University of California Santa Barbara Community-based Networks for Challenged Environments A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science by Morgan Ashlee Vigil-Hayes Committee in charge: Professor Elizabeth Belding, Chair Professor Amr El Abbadi Professor Ben Zhao Professor Ellen Zegura June 2017 The Dissertation of Morgan Ashlee Vigil-Hayes is approved. Professor Amr El Abbadi Professor Ben Zhao Professor Ellen Zegura Professor Elizabeth Belding, Committee Chair May 2017 Community-based Networks for Challenged Environments Copyright c 2017 by Morgan Ashlee Vigil-Hayes iii For all my relations. iv Acknowledgements This work is the culmination of years of blood, sweat, and tears shed amongst loved-ones and mentors who contributed to the smiles and laughter that made the completion of this dissertation possible. First and foremost, I would like to thank my husband, Isaac, for joining me in this journey and walking patiently alongside me. You saw me at my best and worst during this process of learning, and you always believed in me and supported my vision. Significant thanks go to my research advisor, Elizabeth Belding. I cannot begin to list all the ways in which you helped me grow as an explorer, creator, and sharer of knowledge. I am grateful for your patient mentoring and constant encouragement. I am thankful for the researcher and person I have become after spending five years under your guidance. Thanks are also due to my committee members, Ben Zhao, Amr El Abbadi, and Ellen Zegura. Your feedback and encouragement has been invaluable to this process. You have been excellent teachers in evaluating research and identifying new possibilities and opportunities. I also had the great privilege to collaborate with Ellen and it was a joy to work with her to create new ideas. To my labmates and collaborators: Paul Schmitt, Waylon Brunette, Mai El Sherieff, Danny Iland, Mariya Zheleva, Michael Nekrasov, and David Johnson; you understood the process like no one else, provided the earliest feedback, and shared many moments of laughter. Your diligence, thoughtfulness, and helpfulness have inspired and motivated me over the course of this dissertation. I especially want to thank Paul, who was my perpetual project partner for the first two years of graduate school and put up with my antics and propensity to lose keys with patience and good humor. To the American Indian academic community: Marisa Duarte, Margaret McMurtrey, v Keri Bradford, and Linda Murray; your work in academia, minds for problem solving, and hearts for the people around you have served as a model for me. In particular, I would like to thank Marisa, who encouraged and mentored me when I took a risk and went down a path of study that was nontraditional. Your dissertation was the first I read and it is an honor that I can acknowledge you in mine. To the tribal ISPs that partnered with us in this work: Southern California Tribal Digital Village and Red Spectrum Communications; your work is excellent and remark- able and your partnership has been invaluable. It is an honor and inspiration to work alongside organizations and people who care so much for what is right and good for In- dian Country. I would especially like to acknowledge Matthew Rantanen, the director of the Tribal Digital Village Network, and Valerie Fast Horse, the director of Red Spectrum Communications. Your visions for information systems in Indian Country are powerful and positive. I would also like to thank Geoff Herrin, Joseph Peralta, Tom Jones, and Justin Hall for their assistance in the collection and management of the network trace data we use in this dissertation. This work would not have been possible without the love and support of friends and family. Wayne counseled me through the rollercoaster of graduate school and constantly affirmed my place in the academic community. Kristen always asked about my work and understood how much it was a part of me. Stacey and T.J. made sure I took breaks for good food, hot tea, and fun games. Danielle distracted my mind with her many antics (\and how!"). Josette was my wise house elf. Jon took me to Spain and inspired me to get outside and explore. Most importantly, my parents, Ralph and Stephanie, raised me to be curious, caring, and resilient. They taught me to love deeply and to pursue my vision, even when failure and doubts made it challenging. Mom and Dad, I cannot begin to express just how much you are my heroes. Thank you for teaching me how to ask many questions and pray thoughtfully. vi Finally, I would like to acknowledge significant mentors who passed away during the completion of this work. Kim Kihlstrom's early words of encouragement helped keep me brave when facing the new and unknown. Her hospitality to students will always be an inspiration to me. Gaetano Borriello's caring spirit and sharp mind inspired me to think critically about what the world actually needs. This work was funded by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE-1144085, NSF Network Science and Engineering (NetSE) Award CNS-1064821, and NSF Networking Technology and Systems (NeTS) Award NSF-1563436. vii Curriculum Vitæ Morgan Ashlee Vigil-Hayes Education 2017 Ph.D. in Computer Science (Expected), University of California, Santa Barbara. 