Two years ago the Chapel Hill Information Technology Committee began discussing a town network. At that time, we were focussed on laying conduit for future fiber that would support municipal services such as traffic signals, police and emergency services, transit and the town's Internet access. The intent was to reduce the town's costs for telecommunications while improving operational services.
Community Development
The IT Committee met with Council in October 2004 to discuss e-democracy. One of the concerns Council expressed about e-democracy was the digital divide. Will Raymond introduced the network issue to Council at that time by assuring them that we have the technical capability to provide Northside and Pine Knolls residents with free Internet access as an outgrowth of a network in downtown. Since that meeting, we have promoted the community development benefits of a town-wide network and for better or worse, it has superseded the previously promoted improvement of town services & reduction in fees paid to Time Warner. It appears that we've confounded community development (the social justice issue) and economic development (bringing new businesses & cost efficiencies into town). The community appears to be split on their willingness to fund the network as a community development project.
Sustainability
According to the Wikipedia, sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, and environmental aspects of human society. The Carrboro model (also known as StarBucks or free love model) of free roaming wifi service with bandwidth contributed by one or more business entities has become the only approach Chapel Hillians understand and/or are willing to discuss. It's the highly visible, local model so it makes sense from a cognitive perspective, but it's also frustrating. The possibilities are getting lost in complaints that coffee drinkers and poor people don't need broadband. Community development is economic development. School aged children need Internet access to do their school work. It's virtually impossible to apply for a job without Internet access. The high cost of rents in downtown could be offset through more affordable telecommunications. Town services could be greatly improved (and some automated). But instead, we debate whether or not poor people need broadband.
Current Status
As of yesterday, the Downtown Partnership is taking the lead on determining the viability of setting up a Chapel Hill Downtown wireless network. I have no details other than they will not be including service to Northside or Pine Knolls or improved town services in their investigation. I hope that decision is reconsidered. If not, the investigation will basically be determining whether the Carrboro approach will work for Chapel Hill. Some will be happy, but for how long?
Mobile Media
In Athens GA, the University and the Town partnered to create a wireless network called WAGz. Although it works in coffee shops, it isn't free and it was developed to serve as a research testbed for the development of new mobile media applications.
The Wireless Athens Georgia Zone (WAGz) lights the public areas of downtown Athens with WiFi (802.11b) connectivity. Anyone with a WiFi-enabled device can access information about Athens and web-based projects designed by NMI students. In the WAGz, people can send and receive a variety of text, audio, and video information.
But the WAGz really isn’t about wireless technology. The WAGz is a mobile media sandbox in which we want to discover the compelling applications for wireless. The WAGz provides us with a real-world research test-bed where we can explore the types of mobile media content that will drive the wireless industry.
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