2nd IMRA WORKSHOP
Internet Measurements Research in Africa
co-located to AFRICOMM 2018
Aim
To facilitate discussions around mechanisms and challenges of measuring Africa’s Internet topology, to formulate strategic directions for Internet measurements research in Africa, and to share a common understanding of the breadth of Internet research in Africa and beyond. The workshop also aims to initiate and accelerate collaboration among Internet researchers in the continent.
Summary
Internet measurements is a well know research area in networking, but it is still at an early stage in many developing regions including Africa. Typically, Internet measurements provide information with regards to accessibility of the Internet (e.g. coverage of WiFi and cellular networks) and Internet usage; topological structure; and performance (e.g. Internet throughput and latency). Internet measurements data is also useful for guiding Internet policy formulation and monitoring the effects of regulatory and policy interventions.
Given that the Internet ecosystem comprises a diversity of stakeholders and service providers, as well as Internet users and research communities, it is difficult for any other single entity, to access all of Africa’s Internet topology data without the cooperation of the Internet community. For this reason, appropriate acquisition of Internet data requires a variety of cooperative research methods, including wide distribution of Internet probes for technical measurements, located in diverse locations and networks, as well as region-specific techniques and demand-side surveys on Internet access and use. Development and deployment of Internet measurement infrastructure and methods therefore require cooperation among the different Internet players.
Despite the need for cooperation in Internet measurements research, there has been almost no coordination or cooperation among Africa’s Internet measurement researchers. This workshop is intended to build an African community of researchers on Internet measurements, and to formulate shared strategic directions for such research. The workshop will also aim to foster collaboration among African Internet research, for the development of shared measurement infrastructure, as well as the sharing of research methods, analysis tools and data. The workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss and compare existing Internet measurement platforms and research methods.
Committee
General Workshop Chair
Amreesh Phokeer – AFRINIC
Technical Programme Committee
Ahmed Elmokashfi (TPC Co-chair) – Simula Research Laboratory
Josiah Chavula (TPC Co-chair) – University of Cape Town
Amreesh Phokeer – AFRINIC
Gareth Tyson – Queen Mary University of London
Alemnew Asrese – Aalto University
Assane Gueye – UADB-Senegal
Call for Papers/Presentations
2nd Workshop on Internet Measurements Research in Africa
Internet measurements provide useful insights into the accessibility of the Internet (e.g. coverage of WiFi and cellular networks), performance (e.g. Internet throughput and latency) and Internet usage. Internet development campaigners, national regulators, and policy makers in the developing regions are recognising the crucial role that Internet measurement data can play in facilitating evidence-based policy-making and regulation. Given that the Internet ecosystem comprises a diversity of stakeholders and service providers it is difficult for any other single entity to access all of Internet topology data without the cooperation of the Internet community. For this reason, appropriate acquisition of Internet data requires a variety of cooperative research methods, including wide distribution of Internet probes for technical measurements, located in diverse locations and networks, as well as region-specific techniques and demand-side surveys on Internet access and use.
The aim of the workshop is to facilitate discussions around mechanisms and challenges of measuring Africa’s Internet; to evaluate the breadth of Internet measurements research and to formulate strategic directions for such research in Africa; and to initiate and accelerate collaboration among Africa’s Internet measurements researchers.
The workshop is calling for high-quality papers that are focused on Internet measurements research in Africa. Papers are invited on topics related to tools, methods and analysis of:
- End-to-end Internet performance metrics
- Internet topology characteristics, including peering and routing
- Application-level performance, including DNS, Web, CDNs, Cloud Computing
- Physical layer performance measurements, including for TVWS, WiFi, and 3G/4G
- Mobile and Cellular technologies
- Detection of middleboxes, censorship, and content filtering
- Data analytics for network monitoring, traffic analysis and network
- Network topology and performance visualization
- Internet access, use, and Quality of Experience (QoE) surveys
Publication
Accepted and registered papers will be included in the AFRICOMM conference proceedings.
Submission Instructions
See the instructions for paper submission here.
Workshop papers will be selected through a peer-review process.
N.B Previous and already published peer-reviewed work on Internet measurements may also be accepted for presentation only. Presentations should be emailed to the workshop TPC co-chairs.