Karen Banks is a British computer networking pioneer who was inducted to the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013 as a "Global Connector". ^{[1] [2]}

In the 1990s she maintained GnFido, a pioneering gateway run by non-profit ISP GreenNet, which used store and forward techniques to provide otherwise unavailable internet access for individuals and organisations across Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe.GreenNet was a founder member of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and Banks was one of the founders of its Women's Networking Support Programme (WNSP) in 1993 and its coordinator 1996-2004. At the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 the WNSP provided web access and email for 10,000 delegates, many of whom had never seen a web page before. From 1998 to 2001 Banks coordinated APC's global Internet rights work in Europe, and she became network development manager in 2004. She is now APC's operations director. ^{[2] [3]}

In 2004 she was given the Anita Borg Award for Social Impact by the Anita Borg Institute, in recognition of "significant and sustained contributions in technology". ^{[4] [5]}

She is a board member of Privacy International. ^[6]

On 16 November 2018 Banks was recognised with the Oxford Internet Institute Award ^[7] for her lifetime achievements in using information and communication technologies for social change.

See also

• History of the Internet
• Internet in the United Kingdom § History
• Nicola Pellow – British information scientist who worked on the early World Wide Web
• Sylvia Wilbur – British computer scientist who worked on the early ARPANET

References