U.S. Department of Commerce conveyed its "appreciation for Open Park's initiative in developing a
free public network for broadband wireless service on the National Mall" which it noted is "an
important educational and research project as well as a community service." Open Park's Mall WiFi project
also has been publicly endorsed by Oregon Senator
Ron Wyden and
California Congressman
Mike Honda.
To learn more about how you can support Open Park's mission, please click
here.
If you are interested in volunteering your technical skills - we particularly need volunteers with open-source software
and web designing experience - please e-mail
info@openpark.net.
Copyright © 2006 The Open Park Project. All Rights Reserved.
