Information Society Watch

August 14, 2007, Carol Ellison, MuniWireless

This story of a community wireless network comes from Italy where the creator of Italy's first community computing lab, Gigi Tagliapietra, shares his experiences. He argues for placing the community at the forefront of the entire process and is against positioning technology as the primary driver, since it is after all a 'community' network. The most important point stressed by him is that investment in an wireless infrastructure is akin to investments in key city infrastructure installations, and therefore must be viewed as indispensible neccessities. Also, technology cannot be 'showcased', rather there needs to be a wide disbursement which would lead to increased usage. Ultimately, a community network must be a civic tool which would help establish a community of values.

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