MAZI Project

= "MAZI means “together” in Greek. The Mazi project is developing a toolkit for building local, community wireless networks: MAZI Zones".

URL = http://www.mazizone.eu/

Description

The MAZI project started in January 2016 and will run until December 2018. It is funded under the H2020 CAPS initiative (Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation).

What does MAZI stand for?

MAZI means “together” in Greek and the goal of MAZI is to provide technology and knowledge in order to:

• empower those who are in physical proximity, to shape their hybrid urban space, together, according to the local environment and context.
• generate location-based collective awareness as a basis for fostering social cohesion, conviviality, participation in decision-making processes, self-organisation, knowledge sharing, and sustainable living
• facilitate interdisciplinary interactions around the design of hybrid space and the role of ICTs in society.

What is new about MAZI?

MAZI is working on an alternative technology, what we call Do-It-Yourself networking, a combination of wireless technology, low-cost hardware, and free/libre/open source software (FLOSS) applications, for building local networks, known as community wireless networks.

By making this technology better understood, easily deployed, and configured based on a rich set of customisation options and interdisciplinary knowledge, compiled as a toolkit, MAZI will enable citizens to build their own local networks for facilitating hybrid, virtual and physical, interactions, in ways that are respectful to their rights to privacy, freedom of expression and self-determination.

MAZI takes the perspective of existing grassroots initiatives, whose goals are social and political in nature, and explores ways that DIY networking technologies can help pursue them." (http://www.mazizone.eu/about/overview/)