Today’s Salon includes an article by Linda Baker called ‘Urban Renewal: The Wireless Way’. It’s definitely worth a read. I have a few immediate reactions to it:
(So many numbered lists lately!)

1. It’s no surprise that ubiquitous wireless zones are popping up primarily in college towns. The article discusses a zone set up by the University of Georgia called The Cloud at Athens that covers the campus and its surrounding area. UC Berkeley is making a similar effort to blanket its campus with wireless coverage. But where these projects are successful in promoting new uses of technology, I think we need to consider that it may be because of the peculiar cultural characteristics of college towns. The director of the Athens project, Scott Shamp, says “But what was most important was not that they understood the technology, but that we turned it into something that enhanced the community.” My gut reaction is to say: roll the same technology out in your average urban residential neighborhood and let’s see who understands it.

2. Eric Paulos is quoted as saying “Probably the big thing was [to] try to bring the discussion away from the immediacy of things that promote efficiency or productivity.” This is fantastic. College towns are places where some of the traditional values inscribed in technology - efficiency and productivity - are already accepted and easily reproduced. Not so in most other places. To be successful and sustainable, any technology must adapt itself to the values and beliefs of the people it aims to target, and not expect those people to turn their values around for the sake of the technology. It’s this necessity that makes me so skeptical about the long-term success (in their current forms) of ubiquitous wireless technologies outside of college campuses and urban business districts.

3. Scott Page, founder of Interface Studio, takes on the project of creating a ‘comprehensive technology strategy’ for a ‘distressed’ neighborhood in Philadelphia, ‘including a community technology center where Temple University faculty will teach kids GIS (geographic information system) skills to build a database for the neighborhood.’ Okaaayy… great. We’re getting kids involved with technology and keeping it grounded in their neighborhood. But of all the things we could be teaching kids about, we’re teaching them GIS? I’m a big fan of GIS, but it could rank low on the list of technologies that are most useful on an average day. Of course, if everyday utility isn’t the goal, then I should shut up.