2017 M.S. in Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara. 2011 B.S. in Computer Science, Westmont College. summa cum laud Awards University of California, Santa Barbara Doctoral Scholars Fellowship, 2012{2017 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program Fellowship, 2013{2016 Microsoft Graduate Women's Scholarship, 2013 N2Women Fellowship for HotMobile, 2017 Honorable Mention for Best Paper Award at CSCW 2017 Westmont College Grace Hopper Award for Top Computer Science Graduate, 2012 David K. Winter Servant Leader Award, 2011 Presidential Scholar, 2008{2011 NSF Computer Science Scholarship, 2008{2011 Publications 1. Vigil-Hayes, M., Belding, E., Zegura, E. \FiDO: A Community-based CDN for Challenged Network Environments," in submission, 2017. 2. Vigil-Hayes, M., Duarte, M., Parkhurst, N.D., Belding, E., \#Indigenous: Track- ing the Connective Actions of Native American Advocates on Twitter," CSCW 2017 , Portland, OR, USA. March 2017. 3. Schmitt, P., Vigil, M., Belding, E., \A Study of MVNO Data Paths and Perfor- mance," PAM 2016 , Heraklion, Crete, Greece. March 2016. 4. Vigil, M., Belding, E., Rantanen, M., \Repurposing FM: Radio Nowhere to OSNs Everywhere," CSCW 2016, San Francisco, CA, USA. March 2016. viii 5. Brunette, W., Vigil, M., Pervaiz, F., Levari, S., Borriello, G., Anderson, R. \Opti- mizing Mobile Application Communication for Challenged Network Environments," ACM DEV 2015, London, England, UK. December 2015. 6. Zheleva, M., Schmitt, P., Vigil, M., Belding, E. \Internet Bandwidth Upgrade: Implications on Performance and Usage in Rural Zambia." Information Technologies & International Development (ITID). 11:2, 1{18. Spring 2015. 7. Vigil, M., Rantanen, M., Belding, E., \A First Look At Tribal Web Traffic.” WWW '15, Florence, Italy. May 2015. 8. Zheleva, M., Schmitt, P., Vigil, M., Belding, E., \The Increased Bandwidth Fal- lacy." ACM DEV '13, Cape Town, South Africa. December 2013. 9. Zheleva, M., Schmitt, P., Vigil, M., Belding, E., \Bringing Visibility to Rural Users in Ivory Coast." ICTD '13, Cape Town, South Africa. December 2013. 10. Zheleva, M., Schmitt, P., Vigil, M., Belding, E., \Community Detection in Cellular Network Traces." ICTD '13, Cape Town, South Africa. December 2013. 11. Schmitt, P., Zheleva, M., Vigil, M., Belding, E., \Communication Flow Patterns in the Orange Telecom D4D Datase." NetMob '13, Boston, MA. January 2013. Experience Research Assistant September 2012 to present Department of Computer Science, University of California Supervisor: Elizabeth Belding, Ph.D. Research Assistant June 2013 to August 2013 Department of Computer Science, University of Washington Supervisor: Gaetano Borriello, Ph.D. Instructor Summer 2015 CMPSC 16 - Problem Solving with Computers (C++) Department of Computer Science, University of California, Santa Barbara Teaching Assistant 2009{2010 CS 10 - Introduction to Programming II (Scheme) Instructor: Wayne Iba, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science, Westmont College ix CS 30 - Introduction to Programming III (Ruby) Instructor: Kim Kihlstrom, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science, Westmont College CS 45 - Computer Architecture and Organization Instructor: Kim Kihlstrom, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science, Westmont College x Abstract Community-based Networks for Challenged Environments by Morgan Ashlee Vigil-Hayes The Internet as a networked system has been rendered more complex than ever before as human endpoints are grafted into the system via increasingly pervasive and personalized networked devices. According to the United Nations, the Internet is a transnational enabler of a number of human rights, and as such, access to the Internet has been proclaimed to be a basic right unto itself. Unfortunately, even as networked devices have become ubiquitous, access to the Internet has not. In many cases, the reasons behind this digital divide involve contextual challenges such as limited infrastructure, limited economic viability, and rugged terrain. In this dissertation, we seek to ameliorate these challenges by designing data-driven, community-based network infrastructure. In order to extend Internet connectivity to communities located in some of the most challenging contexts, we start by understanding how Internet connectivity is used when communities receive initial Internet access. We do this by partnering with two ISPs (Internet service providers) that brought initial Internet connectivity to two geographic regions in Indian Country. The data we have collected from these two ISPs totals to 115 TB generated over a combined three years of partnerships. Our ISP collaborators serve a total of 1,300 subscribers who represent residents of 14 different Native American reservations representing 18 different tribes. The service areas of these ISPs include predominantly rural communities located on mountainous and forested terrain.