About CUWiN
What Does CUWiN Do? | Meet the Team | CUWiN Press
CUWiN (the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network) is a world-renowned coalition of wireless developers and community volunteers committed to providing low-cost, do-it-yourself, community-controlled alternatives to contemporary broadband models. CUWiN is fiscally sponsored by the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, a non-profit 501c3.
Our mission is to develop decentralized, community-owned networks that foster democratic cultures and local content. Through advocacy and through our commitment to open source technology, we support organic networks that grow to meet the needs of their community.
To achieve that mission CUWiN maintains international and domestic partnerships with dozens of research institutions, not-for-profit organizations, community groups, businesses, universities, and government institutions. To inquire about becoming a CUWiN partner, send an email to .
More about CUWiN's vision can be found in this Vision Statement or by downloading a CUWiN brochure.
What does CUWiN do?
Software Development: CUWiN develops free open source, open architecture software for mesh wireless networking. CUWiNware is our flagship software. It utilizes wireless mesh protocols that we developed along with standard networking protocols and open source protocols from other projects. For more information, see the research and development page.
Wireless Consulting: CUWiN provides expertise in developing and maintaining wireless networks for your business, community, and municipality. We are currently involved with community networks in Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as municipal networks in Urbana, Illinois, the Mesa Grande Reservation in Southern California, and Apirede, Ghana.
Community Education Programming: CUWiN provides educational programs about community wireless technology and telecommunications policy. Educational Programs are available to anyone, including policymakers, community organizations, and educational institutions. For more general purposes, CUWiN hosts Hack Night the last Sunday of each month at 5 pm in our office space at the old Urbana Post Office. Hack Night is an event for people of every technological ability, as activities range from just gathering information to writing code for the project and experimenting with wireless hardware. Hack Night is free and open to the public.
Meet the Team!
Our staff page is a convenient resource for identifying who is working at CUWiN headquarters. By no means is this an exhaustive list, nor does this represent our extensive team of developers who are working on the software. A more extensive list is available on contact page.
Press Coverage and Press Releases
Our press page is designed to showcase the media coverage we've received and to provide media organizations a place where they can easily access the latest CUWiN press releases and media alerts. Expect the list to grow as more people and organizations discover CUWiN and track its progress.
