Is It Time for Free Public Access WiFi?
A couple of weekends ago, just before the MediaMorphosis conference, I visited af friend in Venice Beach, California, whose ideas about computing reside back in the 1970s. However, when I opened my laptop, pow, her house was hot with WiFi, probably spilling over from the other tenants in her duplex. A weekend of free and fast access to the Internet. I felt both elated and a bit guilty for tapping into someone else’s service.
Today’s New York Times op-ed piece The Free Lane on the Information Highway by Dalton Conley helps me put things in perspective. Of course, we should all be pushing for free public access WiFi as is delivered in New York City’s Bryant Park. It would help reduce, as Conley argues, the divide between the information haves and have nots.
As public journalists, we want more people to have access to information and to be interactive participants. Sometimes the delivery system is as vital as the content produced.
For more on the free access movement visit Public Internet Project.org and nodeDB.com (it is listed incorrectly in the NYTimes article as nodeb.com, I alerted the Times).
Later today I am going to the Town Square in my hometown of Marietta, Georgia. I will see if it is hot. If not, I will ask the city, why not. What a great place to blog from. Will fill you in on the results later. Maybe you should do the same in your town, think of which public spaces should have free WiFi. Ask your town or city to install it for free. It’s all so Venice Beach, isn’t it?
March 20th, 2004 at 1:24 am
I was at an event a few nights ago where someone mentioned that a town in New Jersey was working on it… Kind of interesting, frankly. I can see it becoming a trend, especially in “Main Street USA” type places, where they could keep people in the coffee shops or restaurants a little longer.
March 20th, 2004 at 9:36 am
Hi Tom:
I love the idea of a national network. You know that Bryant Park on nice days is apparently filled with people working on their computers. If you find out more about that New Jersey town, please let me know. Any other tips would be appreciated.
Over the next month or so I hope to do some basic research to see which public institutions are providing free WiFi, what it costs, and what are the benefits to users and municipalities and what are the drawbacks. For now I will probably concentrate my efforts around metro-Altanta, but depending on what I learn I might expand from there. Thanks for the information.
March 24th, 2004 at 4:38 pm
http://www.wififreespot.com/
March 25th, 2004 at 8:36 pm
Matt Cook:
I am going to blog a reference to the site so it gets more notice. Thanks.
March 22nd, 2005 at 2:38 am
PUBLIC WIFI SERVICE PROVIDER STRATEGY
1. Operate on gifts from users, maximizing non-monetary contributions.
2. Maintain a public WISH LIST of items most helpful to maintain and improve the service.
3. Share available resources according to each users current contribution level.
-
I would like to start a project to turn any computer into an optimized Public WiFi node…
Details and specifics on my website:
http://betterdifferent.com/cosmicinternet
PEACE
N888
[This information is FREE (emancipated). You do not own it. It does not like to be bought, sold or even traded. It is for giving. Give-back to be prioritized for future information sharing]
March 22nd, 2005 at 2:38 am
PUBLIC WIFI SERVICE PROVIDER STRATEGY
1. Operate on gifts from users, maximizing non-monetary contributions.
2. Maintain a public WISH LIST of items most helpful to maintain and improve the service.
3. Share available resources according to each users current contribution level.
-
I would like to start a project to turn any computer into an optimized Public WiFi node…
Details and specifics on my website:
http://betterdifferent.com/cosmicinternet
PEACE
N888
[This information is FREE (emancipated). You do not own it. It does not like to be bought, sold or even traded. It is for giving. Give-back to be prioritized for future information sharing]